First 200 hundred yards had more bumping and pushing and jostling for position than I'd ever seen. I knew I had to relax after fighting through that. I settled down and flew through the down stream section, rounded the 2nd bouy perfectly. Turned the 3rd bouy and headed upriver. The upriver section was slow, but I slogged through it and made it to the exit.

Not much.

Several slip ups here. Dropped my swim cap coming into T1. Turned around and picked them up. Then dropped my goggles. Turned around and picked them up.
Really struggled getting my helmet on. Something was not right with the straps. Cost me 45 seconds at least. Finally said f it and took off.

Everything.

Tough ride. I knew it was going to be hilly, but.....I had no idea.
First section was 5 mile out, 5 mile back with headwind, then tailwind. My plan was just to ride comforatably hard, so as to have something left on the run. Pacing was really difficult with all the ups and downs. O the out and back section I was able to count how many people were in front of me. There were about 10, so I thought a top 10 finish was a good possibility. I developed a splitting about mile 13(could have been from my helmet straps) and struggled with it the rest of the bike.
Drank 2 bottles of water, 2 bottles of gatorade and took 3 gels and 4 endurolytes on the ride. I began to fatigue near the end. There were several climbs where I was probably going 5 mph. I was really looking foward to getting off the bike!
This was really a beautiful bike course with nice scenery.
I was happy with my time overall.

Don't really know.

Weird entering t2 as you had to ride past the exit all the way around transition the to entrance.
Decided to wear socks on the run, so putting them on cost me a little time.

Nothing.

I came out of t1 feeling awesome. I was so glad to be off the bike and running, however, this feeling would quickly fade. I was hoping to avg 7 min/mile. I clipped off the first mile in aout 6:30, then the 2nd and 3rd in a bout the same. I passed several people doing the 70.3 and many who were doing the shorter races. Then, about mile 4 the first sign of cramping started. Heart rate began to rise. I just had to hold the cramps off and hold on. I began drinking two water at every aid station and taking gel form the flask in my back jersey pocket evry 10-15 minutes...I'm so sick of gels right now. I took 6 endurolytes. I never had a severe cramp that stopped me in my tracks, but just smaller irritating ones from mile 4-7 and 10 -13. They were just enough to slow my pace from what I wanted it to be. When I got to mile 10, I gave up on breaking 5 hours. I just didn't want to get passed by anyone, especially from my AG. However, the last few miles must have been measure short, because once I could see the mile 13 sign, I knew I had about 2 minutes to break 5hrs. I actually passed a guy in my ag in the last 1/2 mile. I struggle to the finsh and beat 5hrs by 8 seconds. Dissappointing 1:39 on the run but it could have been much worse.

Bike fitness.

Tried to get a massage, but I was cramping too bad. The therapist told me to ice it down and come back later.


Bike fitness.