Pretty good chop in the water made this a slow swim. Usually I settle in and find a draft. Getting tossed around by the waves made it difficult to hold my body position and find a draft, so no drafting for me. Plus, my brain was occupied with timing my breathing between waves, so there wasn't much processing capacity left to think of all the swim form cues. No worries -- it was a nice day for a swim.

Not sure. I'm comfortable in waves, but I think my form deteriorates in choppy water. I probably should have tried harder to find a draft.

I didn't want to swim with my tri-top because the back pockets are a litle stretched out and I didn't want them to catch water. So I wrestled the top on in T1. And "wrestled" is exactly the right word.

Buy a new tri-top with tighter fitting pockets so I can swim with it.

I love this bike course. Nice rolling scenic terrain. Pretty stiff South wind the entire time. To me, wind is a mental game more than a physical game, so I just tried to relax in aero position and not get tense about the wind. There were a few fast descents with strong gusty cross-winds that gave me a few nervous moments -- I reverted to one hand in aero and one hand on a bullhorn for stability. The last 10 miles or so was a nice tailwind. I had the very beginnings of quad and hamstring cramps at that point, so I eased off on the final climbs to hold off the cramps before the run.

Maybe drink a little more water and take a salt pill or two on the bike. Also had I known the run was going to be so hot and that I would be walking parts of it to cool down, I would have gone harder on the bike and used my energy there.

This is where the race got ugly. My run is usually a bit weak, and I've had some Achilles injuries I've been dealing with for a few years, so I didn't expect a fast run. But within the first mile I was completely overheated. It became a trudge from aid station to aid station. I spent most of the run alternating between thirsty and nauseous. Thankfully, a few salt pills completely eliminated my cramps, so my electrolytes were OK. The volunteers and crowd were AWESOME!

Do some heat tolerance training before the race. I was completely unprepared for the heat.

I didn't do a warm-down, but I tried to do a cool-up sitting in the shade and drinking a LOT of water.


Heat.


This race is very well organized, and the volunteers are fantastic!