I was in wave 4 (Fiancee in wave 5... 3 minutes behind me), I eventually moved into the middle of my group for the running beach start. After the gun went off and ran into the water, kinda had a slow start as everyone was jockeying for position, trying not to get kicked or punched, I was finally able to put my head down and swim after about 50 meters. The water was fantastic... about 74 degrees, calm and somewhat clear. I tucked in behind a guy and drafted him for a while and maintained a good smooth swim stroke that was comfortable and not over exerting myself... wasn't quite sure what kind of pace I was going at, but I was comfortable. The first turn buoy seemed like it took forever to get to, but finally made it and made a good swim pace turn without hesitation and proceeded out toward the second turn buoy. The second length was nice... the field had stretched out a bit, so there was no fighting for position and I picked up the pace a little. I noticed that I was passing a few swimmers from my wave and then some from the wave before me. Finally made it to the second turn buoy, rounded that just fine and pressed on to the finish... I didn't have any issues with sighting, just peaked ahead quickly every 10 strokes or so to make sure I was still going straight. I got passed by a girl that started in wave 6, she passed me like I was standing still, if only I could learn to swim like that. I knew that the fiancee was going to catch up to me at any moment (she was a D1 swimmer, and sure enough with about 200m left there she was, on my left... so I picked up my pace even more and finished the swim with her. As Jen and I crossed the timing mat side by side with the fiancee, I slapped her on the butt and passed her on route to the rack.

Not much... as this was my first Oly, I just wanted to pace myself comfortably and see how the rest of the day went. I now know that I can pace quicker in the swim without hurting the rest of the race.

T1 was not too bad... by the time I got to my rack, my wetsuit was down to my waste and I promptly stripped it off. Took a drink of water, put on my bike shoes, helmet and watch. Unfortunately the rack height was a little low for my seat height, so I had to remove the bike at an angle to clear the bar... not much I could do about that

Nothing beside learn to jump on the bike with the shoes attached.

The bike course had been changed from the original course due to road construction, so the international distance biked the sprint course twice, therefore the course distance was shortened to about 21.5 miles. I took off on the bike, with very little traffic and started at a higher cadence pace to warm up the legs without killing them. Right away on the bike you had two overpasses to go over, with the second overpass taking you into a right hand turn at the base, so you couldn't even take advantage of the downhill. Right away on the bike, I was passing others while maintaining moderate effort. My strategy for the bike was to bike at 70% effort and save the legs for the 10k run afterwards, so I had to constantly remind myself not to mash or push the bike too hard, especially on the first loop. The remainder of the bike course is fairly flat with steady uphills and shorter and quicker downhills, although quite a bit of turning for such a short loop. The many turns was a bit of an advantage for me, with my car racing background, I was able to apply my braking and apex techniques to the ride and make up good time on everyone else. The second loop became more interesting as the tail end of the International bikers and the first few waves of the sprinters were now on the course, I had to think several moves ahead to navigate the traffic. Not quite sure what got into me, but I ended up doing my first flying dismount. I stuck the landing! I had a big smile on my face after doing it because I felt Pro, plus I didn't face plant it.


Saved too much on the bike for the run, will try to push a little harder next time on the bike.

It was a fun bike ride.

T2 was uneventful... Racked the bike, took another drink of water, put on the shoes, grabbed my belt and visor then headed to run out.

The beginning of the run was not too bad... I had a weird muscle pulling sensation in my left buttock, but the legs felt good, I was hydrated. In looking back at my run portion of the race, I determined that I started the run at a faster pace that I should have done... I ended up walking a little after 2 miles to lower the HR and relax the legs, ran to the 3 mile mark, walked a little and ran to the 4 mile mark... At this point, I had taken water at mile 1, 2 and 4. Shortly after running again at the 4 mile mark... side cramp time! and this one hurt. I focused on my breathing pattern, mixing in more walking to help get rid of the side cramp... It just didn't want to go away, and it hurt to run as a result. Finally with about 3/4 mile left to go, the side cramp was gone and I took off for the finish... running at a 8:00/mile pace to finish line. There was no doubt that the side cramp hurt my overall run time and performance... not really sure what did it to me, but I am guessing it was the water earlier on in the run. I hadn't run anything longer than 5 miles, so doing 6.2 miles was new to me.

Not really much of a surprise... I am not a runner, never was, never will be. However, my run has improved quite a bit from last year. Just need to HTFU, put in more miles and faster pace. Will try to improve for next time.

Grabbed some water, gatorade and banana then relaxed waiting for the fiancee to finish.


I can't complain about where I am at currently at the physical level... I have improved so much from a year ago, losing almost 90 lbs. Each race is my current challenge that I strive to improve upon. I will continue to get better physically fit to perform at a higher level, but right now I am still the Clyde racing with the little guys and having fun doing so.


I really liked this race... It was well organized, the course was good and we couldn't have asked for better weather. I will definitely be back again.