Focus was on pacing and not starting out too fast. Brian and Matt were out in front of me, and the rest of the heat was behind, so there was no one to draft off of. Breathed every three and sometimes added a second consecutive breath. Sighting was pretty good; sometimes found myself drifting to the left. After swimming between the final gate buoys, I found myself down river from the finish mat and needed to swim up river a bit to exit.

Push a bit harder in surges throughout the race and not just the final 400 yards. Since I haven't been swimming much, and the Pittsburgh Tri is coming up, I did not kill myself in this race.

Just walked around the quay and stretched a bit.


Focusing on running and cycling and only swimming one day a week.


Race did not use timing chips. Finishers were handed a numbered spoon after exiting the water. This corresponded to a stopwatch time. Rain didn't help the scorekeeper. Results were tabulated by hand, and it took hours. I left before winners were announced.