There was no count down to the start. We were just standing by the start buoy talking about how to site on the turn buoy out on the horizon when the gun went off. I was a little short of breath the first 400-500 meters as the water was cold and kinda took my breath away at the start. I had a really hard time settling down and finding some good feet to swim off of. Every time I thought I had some good feet I would sight and find that they were zig-zagging on the course, so I had to drop them and move on. I passed a lot of swimmers but never really seemed to gain ground on the other swimmers that took off at the beginning. It really spread out after the first turn buoy. At the second turn buoy I started to notice some of the fast swimmers from the Half that started behind us making their way past. They were getting out to head to T1 and I was turning around to head out for lap #2. Not far into the second lap I was passing people in the other waves. It got kinda crowded in places with people going slow but I was able to get around most of them without much issue. The second lap was harder from a sighting perspective with all the additional people in the water swimming all over the place. With no guide buoys it was hard to swim a straight line.

Not sure here. Obviously, more swim training but the course was really hard to follow. However, some guys in my wave swam 10 minutes faster so it was possible to go more my normal swim. I just had a sub-par swim.

We had to run through deep red mud from the low water edge to the transition area (about 200 yards), then have feet cleaned off with a hose before having the wetsuit strippers do their thing. Then, we ran into T1 to find the bike and get ready to go. I had my compression sleeves that I wanted to wear on the bike and I choose not to wear them under my wetsuit (I need to practice with them on), so I spent too long getting out of T1

Practice wearing compression sleeves under wetsuit. Put riding gloves on after I was on the bike.

The first half of the outbound course is flat and fast and temps you into hammering it out. I rode steady but resisted the urge to bolt with the masses. It paid off in the middle and outside part of the course as I started to reel those people back in. I made the turn at mile 28 in 1:28 (19 mph) and felt good. That is my goal pace for IMFL but might have been a little too aggressive for Redman. The ride back was harder and into the wind. I tried looking for Patrick on the way back but never saw him. I started to feel a little uncomfortable on my chamois on the way back but my nutrition was SPOT on with 3 servings of Infinit for 56 miles. I made the turn at mile 56 in 3:05 (18.01mph) so I slowed a whole mph on the way back. The second lap was lonely as most of the racers were doing the half distance races. However, I saw Patrick about mile 88 and he didn't look too happy. It was hard right before the turn around so I could relate. I rode about 500 yards behind a rider for almost 30 miles before I had someone pass me. Then the rider I had been following started to break and I came up behind him quickly. We hit the middle of a valley as I was trying to pee and as he was starting to climb out the other side and I ran up into his draft zone. Wouldn't you know it, a race Marshall was right there and tagged me with some penalty! 6 minutes! WTF? Who cares, it didn't change my finish position because we were so spread out. I couldn't stop peeing and pass the guy so I just backed out of the zone and then passed him after we got over that hill. The last 10-15 miles were hard as the road sucked, I had been riding into a head wind for 50 miles and it was mile 90 on the race. My left quad was twitching and my crotch was on fire. I need to figure that one out before IMFL because I really like the suit I was in. I rode up unto the Dam leading back into the park (there is a nasty little hill to get on the dam that comes at mile 109). It's really nothing but at that point it sucked. From there it was a flat long curve back towards the park that seemed to go on FOREVER. I dismounted and was prepared to run through T2 and unto the finishing shot for my official time but had a volunteer tell me that my crossing into T2 was the end of the time and I could just take my time dropping off the bike and jogging to the finish line for a photo. So, I did. The only part of the race that I was disappointed with was the finish. There were no Finisher shirts for the Aquabikes. Richard was there waiting for me to finish after he crushed the half and we talked for a while as I tried to calm my stomach and walk like normal.

I had done 2 rides of 80 miles and 1 of 100 miles before this race so I don't think I had enough volume in my legs to actually push the pace over 112 miles, even though I tried during the first 56 miles. I should have 2 more rides of base volume and done some interval work on rides of 50-60 miles to actually be ready to race this course. The road conditions made it hard for me as a heavier guy. My shoulders were sore after the ride.

Walked back a mile to the truck with a heavy back-pack, a pump and bike.


Genetics:) It was a great prep training day for IMFL and put into that perspective I am pleased with the day.


This is a really nice race and well run. The only issue I had was them not having finisher shirts for the Full Aquabike finishers. They seemed very disorganized at the finish line. Other than that, it was like an M-dot race on a much smaller stage.