I feel the need to immediately state that the swim was long (Kimberly's Garmin said 1 mile) and the split time includes the super-long uphill run back to transition.

Anyway, after starting in the back I had to fight my way through the crowd. I started off sighting pretty badly because I was focused on trying to get around people. Eventually I settled into a rhythm, and started running into guys from the previous 2 waves. There was a lot of contact during the first loop, but I figure that was just good practice for my upcoming IM. The second loop was a lot more spread out. I focused on practicing good form and sighting, and I was actually enjoying the swim, especially since the water temperature was really nice.

Seed myself properly in my wave, and it would help if I had my goggles actually on my face when the horn sounds.

The combination of the long transition run being included in the swim split, having plenty of time to pull down my suit during the run, and the small transition area resulted in this blistering fast T1 split. I just pulled my wetsuit the rest of the way off, shoved a gel and salt pills in my pocket, put on my shoes, helmet and glasses and got the heck out of there.

Nothing

After I climbed the initial hill out of transition and got on the highway, I immediately heard a once-around noise coming from one of my wheels. I got off the bike twice in the first couple miles to investigate, but I never found anything. It was frustrating but I only wasted about a minute. After that I decided to stop worrying about it, and I spent the first several miles cruising along in aero as much as possible, since the course was not super hilly at that point.

Once we got past North Fork (I think, I don't know the area well at all) the course became rather hilly. There were several descents and climbs, followed by several winding miles along the lakeshore. That was my favorite part of the ride, it was beautiful and fun. I kept the pace pretty easy for most of the ride, but got impatient and hammered the last 5 miles or so. Eventually we ended up back on the highway we started on, and then descended back into transition.

Ride my bike a little the night before or morning of the race to make sure there are no issues. I did the usual brake and tire check, but never actually took the bike for a ride after taking it off the rack.

Fastest T2 in my AG! I did take time to put on socks, which I usually don't bother with for an Oly, but my IM is in 3 weeks, my shoes are still pretty new, and I could do without blisters. This time I remembered to put my visor and race belt on while running out of transition.

Nothing

Although I didn't realize it at the time, for a brief moment I was in 2nd place in my AG. I started the run feeling ok, though not quite as fresh as I would have liked to be, but that's what I get for pushing it during the last several minutes of the bike. Very quickly I was passed by 2 people in my AG. They were running very fast and I had no hope of sticking with them. Nearing the first turnaround I saw a woman with 30 on her calf. She was tall and slender and running at a very comfortable-looking pace. After the turnaround, I passed her, but a little while later she passed me back and we leapfrogged each other for the rest of the run.

I started off trying to hold a 9-ish pace, but after about 2 miles I was really hurting and had to back off a little. I focused on downing as much liquid as I could force myself to drink, because it was hot and I had only taken one salt pill on the bike. I had a gel about a mile in and drank a bunch of water, but then I started to cramp so I switched to gatorade.

Coming back into the finish area after the first loop I saw Kimberly, and eventually I caught up to her again. During the 2nd loop I focused on maintaining a barely-tolerable pace, which was still challenging even though my side cramp was subsiding. I took it really easy up the hill on the dogleg, and I remember that even though I felt like total crap, I sounded ok when I exchanged comments about the hill with other runners. However a few minutes later, I was suffering to the point where I could barely eek out a "thanks" to people cheering us on.

Coming out of the dogleg I passed the 30-year-old again. Later she introduced herself to me (her name is Terra). I stayed ahead of her as I pushed hard up the last long hill, but right before the top I heard a voice behind me, and sure enough it was Terra cheering on other members of her club. She sounded like she wasn't suffering at all and she cruised right past me. She seemed like a really nice person and it was clear I couldn't keep up, so I just told her that she was doing great as she passed me by.

I saw Kimberly one more time, she was pushing hard as she neared the end of her first loop. I gasped out some words of encouragement and then made my way down the chute, happy to be done.

I probably should have just taken some more salt pills instead of shoving so much fluid down my gullet, but I didn't feel like messing with the plastic bag. I need to find a better way to carry them before IM.

Other than that, I'm ok with how I did. I pushed hard and finished feeling totally spent.

Found Dave who had been taking pics, ate a little food, guzzled a ton of fluid, probably about 70 oz. It was above 90 at that point, and I was not feeling great. Since I knew I had a half hour to kill before Kimberly finished, I contemplated taking a quick dip in the lake, but opted not to since I would have to go all the way down and back up the stairs.

After Kimberly finished we sat around for a bit while Dave got the truck and then came back to pick us up, which was really nice. Later we met back up with the trail-running peeps and chowed down on Mexican food and margaritas!


I had a recovery week this past week but I'm nearing the end of IM training and feeling rather tired. Also, it was hot, and while I'm getting better at dealing with heat, it still is challenging for me. Overall I'm pretty happy with how things went, even though I got edged off the podium yet again!


I would come back for this one, it was well-run, beautiful and fun. After my Wildflower meltdown I'm really glad I got another race in before IMCdA in 3 weeks.

Once again I had a great time with my CCTC crew!!