The pace was fast right from the start. A group of 4 seemed to separate pretty early and a pack of about 10-15 followed. I tried to stay with that second pack but lost touch about 3/4 of mile in and ended up in no man's land. I realized the pace was a little quick for me so I backed off a bit the second lap. I came into T1 feeling pretty relaxed. Last years time was 20:46 so it was over a 2 min improvement

I need to be able to adapt my warm-up a little better. I was too stiff at the start amd missed that pack of runners. I could have tucked behind them and would have saved some energy.

No problems except the mud on my shoes which made clipping in a bit difficult. I had to unclip at one point to kick the mud off.

Nothing

Very early in the bike is a long gradual hill. I took this time to take in some liquids. I passed a few people early and just tried to stay smooth. In my last DU, I was pushing too big of gears so I focused more on spinning. I stayed in the aerobars probably 95% of the time and thought I did a better job of shifting. Near the end, I realized that I probably did not push hard enough on the bike as I was feeling way to good. I decided to pick-up the pace and passed a couple of guys that had passed me earlier. I dropped down a few gears and spun to make sure the legs were ready for the final run.

I improved by exactly 5 minutes over last years time.

I could have pushed harder but I am still learning how to ride. I am still really happy with this ride. My legs felt great and I had good power and good turnover. It is just a matter of finding that happy medium of how hard to push it.

Everything was fine

I had passed a few guys right at the end of the bike so I wanted to get out of T2 as fast I could and start quickly to get some separation. There were very few runners on the course and I didn't want anyone drafting off of me. I really felt good at the beginning of the run. I think all of the fast paced bricks I have done really paid off as I did not feel tired. The first lap went by quickly and I had dropped any runners near me. However, I really started getting some nasty side stiches on the second lap. My legs wanted to go but the rest of my body just rebelled. I slowed down a bit on the second lap and just tried to focus on easy breathing. I was able to keep up a decent pace but just couldn't push it. I don't have last years time as the timing was messed up in the prior year.

Push harder on the bike

Grabbed a bottle of gatorade and went up to cheer on Rob. I tried to keep walking and doing a little stretching. I had a banana and cliff bar a little later.


I need more workouts at sub 6:00/mile running pace to get more comfortable at those speeds. My bike is coming along better than expected so I think just more time in the saddle is the way to go.


This was an A race for me and it was also the first race I did last year (my 1st year of tri's). I am really happy with the results and the improvement over last year (about 9 minutes). The weater was perfect and the competition was awesome. It was nice to hook up with the other Bt'ers (Rob, Polly and Ashley).

Hartford Marathon Foundation always puts on a great race. The course is well marked and the competition at Shamrock is just awesome.