I was very disappointed in my swim, I made a newbie error.
My plan was to start at the front and gun the first 100m or so and hold off as much as I could. That part went great and I didn't have anybody catch up or pass me in the first 100m.
The course was laid out with a counter clockwise loop for the Oly and they had a shorter loop for the Sprint Tri. almost everyone in my wave swam for the first sprint buoy and then turned for the Oly buoy even though the sprint buoy was probably 30 yards off the direct path to the Oly buoy. I decided to skip staying with the pack and swam directly for the long Oly buoy. Next thing you know me and about 2 other people who had the same idea had nobody to draft off of and we all ended up with very slow swim times. :(

stay with the pack, for sure.

T1 time was very clean and fast. The only issue I had was I didn't rubber band my shoes on the pedals so they flopped around as I ran with the bike. Just as I got to the bike mount line the left shoe went upside down with the pedal all the way down. My shoe ground on the gravel on the road and scooped a bunch of rocks into my shoe. grrr

rubber band my shoes

Well other than biking the whole way with gravel in my left shoe the bike went well but slow.
I averaged 21.5 on this same course in my last training ride and ended up averaging 20.36 this time which was slower than I was hoping
This being my first Tri I took it pretty easy intentionally on the hills and flats because I didn't want to burn out on the run. After I reached the turnaround point I felt very rested and wondered why I was taking it easy. I hammered it pretty hard on the way back. I was only passed by 3 riders the whole ride and I passed probably 50 people. (was a good feeling)


At the end of the ride when I started running my legs were totally rested, so I knew I took it WAY too easy on the bike. I didn't have any bike to run pain at all which I considered a bad thing.
Next time it's lights out, I'm going to hammer the crap out of the bike...

T2 was uneventful, had a smooth rack and both shoes went on quickly. Grabbed my race belt to put it on while I was running.

nothing

Run was very hilly, but I felt pretty good throughout. I've had a history of dehydrating badly on runs so I walked at each water stop to make sure I drank two full cups of water at each. I am still recovering from my left IT band flaring up so I didn't want to push it too hard on the hills. I didn't have any issues at all with it, which is very good.

It was a few minutes slower than I wanted, but overall I'm satisfied.

plopped my sweaty butt in a chair as soon as I finished. lol


weight. I still need to cut another 15 lbs.


Very good race. I plan to do it again next year.