I was thrilled with my swim performance. A lot of it was dumb luck, but a bit of it was good prep work. Doing the swim TT the day before got a lot of the OWS kinks out. The key, however, was the fact that in addition to the buoys there were two sets of floating lines like the ones that separate lanes at a pool. I positioned myself well at the start and just hugged the lines as best I could, which meant I didn't really have to sight at all. I also drafted as much as possible. For the last 150 meters or so before the turn around, I drafted off of someone swimming at exactly my pace, and that helped a lot. At the turn around I saw that I was on pace to beat my goal time of 33 minutes, so on the way back I added a few pick-ups to make sure I kept my pace up. I had to say goodbye to the guy I had been drafting off of, because I didn't like the turn he took around the pillar on the beach - I wanted to position myself closer to the inside floating line. That's where my bilateral breathing practice came in handy - I could follow the outside line on my left on the way out and the inside line to my right on the way back. Awesome! I was on my own for a bit, but eventually found one or two new people to draft off of and just held pace as best I could. The water was surprisingly calm, given how choppy it had been just a few minutes before the start.

After the first turn bouy, I couldn't find the floating line, so I tried sighting off the buoys and off the pack. I probably lost a bit of time doing this and taking a longer route than I needed to. I should have trusted that the line was there somewhere (since the RD said it would be) - or have looked over the course a bit better from the beach - and gone to find that line. Otherwise, I think I did about as well as my slow swimming abilities allow. Oh, I guess I could have taken some swim lessons during my training, but that's another story.

I had set things up pretty well - and I was fortunate that my spot was on high ground. I had to run through a small lake from the downpour to get to my bike. I hadn't practiced jumping on the bike, and there was a steep hill immediately out of T1 anyway, but I did have my shoes clicked in and attached with rubber bands, I pedaled up the hill with my feet on top of my shoes, and I got into my shoes after the top of the hill.

Have practiced a flying mount during training, maybe?

A very hilly first 10k made it somewhat difficult to gauge my pace. Since I was FOP out of the swim, it meant the bike was more competitive than I was used to. Lots of leap frogging, and many more people passed me than during my fisrt race last November. It also seemed to be a crowded field, and I was surprised by how much drafting I saw. I kept wanting people I passed to drop back, but they didn't. I tried to turn the first 10k into a recovery ride of sorts, going at only a moderate pace, but the hills made that difficult, especially since I live and train in a flat city. After 20k, I saw that I was more or less on pace to hit my goal of 1:15, and I unleashed a little bit. Either the wind was at my back or it was mostly downhill on the return. Either way, I gained some good time during the second half of the bike, but I tried not to overcook for the run. Pavement was wet from the rain, so I took the turns and the cobblestone very easy. I grabbed a new water bottle from the aid station at the 20k mark, but I fumbled it and lost it. Fortunately, I had started out with two bottles, so I just move my isotonic bottle to the front cage and dealt with it. The rain had really cooled things down, so it wasn't a problem. I wish I had taken the turns a bit better, but the wet pavement and crowded field slowed me down.

Trust my cornering skills more. Hold on to the new water bottle. Have a better understaning of proper gearing for hills.

This was a disaster. I had practiced the flying dismount, and I was ready for it. I was nervous only because there was an intersection between the bike dismount and part of the run course, but the RD made it clear bikes had the right of way. I was so focused on this, I hadn't even given thought to wahat to about other cyclists stopped at the dismount line. I came down the final hill, slowed down to where I was comfortable, jumped off the bike...and crashed into some poor guy and his bike at the dismount line. I felt terrible about it. And I felt like an idiot. Now I've got a nasty cut on my elbow from the fall that will take quite some time to heal. I'm lucky I don't need stiches. One of the race organizers checked to make sure I was okay, which I assured her I was, then I picked up the shoe that had fallen off the pedal and ran with it and my bike into T2. I racked my bike, took off my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my Garmin, put on my running shoes and hat, and left. Unfortunately, I forgot to offload the two granola bars and gels I had for some reason stuck in my back pocket for the bike. Sigh. Really the only positive thing was that my family was there cheering me on out of T2.

Everything. I would take it all back if I could. This was the only leg where I didn't meet my time goal, and that was the least of my concerns.

I felt pretty good for the first 2 miles and then pushed it a bit harder on the next two miles. Somehow I missed the beep of my Garmin telling me that I had hit 4 miles and should really unleash, but I'm not sure I had enough enery left to unleash anyway. I guess that means I overdid it somewhere along the way. Also slowing me down (or providing me an excuse) was the fact that my water-logged right shoe started causing pain to my right arch. I could feel it dig/rub with every step, and I've now got a nice long and bright red reminder of my race along the entire curve of my arch. Ouch. Still, I ran the whole thing, even those annoying hills. I probably took too much comfort along the way that I was going to hit my time goals, including for the run, and let myself slack off a bit. That bag of bars and gels in my back pocket really started to annoy me, but for some reson I didn't want to throw it away. I figured I would toss it to my family when I saw them after the first lap, but I didn't see them, so I eventually tossed it to my friend's family (after 6k or so). I also had my soaking wet knee brace in my pocket just in case my knee gave out during the race. Thankfully I didn't need it during the run (but my knee atarted hurting immediately afterward). My family was there waiting for me at the finish chute, and my son ran with me the final 50 meters or so, which was nice. I made an effort to smile for the cameras this time!

Bring a plastic bag to transition to keep my shoes and other gear dry in case of rain. Push myself harder throughout and especially at the end. Not carry unnecessay extra food weight. Not look at my pace so much?

Fruit, water, wait for my buddies to finish, chat with my family, get first aid for my elbow, massage, after party.


The rain/wet road conditions, no swimming lessons, not pushing myself harder on the run.


When the torrential rain came, I decided to toss my goal times out the window, especially for the bike. Just goes to show that you never know what will happen. The course was nice, but there were very few spectators on the bike course. The organizers were terrific, and the participants seemed relaxed and happy to have a good time. Definitely a Singapore-based race, with very few folks (only my group of friends?) traveling any real distance to do the race. Even the organizers were surprised we traveled all the way from Beijing. The kids race the next day was well organized and a lot of fun for both children and parents, which made it a real family weekend. Being stuck on an island without a bike shop and then being gouged by the Singapore-based bike mechanic that came for the race was a bit disappointing. Overall, a nice excuse to visit Singapore and have a fun weekend in the sun with other families with children of all ages. I was very gratified to see all of my consistent training and attention to nutrition pay off with such good splits and a great overall time. Keys to getting faster: swimming lessons, biking with power, training on hills, training with negative splits.