Really wanted to take it easy on the swim. There was a lot of contact at the start, but I've had worse. It loosened up after a while. Goggles fogged up a bit. Tried to stay on feet, but couldn't quite hang on. I think I swam pretty straight. Saw a couple of the orange buoys, but mostly just followed the thrashing ahead of me. Hit the red turn buoy straight on.

Push harder. Swim faster. Was about 30 seconds faster than last year, with much less effort. Just shows how poorly I was swimming last year. Was 20 seconds faster in '09.

I cut the legs of my wetsuit before this race. I was getting tired of struggling to get the suit over my heels. I was able to stomp it off this time, despite forgetting to glide my ankles. This went fine. I was 19th out of the water and 10th out of T1, so I made up some time here.

Move faster. I felt like it was pretty efficient, but there were still about 50 people that did it faster than me.

This went pretty well. After the long run from transition to the bike mount, I jumped on the bike and got into my shoes while getting up to speed. I got out of the saddle to climb the bridge and used the curvy section through Sea World to settle down. Once out on Sea World drive, I really tried to increase the cadence and keep the gear tough, but sustainable. I didn't see that many people from my AG on the bike. At the time, I had no idea where I was in the race. I figured I would see someone I know that usually swims better than me and I catch towards the end of the bike. Sure enough, I saw him on the back side of the island. I said, "Hey Mark!" as I rode up along side of him. A bit later, he caught back up, saying "you motivated me!" He got out in front of me for the rest of the ride around the island and then I caught him again on the way back along Sea World Drive. I stood up on the bridge and cruised the rest of the way back into T2, working out of my shoes. The dismount went well, but the run was long and the pavement was pretty beat up. The bottoms of my feet are still sore from it.

Remember to bring my disc wheel. Have a power meter that works. Push a bigger gear? Just not sure as I think I'm faster in an easier gear with higher cadence. Was about the same time as last year (2 seconds faster).

Made a mess of this again. Just couldn't find my rack without the bike there. Once I found my rack (Mark came in after me and asked what I was doing), things went fine. Helmet off, visor on, socks & shoes on, grab race belt and go! Need to walk transition in the morning and make note of landmarks. This makes about 3 or 4 times during the season that I've gotten lost in T2. I just get distracted sometimes in the morning (this time trying to get my power meter to work) and I forget to make a note of where I am.

Not get lost. I was 207th in T2 and lost a spot in my AG as Mark got out just before me. I came in off the bike in 4th and ran out in 5th - not that I knew it at the time.

Starting off, I caught up to Mark and told him, "made a mess of that transition!" He laughed. I kept running and caught another AGer and then I saw the fast swimmer that I expected to be first out of the water. I usually catch him in the first part of the run. Right around the 1-mile mark, I caught him. He told me there was just one up ahead. That made me relax a bit. I was just hoping to finish in the top 5 to lock up the series win and to know I was now in 2nd made me feel pretty comfortable. I was hurting and I still tried to push, but I didn't think I'd make up ground on who I was pretty sure was out in front.

Push the whole way through. Don't let up. I still wouldn't have caught the leader as he was 2 minutes up the road.

Hung out in the chute for a while, chatting with finishers. Packed up our transition and walked through the expo, checked results, waited for awards. When we checked results, I was in 3rd, which seemed a little odd, but it was still a podium. The "winner" wasn't at awards and the time was ridiculous - 2 minutes faster than the first elite. Something was wrong with the time and they threw it out. Bummer though, because Mark really finished in 3rd and he thought he was fourth and missed out on the podium and a medal - at least for now.


Burnt out, end of season, over-raced and unmotivated. I really didn't do anything following the 50k, two weeks earlier. But I was definitely well-rested! I did a little 3-miler the day before and felt great, so rest may have really helped. I was a little disappointed that my run was 10 sec per mile slower than last year, but oh well. Overall, it was a faster race and I got out of it what I had hoped. 2nd place wrapped up the AG win for the series, so at least I met one of my goals for the year.


This is a well-run local event. Calm swim, mostly flat bike and run courses. It's a good beginner race, but it also draws some pretty competitive local athletes. Definitely not a deep field though. It feels like the swim and the bike are long (I know the bike is more than 10 miles).