Decent swim. Probably the most laid back I've been in the water. Traffic was a bugger though. I lined up towards the front of my wave. The first 200 was a bit rough, but then it opened up. I was on the inside line and no one else was. A bit odd actually. I was sighting really well so I really wasn't that worried. About the time I rounded the first buoy I started to run into the wave in front of me. About 150 meters later I started seeing the wave prior to that and people clinging to buoys. The rest of the swim I struggled to keep my cadence as I dodged slow, slow swimmers.

Just swim more and push a bit more. I was worried about blowing too much out on the swim and not feeling fresh getting on the bike.

Wow that was slow. Just wanted to collect myself a bit going out. Oh and I didn't plan out my route from my bike to the bike out. Dumb.

Catch my breath on the bike since I'd be moving. Preplan my escape route.

Well I trained for hills some and I think I did a decent job, but the wind got the best of me. Started out a bit above the 20 mph I wanted to stay at, but I was feeling good so I dialed it back just a bit. The first 20 miles ticked away like clockwork. There was a bunch of slower traffic and this would be the case the entire race. There were also a ton of folks taking a nice Sunday ride on the left side. Yelling on your left didn't seem to phase them either. Very frustrating. Mile 30 things started to pose problems. The road was somewhat rough. I hit a patch and the top of my aero bottle popped open and sprayed me with Infinit. That stuff is STICKY. Luckily I had bottle two and I refilled, but the top of my aero bottle wouldn't clasp back on. So I had to watch the level of my fluids in the bottle for the rest of the ride or get sprayed again. About mile 40 the winds hit. I went from 3 min miles to 4 min plus. WOW. My mistake was trying to push through the wind. I'd pay for that later. Started cramping a bit in my quads on mile 47 and was very happy to get back into transition.

More hill work. More hill work at distance.

Slow again. Legs didn't want to cooperate with me putting my shoes on. Had to sit down. Just everything was happening very slow for me.

Everything

I didn't really notice the heat until I started to run. I was cramping in my quads a little and I had to pee. So off I went and the first port a potty I came to I stopped. WOW big mistake. My quads siezed up. Serious pain. That pee break couldn't end soon enough. Back on course I saw bananas and oranges. Sweet! Then I started to hit the hills. Trained for hills on bike, yes, on run, no. Bad call. I steadily went from an 8 minute mile to a 10 minute mile over the course of the next few miles. Finished lap one and was thinking "Holy (expletive) I have 2 more of these things." Back out I went looking for anyone I knew from CyTri. Saw Lorrie heading back in on lap 3. Gave her a little shout as I was headed up the hill midcourse. At this point I was "running" the periods between aid stations and stopping to get fluids at the stops. Oddly enough for as slow as I felt I was going I wasn't really getting passed. This was my strategy for the rest of the race and it worked well, or got me through at least. On my third loop I finally ran into Toby. He was cramping way worse than I was. I stopped for a minute or two to make sure he was ok before moving on and finished up my third lap. Finishing in the arena was cool and I flashed a little go Coogs for the photographers. Tired and in pain I finished my first HIM.

Really feel like I mentally and physically blew up here a little. Mentally I didn't push through the pain like I should have. I normally run 8-8:10 miles over 13.1. I would anticipate dropping off a little but not this much. I know there was more there but I let things get to me. Physically I started cramping. I need to up my fitness so this never happens again.

Not much of one really. Walked around a bit. Went over to the food area and there was chopped BBQ beef sandwiches. The smell turned my stomach. So I grabbed some fruit and went off to grab my bike and gear.


Apparently I am not as fit as I think I was. Or perhaps I had unrealistic expectations of what I could do.