Started trying to change/improve my swim stroke about 10 days before race and it didn't take resulting in out of breath. Had to resort to lots of breathing every stroke for middle of course and even 1 minute of breastroke. Not having the wetsuit really killed me as I was counting on that additional bouyancy to make the new stroke work better.

I am taking swim lessons!

Thought about trying the rubber band pedals but glad I didn't as I'm sure something would have gone wrong without time to practice it. B/c there were no wetsuits this transition was really easy and only time was dipping feet into water bin, getting shoes & helmet on and running from swim exit to bike exit which was at least 40 of 77 seconds.

Going to try and learn the rubber band put shoes on while on bike thing for next race

Really pushed it on bike and had a fast ride. Felt like mid-way thru I hit a zone where my cadence was very high yet still in a heavier gear. Having fallen behind most of my age group competitors on the swim and b/c I started in 3rd race wave I got to pass a lot of people on the bike.

Nothing, best bike I've had in a triathlon - love my new Cervelo!

Caught up to two people right at dismount and couldn't get by, otherwise transition was quick. Slight issue racking the bike

Didn't see the transition backlog until I hit it, unavoidable

Kept a steady pace pushing to probably 7 minutes for last mile. Tried taking it easy on hill for first time ever and I think this helped me maintain pace better througout the run. 1 age-group competitor passed me with about a mile to go but his run splits were 30 seconds per mile quicker so no way I could keep up.

Lost time in swim section, might have 5-10 seconds more per mile to gain on running pace in a flat race like this but overall run was pretty optimal

Lay down in a foot of water


Poor swimming stroke


Very well run race, organized, lots of volunteers with helpful good attitudes and an atmosphere of fun and encouragement. Only critique is on the water temp non-wetsuit call it seemed they measured the temperature very near shore and possibly chose to exclude wetsuits based on August heat and hot race days in past years. It was challenging to do without a wetsuit and all were on level playing field, but possibly unnecessary surprise.