They shortened the swim course from 660 yards to about 440 because of the water temperature. My opinion is that that was the wrong choice. Once the race started and I got in the water I didn't even notice it. I could have stayed in for a lot longer. I'm glad I didn't have to, but the water temperature had nothing to do with that. Also, when they announced that the course was shortened, they said it was somewhere around 440-500 yards since they forgot the GPS so they didn't know how long it really was. With that in mind, swim splits are meaningless and I just put 440 in the space shown for distance.

I was in the 4th heat. Watching the first one go off it looked like there was some crowding, but they got it straightened out after the first buoy. Not the case with my heat. With the shortened course, they brought the first buoy in so it was probably only about 100 yards out. Unless you were a really fast swimmer and could get good separation in the first 25-50 yards, you were more or less resigned to the congestion. I started on the outside on the left. Got in the water and went hard, but I'm not a fast enough swimmer to get out in front. There was plenty of bumping and hitting going on and it was tough to get into any sort of a rhythm. At the first buoy I literally sat and bobbed in the water for about 5 seconds waiting to be able to get by. I got into a good rhythm for maybe 100 yards on the next straight, but hit congestion again at the second buoy, and again at the 4th. The one thing that did help was being able to breathe on either side. I think if the swim were the regular distance it wouldn't have been as crowded, but I guess I shouldn't complain since it's my weakest event.

Since the timing mat for the swim exit wasn't until right as you were entiering T1, the swim times were a little longer than just the swim itself. If I had to guess my pace, it was probably about 1:50/100yds, which is slower than t-pace.

I definitely need to work on my open water mass swim starts and sighting. I didn't really panic, but didn't get relaxed either. If I were to do it again, I'd start in the middle and go out a little bit harder for a longer distance and not worry about getting into any rhythm until after the first buoy.

For T1 you had to run around to the back and then through the transition area so everyone went the same distance (approximately). There was a mat down leading the way around, and the ground was otherwise rocky and not something you want to run on with bare feet. I got behind a couple guys that were slow, but it was probably only a few seconds in the overall scheme of things. Also, in T1 you had to put your wetsuit in a bag tht was marked with your race number so they could bring it to the finish later on. That was kind of a pain, especially when you pack as poorly as me, but everyone had to do it so no big deal.

Run around the people instead of waiting behind them on the mats.

I wasn't really sure of what my race pace should be for this since A) I've been doing the time trial series for the last 6 weeks, which is all out, as hard as you can go. And B) I wanted to make sure I wasn't blowing up on the hills while climbing. As it turns out, I probably went a little too easy on the climbs. That's not saying I was taking my sweet time going uphill, but I could have pushed the pace a little bit more. I only got passed by one guy that was getting out of his saddle on every climb, and other than that I picked off people the rest of the ride. Too bad most of them were 25-29, though there were a few 30-34s in there. I figured I'd see the guy that passed me again and I did - he was hanging his head and looked pretty worn down on one of the longer climbs. At the top of one of the climbs there's a big white rock in the side of the hill that says "Jesus Saves." Considering that climb was awful, my only thought was that if Jesus wanted to save, He could have started the downhill a lot sooner. Going downhill, I was surprised that not many people were pedaling. I think my max speed got up to 42. Talking to my friend after the race he said the course rode a little slower and he got up to about 47 last year and only 40 this year (due to a slight headwind). Anyway..... The roads were mostly smooth and there were no problems with my chain dropping so that was good.

Attack the hills better.

I stumbled a little bit getting my feet back on top of my shoes to pedal up to the dismount, but considering it was the first time I've done that, it wasn't all bad. Got into the transition and ran past my spot by about 10 feet. No big deal. Everything else went smoothly.

Not go by my transition spot.

The two things I heard the most about for this race were the cold water temp and the hill coming out of the run course. Unlike the water temp, the hill was the real deal. It sucked. Out of transition you run maybe 100 yards to the foot of the hill and then it's up. I started out jogging it, but was getting destroyed. Having talked with my friend and his wife the day before, she said that last year she walked and didn't lose any time. So for the top quarter of the hill, I started walking, taking long strides. Once I did that, the guy next to me did the same, but the guy in front of us kept running. I didn't lose a step on him and he probably put out twice the energy. After that I just had a hard time getting my legs under me. I was passing people on the run, but felt slow. Once I hit the turnaround I started feeling better and picked up the pace a little bit. Even then my legs felt like they were shot and I was running slow, but I couldn't go any faster. From a breathing standpoint I was fine. I felt like I was only using about 85% of my lung capacity, but my legs were fried and I felt like I was at about 105% of my LT (if that's possible). Also, once I got over a certain pace my IT band would start aching so I held back just under it. Coming in was alright, except the big hill was tough to go down. I'm kind of surprised noone wiped out coming down it since you really have to control your speed. I passed someone just before it and as I got to the bottom I heard footsteps behind me so with about 0.2 miles left I picked it up and started my final kick through the finish.

Not really sure what I could do differently. I wonder if it would save any time to just run hard up the hill and recover over the next quarter mile before starting tomove again. That would be pretty tough to do though.

Gatorade and water while watching others come through.


Probably a few things for this. 1. I was at a 3-day bachelor party in Las Vegas the weekend before. Not exactly the best way to start a taper. 2. Time trial that I PR'ed at on Wednesday. 3. Driving from Denver to IL 2 days before. 4. IT Band. 5. Didn't know the course.

Given all those things, they're not excuses and a couple of them could have been prevented so that's my own doing.


My goal for this race was to qualify for AG Nationals, which required a top 10% finish. I was 13/103 so I didn't meet my goal. The swim could have been a little better even though I didn't have a time mapped out for it. I wanted to hit 50 minutes or better on the bike and didn't. On the run I was hoping to run about a 6'50" pace, but didn't do that either. Overall it was a good first race of the season and given that it was only my 3rd tri ever, it's still a learning experience.

Aside from the shortened swim course, I thought the event was well organized and the volunteers were all good. There were cops and cars throughout the bike and run course to make sure traffic didn't interfere, and that everyone was staying on the course. I don't know what my tri schedule will be for next year, but I'd have no problem adding this one in again.