About what I was expecting on the swim, it being my weakest area. I'm trying to get in 3-4 swims a week and around 10,000 yards per week with the hopes of having a decent swim at AG Nationals and in Vegas.

There was quite a bit of contact throughout the first half of the swim even though my wave probably only had 100 or so athletes in it. I did a decent job of navigating and felt good coming out of the water.

It seems that I only seem to have one open water swim pace - I need to try pushing it a bit when I do more open water swims.

Try to get in at least one OWS per week

Average transition for me - lost a few seconds with the suit getting stuck on my right heel - not the one with the chip

With the fastest bike time, you'd think I'd be happy. However, this was far below what I'm capable of. I was thinking I'd be around 310 watts for the race, which is around 90% power, but it didn't happen. Maybe that was a result of riding 170+ miles this week, and not tapering at all for this race. As a result, it was a decent ride - nothing more.

The first three miles of the course was a very gradual uphill, then there was a 300 ft gain over the next nine miles. I was able to pass a lot of people as a result of sucking so bad at swimming. After the 12 mile point the rest of the course was mostly downhill.

Around mile 14 the course went through downtown Gardner with some sharp corners and speed restrictions. We had to ride in a narrow bike lane, which slowed everyone down. After the downtown section it was mostly a slight downhill back to the transition area. I passed a group of five riders right before transition who looked like they were having a good draft party - really guys??

The power just wasn't there for this race. I had two days of harder intervals on the bike earlier in the week and a 67 mile ride, and I guess that probably didn't help out.

I was training through this race with Vegas as my real focus, so I knew I wasn't going to demolish the bike leg. My power was only two watts higher than my average at Tremblant, which was 1.5 hours longer of riding time.

Another average transition - I was just about as far as possible from the bike in and run out, so that didn't help

Same as with the bike, I'm training for Vegas, so I'm not doing a ton of speed work for an Olympic run. I was hoping to be under 40:00 and closer to 39:00 for a run, but that didn't happen. It was also close to 90 degrees by the time I finished up, so it was pretty warm.

I was able to maintain a decent pace about 15-20 seconds slower than I wanted. I was passed by a few of those 'drafting' guys in the first two miles, then passed two people in the last four miles.

With an open 10k PR of 36:34 this spring, I know I can do a faster Olympic run - hopefully that will happen at AG Nationals next month

More training in the heat and a few more bricks

Chatted with a few other finishers and grabbed some drinks and grub. Also got a pretty bad massage.


No taper and HIM volume - 15-17 hr training weeks - but that will pay off when it counts.

With this race only having a 22 mile bike leg, I'd say my time equates to around a 2:07-2:08. I'm hoping to be in the 2:05 range at AG Nationals, and I feel that can happen if I do a little of a taper for that week.


Overall, a good race with some fast athletes. I know that the Olympic distance is more balanced, and with a piss poor swim, I'm better suited to sprint tris and half ironmans.