The water was rather cool, and kind of disarming. I never felt like I got into a rhythmn, and felt like my form and breathing suffered. I often had to breathe on every other stroke. My navigation and sighting were better than previous swims this year. Instead of breast stroking, I could catch a glimpse of the shore or a buoy while maintaining some semblance of the crawl. Evidently I did okay, because I finished 6/30 in my age group, which surprised the crap out of me. But this time includes T1 and my bike was right next to the bike exit. I just realized, i never got passed by a swimmer from a later wave - that's a first!

Broken record - practice, practice, practice.

Found my bike easily. Wetsuit stuck a little. Whether it was the water temperature or my effort level, I was somewhat disoriented out of the water. When I tried to put my bike shoes on, I had to sit down to do it. Overall not too bad.
There was a mother and gf/wife in transition helping some guy get his wetsuit off and race number on. I guess you gotta take the bad with the good at non-sanctioned races.

Last year I took my wetsuit off in the water - I should try that again.

Super race for me. I passed a lot of racers. At one point I passed a guy on a Litespeed, who turned right around and passed me. I thought, "Game on!" He slowed a little, I regained my ground, and never gave it back. I pushed hard from start to finish, stayed focused during empty stretches. I was 2nd in my AG by only 7 seconds.

Nothing.

Included in bike time. I think I did well here. My rack space was 20 feet inside transition, so I couldn't get lost.

Effort-wise I could not have done better. I left it all on the course. There were a few "rabbits" that I caught, there were some fast guys that passed me. With a good bike leg, I need to expect to get passed on the run. What is surprising is that last week I ran 6.2 6:40 miles but this week I can only manage 6:57 over 3.1 miles. Of course, every course is measured differently - some more accurately than others. Maybe I ran the same pace all three of my fall tri's. Maybe the swim takes something out of me, maybe three races in a row just wears me down. Third best run in my AG, but I need to knock off :20 - :30/mile to contend.

Nothing - good effort.

Gatorade, banana. Greeted Dave and Lynda at finish. BSed with them and Joe on the Litespeed. Kids came to the race, so they ate my lunch and wore my race number. Got my medal, smiled a lot.


OW experience, and perhaps finishing the season with 3 consecutive races is one too many. Overall I was quite happy with how fast I raced today.


After competing in four other races this year, this is still my favorite one. The course is interesting, its a good cause, the race is organized well, and there is no traffic. I'm going to put this one on my calendar every year.