First thing was the goggles. I managed to keep them on for the jump from the ferry, but my straps came loose. I had to roll over and reseat the goggles.
Not sure what went wrong, but I had trouble swimming straight on this one. One minute I was drafting along fine, the next I was far far left. The time reflects that. Last year I was 4min faster.

Swim straight

Took my sweet time. There was alot of sand and I missed the foot washes, so I took the extra time to towel off the feet and get the socks on.

Hit a foot wash, learn the pre-clipped shoe technique.

Pretty country, good roads. Minor hills. I could have gone faster. I met my goal of not getting passed, and I went from place 139 up to 71 on the bike.

Push harder. If my wife finds out I didn't gain any speed over last year she'll ask what I bought the P2K for :)

Average T1. Not sure what I need to do to speed it up.

My goal was to not walk on this one. Somehow I managed to go almost as slowly as I did last year with the walk-run combo. The added sand took out what I was saving for the final road mile, so I shuffle-jogged to the finish.

Focus on run training leading up to this one. I did too much bike in August.

Grabbed a bev and kept moving. I walked it off the 300yrs to the transition area.


I'm beginning to regret my non-tri wetsuit. It doesn't give me the leg bouyancy others are getting, which throws off my balance. And it's a short-sleeve which restricts my shoulders a bit.

I should have put my goggles inside my cap.

In this case I should have trusted the draft instead of my spotting.

Some apprehension of flaring up the overuse strain on my biking knees made me hold back on the bike.

Lack of run focus in my training made for a very slow run.


This is a really fun challenging race. It's gaining popularity every year because of the Alcatraz slots. This year there were 15 states represented.

There are always a number of random-draw alcatraz slots available too. They start with 8, and for every age group unrepresented or with no finishers who want to go, the slots go to the random draw. We had 20 this year, and only about 50 people who wanted them, so there was a good chance to get one.