This was my first open water race- I’ve done three pool Sprints before. The water was very warm to the point of being hot- they said it was 84 degrees. It’s a two right turn race – as I discovered the bad news is I breathe on my left. I was in the groove on my way to the first buoy. I didn’t experience much traffic, until one of the kayaks alerted me that I was WAY off course- I seemed to be swimming to Illinois for some reason. Needless to say, the swim felt a lot longer than 500 meters because I made it a lot longer than 500 meters.

Practice bilateral breathing, more in open water, and oh yeah, do a better job sighting!

I pretty much walked from the end of the swim to my bike trying to protect a foot that is finally getting over PF. I thought it went okay. As a matter of fact, it was my fasted T1 ever, but still slow compared to others.

The day before the event, I replaced my back tire. My trainer rides had really worn it down. No problem changing it, and I even went out for a couple of mile check-out ride the evening before- all was good. For some unknown reason, the magnet for the cadence sensor didn’t look right when I setting up race morning. So, in my infinite wisdom, I proceeded to start adjusting things 15 minutes before the race started. Off I went on the bike- what’s hitting my spokes? Oh great- the cadence sensor. Why is my cadence over 180? After about two miles, it dawned on me- I moved the magnet for the speedometer to work with the cadence sensor, which meant I had no speed or distance, plus I forgot to set the stopwatch. After a mile or two more, I realized I just needed to deal with it. The heat wasn’t too bad at this point, but I struggled with the hills- going up and going down because I had never ridden this course before. I was accompanied with a steady “ZING!” as my cadence sensor hit the spokes. About a half mile from the end, I took a corner and the sensor finally snapped off. I momentarily thought about stopping and going after it, but wisely chose not to.

When I check out my bike the day before and everything works just fine, LEAVE IT ALONE! I also need to work on hills and practice hydrating while in motion.

I was pretty happy with this- also my fastest T2 ever by almost half a minute, but still slow compared to others. It was getting very hot, so I took extra time to down Gatorade. I’m glad I scoped out the transition beforehand which made it a lot more comfortable heading out.

I’m just getting over 7+ months of no running due to Plantar Fasciitis, so I was pretty much a mix of walking and running. Maybe I was glad I had to walk/run because it was blazing hot when we got away from the trees. I took two cups of water at miles 1 and 2. I felt okay, but there were many suffering on the course. It still gets me when I get within earshot of the announcer at the finish line. I did my best to sprint the last 500 or so yards.

I survived, so that was a positive!

Hydrated like crazy and looked for shade. Hung around for awards because my wife was fourth in her age group, and one of our training buddies was second in his age group. I was very happy for them! As for my intrepid cadence sensor? Someone turned it in – JB Weld here I come!


My brain, followed by my brain, and the heat can come in third.


I'm curious how many started and how many really finished. The results only had a half dozen or so DNF's, but I thought this race had ~650 participants?