2 laps. Still on shore in the mass line up when race director says 30 seconds. Barely got in the water, and we were off. Last wave. Massive mauling all around. Couldn't get into a rhythm. After the second turn, spread out, and I got good rhythm going. then turning around the bouy and BAM! right into an underwater tree stump. Big welt in my chest. Definitely through me off. And it stunk like muck around here. Bleagh! Kinda regained my composure and off to second lap. Each time by bouy I just got mugged. Around that infamous bouy again and I swore it wouldn't happen again, so I went around wider and BAM! Again! I didn't take into account that the bouys float around a little. Those last 200 yds were tough as I was a bit tired, but mostly the stench of boat fumes and the muck and everything took its toll.

Tough to say - If I swam wider, it would be more shallow and muckier. Just wish I was able to keep better rhythm.

A little dizzy from the swim. Just took my time to get organized. Crap! noticed the insole was missing from one of my bike shoes. I had been testing some inserts.

Slather on much more sunscreen.

Started off too quick - tried to get in some calories quickly. Mojo bar and water. HRM not registering yet - when it finally did after 15-20 mins, it said 157! My plan was 130ish. But between the eating, adrenaline, headwind, and slight uphill. Brought it back down to 140's, and finally settled in at 144. Passed alot of people - I had started in the last wave. Each one, I was saying to myself, well I'm ahead of them! Just a mental game. Tried to stay in aero bars, but wasn't comfortable. Took one bio-break. Hydrated and fueled well. Smuckers uncrustable on second lap. Gaaa...dry.... Felt full...but kept downing the gatorade. Started with my own Cytomax/CarboPro mixture. A little disappointed in my time, but met my goal of sub 3:00.

Didn't use big ring - was just going by HR. Might have done a little more, but still I kept cadence at 90.

Again, took my time. No hurry. Took 2 advil.

More sunscreen!

Worried that my arch problem might rear its ugly head. Had really, really cut back on running. But started off and didn't feel anything. Cool. HR was 151 - a bit high, but ok. At 40', the ball of my foot started to hurt - uh, oh. Related to arch? Finally at 60' I stopped to re-lace my shoe and from then on, no problems. Great! Settled into 155 bpm and kept it there. Took in GU at 40', but then only gatorade after. Pretty happy that I didn't walk at all. 2 hours was my goal, but I would be happy with anything under 10' pace. 2:03:43 - 9:27 pace - cool! Didn't see any mile markers but I'm pretty sure I kept my pace the whole way. Tired a bit by mile 10 and last 3 miles were run on guts. Plan was to allow myself to go up to 165 bpm, but legs weren't having anything to do with that. The time and miles seem to go by quickly. Maybe being able to see the other runners helped.

nothing really. Other than training. This was my first back-to-back long ride / long run. But, I'm confident that my training was good - would do a short brick run after a long ride.

Walked around. To food line, to clean up transition area.


Experience. Genes. Recent injury to my arch hurting my training.


I thought it was a decent race. Volunteers were awesome - they'd point you out and ask you "Gatorade or water?" as you approached station and then they'd have it for you. Swim was pretty gross. It wasn't a real high-profile race - which probably kept the entrance fee down. But it was just a good solid race. Can't complain.