I was happy with my swim. It was a big improvement on my first tri. Having seen a snake style in a large pool where people are going one way in each lane, I much prefer that over going both ways in the same lane. It made passing very difficult. I'm big enough I just shouldered through, but I felt bad that I was in the middle of the lane, shouldering over a female athlete and had someone oncoming at the same time. Sorry about that! Plus, it was clear that some people had seeded themselves over ambitiously.

Nothing. I felt I had a good swim. After this I determined that I like open water swims better.

I wanted to try the flying mount I've been working on. It went well! I wasn't super smooth, but it went fine.

Nothing - it went as good as I wanted.

As this was my 2nd Tri, I decided to learn from my first. First, I didn't try to kill it on the bike. I kept my cadence up and sometimes rode in the drop when in a strong wind. Also, I have found a good mix using Gatorade in one bottle and water in another. That and some Cliff gummy shots kept me going. The cops and volunteers did a good job keeping traffic away from us. A friend of my wife's though got directed into the Walmart pkg lot by a volunteer. When she complained, the volunteer said he was telling a car behind her but she was still ticked (LOL).

I ate one too many gummy shots (Cliff). For some dumb reason, I thought I could get one more in before the run and it was truly one too many. I felt it on the run as a 'lump' in my side.

I also did a first, taking my feet out of my shoes, pedaling on top of them, and then hanging off the side coming up to the dismount. I have practiced this at home, but sometimes when I practice I twist a foot and the shoe pops off when I'm stepping off. Thankfully it didn't happen, but I was holding my breath. I am very proud of the dismount and run after the bike session. I actually went into T2 at almost a full run with my bike.

In hindsight, I might have overdone it. I probably need to jog it into T2 rather than sprint in.

I decided to go with socks again. So, putting on socks took 25-30 seconds or so. I think I'm at a point where I need the quick laces. Tying my shoes took about 10 seconds. I had debated whether I should start running without socks (see last race report), but haven't gotten that brave. I may keep looking into this.

I STANK it up in the run. BAD. I was sick earlier in the week, missed 3 days of work, with either the flu or a bad sinus infection and it was still lingering. By the time I got the run I felt good, but just didn't have it. I walked a LOT. My legs were wore out and even at a slow pace I was huffing and puffing. Plus, I actually started getting occasional chills at this point, which was scary. I was pretty disappointed with myself, but I also am trying not to be too hard on myself as I know it was an extenuating circumstance.

Maybe get some type of shot (antibiotic?) to see if I could get over the sickness at least 2 days before the race. Taking antiobiotics by mouth lets it drag on a while.

I walked and stretched. But, the run had taken it out of me. With the illness I think I over-perspired and lost a lot of liquid, more than I thought I had. I almost passed out once or twice afterwards if I stood still too long. It was pretty funky. It took me about 30 minutes afterwards to get back to normal.


lingering sinus infection


The race was very well organized. The volunteers were very friendly and helpful. A number of them were community/local volunteers while a number of them were volunteers from the Tri On the Run race team. Hey! I won a $25 gift cert to TOTR so I'm pretty happy!