My goal in the swim was to maintain a good heart rate while not having to stop and gather myself at all. I have no doubt I can swim the difference but have had a hard time at some races getting through a mental barrier. Started off to the back right and after about 100 yards I noticed that no one was swimming on the buoy line so I move left some and was just doing my thing. It felt like it was going just as I hoped as I was counting my strokes to 100 to keep my mind focused on something other than 1500M. I knew I'd get caught by folks in the wave behind me so that didn't bother me much and just kept going and made good turns around the buoys and even found a nice cool patch of water around the first turn. I seemed to be swimming very straight so stopped sighting as much and would only look up everyone 20 strokes or so. Finally got to the only right hand turn back to shore and tried to just stay calm and focused so I could run all the way up and through transition. Got up to get out of the water and was somewhat suprised and disappointed at the time on my watch as I really expected to see something more like 37/38 minutes. Oh well I proved to myself that the distance is not the thing any more so I should just go ahead and swim harder throughout so I can start picking up some time.

Swim harder as it was way to easy an effort for a race. Also going to take some lessons for form as mine is just killing me.

Very good T1 for me as I ran up the little grass hill and into transition. My rack was the 6th closest to the swim so not far to run. Sat down, put on bike shoes (no socks) and stuffed a gel and some sports beans in my Tri top. I ended up being in the top 25% for T1 so happy with the effort especially since I had to run a solid 2/10th's of a mile with my bike prior to the mount line.

Not much. I could still move quicker with getting my shoes on but I'm not going to do much better time wise in an event this big with such a long transition area.

I knew with my overall lack of bike fitness I wasn't going to be able to push this consistently but I wanted to take advantage of the fast parts of the course and push hard on them. I could feel the heat/humidity pretty much right away as the sweat just started pouring off of me it seemed right away. Being in the next to last wave I was instantly being passed by the faster riders on their second lap. I was able to start picking off some of the riders from the wave in front of me (F 40 - 44) and some of them in my wave but all in all for a race with 1300 people there wasn't much traffic on the bike. I started drinking my fluids about 1/2 way through the first lap as I could feel the heat starting to do some damage. Right before the end of the first loop I caught up to my friend Jared who wants to finish ahead of me so bad so I wanted to pass him so that he wouldn't want to try and follow so I hammered for all I was worth for about 3 to 5 minutes and dropped him far back. From there on out I stayed mostly in cruise mode and would go harder periodically when I felt like it would be beneficial. Took a gel about 20 minutes before the end of the bike so I'd have some nutrition going into the run. Turned back into the park and headed for T2. That ride on the way back in just always seems so long and slow to me so I tried to stay focused and not take it easy as I've had a habit of doing in the past. Stayed strong right up to the dismount line and had a good dismount from the bike. Took a second to get my legs under me and then jogged on into transition.

Fairly obvious that more than half my miles on the bike this year are in races which isn't a good thing so just find time to train. Easier said then done unfortunately.

Took longer here as I could feel the effects from the bike and the heat so finished the gatorade I had on the bike and ate some sports beans. Decided to put on socks with the heat and I knew they were going to have open fire hoses out on the course so my shoes would be wet and wanted socks to block any blister possibilities.

Not too much as I made a conscious decision to take my time as I knew the run was going to suck so wanted to be prepared as possible.

Started out on the run under overcast skies and felt ok hitting mile one at 8:35. Right after that the sun came out for basically the rest of the time and it was just hot and humid. I then went to mostly running but decided to walk any of the inclines to save my hammies and the aid stations so I could take advantage of the water, heed, ice towels, ice packs, hoses, etc. Was drinking like a fish (3 or 4 cups of water everytime) but I could just feel the sweat pouring out of me and if I ran for 5 minutes I could feel myself getting a bit wobbly. Whenever I felt this I would take a walk break and I would hold on to the ice packs and rub them over my face/head to try and keep me going. The only person I saw on the run not struggling was the relay runner for the Ryan's Quest team as she was flat out flying but everyone else had the same why am I doing this to myself look! Got to mile 3 and was finally approaching the transition/finish area and that always gives you a boost as you can't walk past all the people there cheering you on so I was able to run through that to the next aid station. From there on out I would take a walk break whenever I felt not so good (too often unfortunatley) and then run when I could. The fire house at about 4.5 miles was just awesome so I stood there for a minute or two just soaking in the cool water and trying to lower my core temp. Decided at mile 5 I'd run the rest of the way in even if it was sometimes a slow jog. At mile 6 some of the finishers were there giving us encouragement that only 2 more turns than the chute so started to run hard and the little uphill started to grab my hamstring so slowed down until I hit the grass and then was able to run it in strong all by myself in the chute.

Couple things. I really need to lost 15 lbs if I really want to get better at this sport and two I need to figure out a good way to keep myself hydrated and with enough electrolytes to not cramp given how much I sweat and how hot this race usually is.

Grabbed a water bottle (warm - blech!) and headed right to the misting tent. Stood in their for a minute or two which felt great but almost an hour after the race I was still sweating. Found Jay who had a great race and we helped ourselve to some water that was in a cooler full of ice that was nice and cold. From there just kind of walked around to cool down the muscles and grabbed a few choco chip cookies and a pepsi.

When I got home I weighed myself and I was down 8 lbs from the race and that included drinking 40 oz's on the bike, about 30 cups of water/heed on the run, 2 bottles of war and a pepsi after the race. I'm going to have to do something different with my nutrition to help with my salt/water retention in the future so that I can push myself for better run times.


Training, heat/humidity, verge of cramping.


What can you say Larry and Michelle put on a top notch event and do everything they can to help you succeed given the heat. I already can't wait (can't believe I'm saying this since so close to yesterday's pain!) to come back next year with a goal of under 3 hours.