The swim was last. I was pretty tired at this point, and I was worried a bit about my right calf cramping (as it did getting my bike shoes off). It was clear ahead of me entering the pool - so, I chose to dive in (trusting that I remembered how to dive with goggles from my swimming days). It didn't go exactly as planned: my goggles pulled down and my left calf cramped immediately. After surfacing, I reset my goggles (not a big deal) and then started to swim, attempting at the same time to work out my cramp. Within 50m I had the cramp worked out and settled in. I caught the guy in 4th and figured this was where I'd end up until I saw the guy in 3rd breast stroking two lanes over - so, I tried to bump up my pace a bit in an attempt to catch him and it paid off. I exited the pool and finished the race 3rd. However, the racer who finished first had apparently cut the bike course and was disqualified - landing me in 2nd overall.

Practice diving with my goggles before trying it again in a race.

T1 was a run to bike transition.

I ran to my bike from the run, stripped my running shoes off, put on my helmet, grabbed my bike, and ran to the mount line. I missed landing on my bike shoe for the mount, but it really didn't cost much at all. I just cranked another 1/2 stroke and got my foot on top of my shoe.

No splits were given from the timing company (bike time includes T1 time).

Nothing - overall, I was happy with the transition.

This is a fun bike course. There is enough (hills, traffic circles, and turns) to keep you engaged and the surface is not that bad. I stayed on the aerobars as much as possible - coming out of them only for the traffic circles (in the down hill direction), the 90 deg turns, and the turn around.

Not much, overall I am happy with my effort here.

T2 was a bike to swim transition.

I got on top of my bike shoes entering the parking lot, my right calf cramping in the process. I had a good dismount the line and ran my bike in to my rack. I removed my socks, helmet, race belt (forgot to do that in T1), sun glasses. Then, I grabbed my goggles and ran the LONG route to the pool.

No splits were given from the timing company (bike time includes T2 time).

Nothing - overall, I was happy with the transition.

Nothing real special here. Based on some (flat) 5Ks I recently ran, I was hoping to get in under 21 min. But, I just couldn't keep the pace I needed on the slight incline after about mile 2.

Nothing, for my current capability, I ran a decent race. However, this race really highlighted for me where I need to improve... the run.

Caught my breath, ate some oranges / bananas, and drank some water.


My run speed. I need to work on that...


A well organized race with tons of volunteers. My only gripe would be the lack of timing splits for T1 and T2.