Felt really good in water this week versus 3 weeks ago at Rumpass. A lot more comfortable in the wetsuit and did great job drafting. This is one of the easier swims I have done. It is super easy sighting because of how close you are to the shore going upriver (even though glare) and down river there are A LOT of things to look at vs the buoys. Had a very tough start but after the turnaround found some awesome feet and put it in effortless cruise control. Id say I was at 60% PE and thought about making a move but was SUPER comfortable so stuck with conserving energy. Last 100m lost the feet and got the legs kicking and took my only #1 bathroom break of the day. Ready for the BIKE!

Got up on the wooden deck super quick but had to be careful running until on the pavement (didnt want to slip) Ran pretty hard into T1 pacing off anothing wetsuit runner! One to bike wetsuit was hard getting off but once that was done was off in a hurry! Got shoes on, flask in trisuit, helmet strapped, glasses on and was off running with bike!

HR 162 NP 236
Got to work right away here. Took me a solid 8 miles to get my HR under control but once I did settled into a nice pace. Nutrition plan was 2x24oz of Infinit, gel flask w/ EFS&roctane + 1/2 bottle gatorade endurance from aid and 1 powerbar gel from aid. Approx 950 calories.

This is a very difficult course, did a great job staying in the aerobars getting in nutrition, anytime we got to more than 5% grade would get out of aero. The first 25 miles was working my way through field but once I passed two riders (both riding p2s as well) I thought I had reached my goal of getting the lead while on the bike. At the next turn asked a volunteer if anyone was up ahead and he said YEAH! A little disheartened I put my head down and continued hitting power numbers and nutrition. I had two scary moments on the bike, the first came when two little brown dogs came running onto one of the backroad sections and came ALL to close to hitting one, got the bullhorns screaming (might have some hair in a spoke here) but once I got through unscathed it was back to the aerobars, checked my cpu which was hanging on for dear life since I bumped it witht he close encounter and BACK to charging ahead! Things were VERY uneventful, it's a lot more fun when you have other bikers around you but my garmin 500 w/ all the data kept me semi entertained cruising along. The next speedbump came about 35 miles into ride when I was making a left turn with some solid speed down a hill, the police let a car that was stopped pull out (I surprised everyone I saw since there was no one else on course in front of me) got on the brakes SUPER hard and had to decide to pull in front and make turn and HOPE they stopped or I stop and let the car go, I stopped to let car go and got going again SLOWLY as I was not in the right gear for this stop and go action. The true entertainment came at the only out and back section were I would be able to see who that person was ahead of me? after looking at the results I still cant for the life of me figure out who the heck it was?? He had 2 polic motorcycle escorts and it was my goal to catch him. I was about 1:15 down on him w/ 12 miles to go. Made the turnaround and settled in, I had a nice margin over the guys behind on the bike and only built that lead finishing. Came into T2 with the definite lead but by how much??

Super fast compared to rest of field it looks like.

The plan I had set out for was to run the first ~3 miles at 6:30 pace and settle in after that. My run confidence has been up and down ALL spring and was ready to test myself! Well it turns out this was not the day nor course to try and test yourself. Coming out of T2 I had just passed the leader and knew I had the lead but had no idea by how much. I kept waiting to hear footsteps behind me but nothing! Once coming off neyland we made a sharp turn and was confused because I thought we were to run up Joe Johnson then onto trail and saw NO orange markers. I hesitated and asked several people and they said keep going?! Still questioning myself I moved on! Right before the turnaround a nice lady in the Oly said I made it look easy, I thought wait till you see me coming up the hill to worlds fair, i'll not look like this! At the turnaround the volunteers screamed at me TURNAROUND, I responded im doing the HALF! From that point on every volunteer did an awesome job but they were surprised to see me! The hill climbing up to the church parking lot surprised me big time! A practically walked up it and regrouped on the down hill after kingston pike. This was the first time during the run I looked back and saw nobody. Had several highs and lows to the turnaround. The heat and the mental side of running with the lead is a whole new feeling. No one to pace off of, no one ahead to catch, just you, the road, hills, sunshine, and mindgames. Was VERY happy to see the turnaround to see how much of a gap i truly had. I know their gear got tied up in customs but WHY IN THE WORLD WOULDNT YOU HAVE A TIMING MAT THE TURNAROUND FOR THE HALFREV???! Anyway, I was on my way back to worlds fair, at this point I was not feeling good and form felt HORRIBLE! I told myself to suck it up, you are about to see your competition so put on a show for them, regroup, smile, get the legs turning over and show NO signs of weakness. Well that worked for all the field but the two guys that ran me down! I had a bout a 3:30 gap on 2nd and no one really impressed me but two guys about 5-6 min back that were flying! I knew if I could get my legs back and could finish with 6:30 miles they were going to have to do something special. No such luck as the hills and heat got the best of me. At about mile 10 2nd place went FLYING by me and the eventually winner in the second wave (old mans wave) Rob who is an awesome guy went FLYING by me too and offered some encouragement. At this point i dug as deep as I could, my original goal for this race was to come off the bike in the lead and hang on for 3rd place overall as I'm not the best runner but am working hard! Once back on Neyland I was able to look over to see if anyone was charging hard and saw nobody! Neyland was completely exposed to the sun and I swear there was a headwind. I was begging to just get to the parking garage, that adrenaline you get when you are 1.5 miles away usually kicks in at the point? where did it go? There was not miracle energy as I kept inching closer to the line. Finally made it to the boat house, made my way through the tunnel up the switchbacks hobbling along asking everyone I passed if anyone was behind me? anyone back? you see anyone? That was one tough final hill but I made it, I worked super hard this race and am very pleased to have finished in 3rd. Not the best time but I was racing this race, not for time or pr's but to win.

Push pace harder on the hills

Love the normatec boots! If only I could afford them!

Talked with Rob who won, awesome job! Look forward to racing you again and showing off my new run form in about 5 years! George, thanks for clearing up the results and giving me more motivation for the run. At the turnaround he said he was going to catch me at mile 10 based on the way I looked and he did exactly that, one day I will have that confidence. Awesome job to the two of you!


I still have a lot of work to do, but swim/bike fitness will still being worked on hard. The run will come together but is going to take time and patience. Short course speed is there somewhat but anything over a 10k i'm struggling with base and speed. More misery to come working on this!