Water was cold! I was definitely glad I swam the day before with a group of buddies. This was my first time in the OW since AMICA back in... October? The start was a bit rough. 5 seconds into the swim, someone swiped my left goggle halfway off my face. Pause. Recover. The rest of the swim was pretty good. Sighting was surprisingly great. I went straight to each bouy. There were a couple of times where I drafted and passed the earlier collegiate starting collegiate athletes. Rhythm got set almost right away. Barely paused in the water, and if I did, it was for half a second with forward momentum still carrying me forward.

I think I could have pushed the pace a bit harder. I didn't feel gassed coming out of the water.

Wetsuit slid right off. And then I went into problem solving mode. I saw the huge expanse of rocky road I had to cover before the bike mount and decided to snap my mounted shoes off the bike. Literally just stood there. Pretty stupid to not think ahead. And next time, I should put wayyyyy more tape on my nutrition if I decide to attach it to the top tube. The first pedal stroke almost swung my two gels off the bike. Would've bonked the race!

Think ahead.

Right out of the gate, I think I took the bike a little too softly. I had decided to conserve my energy on the way out (tailwind) to have strength for the ride back (HEADWIND and crosswind gusts). The crosswinds played havoc on my front wheel on turns so that took that great advantage I have (comparatively) out of the race. I did take aerobars on all the downhills though. Passed a lot of people doing that. I counted about 4-5 people that passed me. The rest of the time it was passing :)

About 50 minutes of the ride was comfortable and a pretty good race pace. Then the headwinds combined with the terrible fitting just made life a living crapstorm. My back was aching so badly, I HAD to stand up about 10-15 times the remainder of the bike portion. I just can't seem to find the right position on my roadbike to make it a tribike.

Nutrition for the first time worked perfectly! 1/3 Gatorade 2/3 water bottle was finished by the end of the bike. Gel eaten about 3 minutes in and 10 minutes from the end.

Just ride the new bike when it gets here and take advantage of the FIST fitting. I have a feeling this is going to make a HUGE difference. EXCITED!

I had the coolest dismount off the bike. Rear wheel locked up and I skidded to the spectators at the dismount line haha. Kept the shoes on and ran to the bike racks. Everything was decent. I did have to ask for directions from a spectator on where the run exit was though... Embarrassing!

Again, think ahead.

Still my achilles heel of triathlon~ Just took the pace easy. I took the advice of some people saying that the cramps on the run might be from going too hard. I think I just went 8:30-9:30 pace the entire way. And even though a lot of people passed me, I just focused on my own race and kept chugging along. No ab cramps! Yeah! My left quad did get extremely tight crossing the bridge on both the way out and back though (I think the curvature + hardness had something to do with it).

Used water cups from the aid stations very liberally to keep myself cool. Each time I poured water, it was a great energy boost. Teammates everywhere on the out and back course kept me happy and focused.

The last 3-4 people that had passed me a 1/4 mile from the end became targets, and I kicked it into high gear for a crowd cheering sprint. Last 100m or so, I just hammered it in and passed all of them. Felt good to be able to do that again and not be crippled by cramps at the end of the race.

Just keep running. Current average of 6-9mpw isn't going to get me anywhere.

Coconut water, oranges, talk, cheer.


Just workout everything more. I've been slacking an awful lot lately. If I can motivate myself back to September-December mental strength, I'm going to be making another big jump soon.