This was a great swim. I got into a rhythm and started picking people off. I nailed the buoys all the way on the out leg and cross leg. I went just a little wide on the curve back into the cove. I got into a group of five and we were all swimming at the same rate, but spaced out. So, no drafting. At no point did I slow down, just jammed it the whole way. The swim may have been a little short but not by too much.

I think I need to get more to front even though I was number 60. I need to get up to the 20s and find a good draft. I can hang with the faster swimmers, so why not get a draft even if I need to work more.

I was laughing as I got to my row. Poor guy was struggling with his wet suit losing all kinds of time. I had the speed suit off and helmet on and running the bike quickly. My jump on the bike was not all that graceful. The front end of a tri bike is unbalanced and I had my water bottle on it which made it worse. I had the bike in an easy gear because you loose all kinds of speed down the hill and around the two sharp bends. I put the feet in the shoes towards the entrance of the park.

I think this one was good enough, but slower than last year.

Party time! This is a ripping fast course. I stayed with a pack of fast guys for the first 6 miles, but needed to let them go because I was getting "the burn" in the legs up the hills. So, I started to control my pacing more. Even with feeling under control, I looked down at my bike computer and it was showing 23/24 on some straight aways. I started to wonder if I was over doing it. At the turn around, I had my only "power outage" on the bike. I needed to back off and catch my breath. After few minutes, I got my second wind. At mile 21, we hit a long stretch and I opened it up. I was jamming at 28 / 30 for the stretch. Once I turned into the park, I undid the shoe straps but did not take them out. Once we got closer to transition, I took them out.

I need to do more long rides at race pace. I want to be able to do this kind of effort and not leave the gas tank low.

As I got to the dismount line, I jumped off and my shoe popped off the pedal. Ugh. The nice worker grabbed the shoe and handed it to me. This time went to the bike, so no big deal.

Ran to my spot, put my shoes on sitting down. Oh the transition sins! grabbed my hat and belt and was out like a bat out of hell. "Soul Sister" was blasting on the PA and I enjoyed the mental break.

Need to figure out how to keep the shoe from coming off. This happened last year, so I need to put some thought into it. NOT SIT DOWN while putting the shoes on....LOL. This was slower than last year!

Ran out of T and felt good. I kept it under control, but was every excited to actually run the 10K. At mile 1 marker, both hamstrings twitched and were about to grab. So, I slowed to a walk, then had to stop. I stretched some and it seemed to let up. I started running again. I upped the pace until the hamys started to hurt then backed it off a little. I held at that pace until mile 5. At this point, I decided to just forget about the hamstrings and run harder to the line. I was shocked when I turned into the run shoot and saw 2:33! Remember, I did not have a watch. I really had no idea where I was from a time perspective. I was sooooo happy. I have not been truly joyful at the finish of a race in a long time. It felt so good to finally have the hard work turn into a great race.

On the run, I really worked on the new mental game. I was constantly positive talking with myself. I was thinking about feeling good and running well enough to break 2:40. When I started to slow down, I repeated "head still, arms moving forward, elbows in, engage your butt because there in lots of power in there." over and over. It worked several times.

pace the bike a little better to allow better running. Otherwise, I managed this run and got the best out of my body today. I am headed in the right direction and will keep dropping time on the run.

Got some food, high fived with Matt and Chris. Talked with Cube. As I headed to T, I ran into Fatty and his posse. It was nice to meet his buddy and wife.


I still need to work on my run base. Just need to keep up the hard work as it is starting to happen. Stay with my current WOs and I will have more PRs this year.


5th time for the race, so I must come back for a reason. Great this moved to April.