Not only was that suit fast, I got too caught up in pushing my stroke long and hard and tried too hard to keep up with the people around me. I thought I was pacing well and not over-doing it. I was drafting great and had people on the sides of mee the whole time so navigation was a breeze. I hit the first buoy way too close and got a little squeezed in the turn but cut the others slightly wide and had no problems.

Nerves killed me. I went out way too fast. The sleeveless wetuit was awesome. I had no shoulder rotation issues and the cold was not that bad. All my pool training I purposely did not use my legs much to simulate the race and instead on race day I kicked like crazy. My legs were rubber out of the water, I took it extra slow up the ramp. I walked the whole way to the bike and should of ran a little. I think I needed some training using my legs in the water to build up more calve endurance?

My wife was there to hand me my glasses and I actually stopped for a few secs to chat. Geez, get back into the race?

Practice getting the wetsuit off! Even though I had plenty of bodyglide everywhere, I could not wiggle out of that thing. Next time I will use the volunteers to help pull me out! I also needed to swim slower and not use my legs as much. My calves where already getting tight so I took a few minutes to stretch.

The hills and headwind sucked the life out of me. I think it was more mental than anything. And needing to pee in the first 30min put pressure on my bladder when I was tucked. The aero bars where great! Without them the wind would have killed me even more. But I lost a lot always having to shift my downtube shifters. Early cadence was low and standing on the hills to crank through pushed my legs too hard. Keeping it 90-100 on the 2nd half saved me from cramping.

I drank too much in T1. The small cog on my 12speed absolutely worked me! After about half way I couldn't get off the seat on the hills without my quads cramping, so I lost a lot of momentum. I need a newer aero wheelset with some better gears and indexed shifting on the aero bar. Some extra training with a strong headwind would be helpful. And a lighter that 22lb steel frame bike would be nice. AND everything was working just fine the day before the race, them on mile 26 my heart rate monitor dies. GEEZ!

They has a GREAT transition set up. You stopped, jumped off and they took your bike out of the shoot, called out your number and your gear was waiting for you on a chair in the changing tent. Then a volunteer help me through the entire transition. I mean they took my shoes off and bagged them and laid out my socks and running shoes. This was fantastic!

I took my time and since I had a helper and was seemingly in no rush. I should have went a little faster and cut the chit-chat with my new friend. BUT it was still great.

I felt rubbery as I started but got up to a seemingly good pace pretty quick. The first 6 miles where good. I though if by 8-9 I was still OK I could push for a strong finish since my training runs usually negative split. Then, WHAM-O! At the mile 8 aid station, as I started to pick it up after downing a banana my left knee buckled and a good deal of pain shot up my leg. UMMM, that's not good! I though maybe I twisted it on something? Trying to run a little over the next mile just hurt more, SO I sort of hobbled in the last few miles. Of course when you hear the cheers of the finish you get the gumption to run in no matter the pain and I finished to a surprising sub 7 hour time! I lost my stopwatch when my heart monitor went out.

Bodyglide on the underarms, they started chaffing. Never had that on a training run? My poor planning lead me to try to run in a new pair of running shoes. I paid for this BAD idea. But my new tri top I wore from the bike was great. I need one of those number straps so I dont's have to wear my number on the front of the bike shirt, slightly irritating. Also, since my heart monitor batt went dead I lost my pacing from the stopwatch, it would have been nice to know how fast I was moving.

None. I was way too excited to finish and with my family there I just got caught in the moment. It must have been fifteen minutes before I had my first drink. And with my knee I wasn't going anywhere fast. I should have stretched some. I did however promptly eat a sizeable lunch and get a great massage that helped out tremendously.


I ate plenty but probably drank alittle too much too soon. But I would rather drink too much than too little. I needed to start taking in some salt earlier. It wasn't until maybe mile 9 of the run where I had some pretzels and felt much less fatiqued. My transitions could use some practice, especially the wetsuit. My motto was too just finish my first race rather that kill myself racing. And I did just that, my transitions where slow so not to rush and forget something important. It was all good. I learned to prep gear 2-3 days in advance, and this include fresh batterys in everything. Even my daughters Gameboy batt died on the trip in? I mean get everything together extra early. Everything just piled up all of a sudden at the last minute. Geez. Get a hotel at the event, a mere 2hr drive was a real drag. Also the pre-race registration was a nightmare and added to my ill-prep. Give this plenty of time and plan ahead for all concievable challenges. I missed the pre-reg info for droping your T2 gear off at registration, so I ran down to a local store and bought a new pair of Nikes since I live 3 hours away. In retrospect, the lack of adding my normal arch gel support probably contributed to my knee issue in those new shoes. GEEZ!


GREAT RACE. J&A Productions was FANTASTIC! All-in-all I LOVED my first race. My 6 months of traning went well and I felt it prepped me pretty well. I can't wait to sign up for another, but I think I will try a couple Oly distance races before another long one. No I can put that triathlete sticker on the back of my car. I wonder how Rich (westfried)did on his full CaliforniaMan triathlon. WOOOOHOOOOO!