I wussed out on the 1500m swim and only did the 750m swim. My thought was that since the 5430 Sprint is 750 meters, I'd use this as prep for Sunday and see what I need to do differently. The swim was pretty good. Started near the front and didn't have any real problems for about the first 100 meters. Soon after, I got sandwiched between a guy and a girl, which lasted about 50 meters before I held back for a second and then went to the outside. I was out of everyone's draft, but there were no bodies to contend with so it was easier for me. Once at the turn around, I stood up for a second to look back and see where I was going (since my navigation typically sucks), and then took off. Breathing was pretty good, and even my sighting wasn't bad. I started out trying every 5th stroke, and then did every 3rd. I never felt like I was off course or having to make serious corrections. About halfway back in, I started feeling like throwing up, but it was the Gatorade that I drank on my way to the race, so a few starchburps later, I was good to go. Good reminder as to why I switched from Gatorade to Cytomax in the first place. Anyway, the rest of the swim was uneventful and felt good. I'm sure the wind helped my time on the way back in, but I'll take what I can get.

Not drink Gatorade before the swim. Otherwise, it was my first swim in the sleeveless wetsuit and that was basically just confirmation of what everyone else had already said - it feels good to have range of motion in the shoulders. I felt like I could reach better, etc.

My T1 time's a rough guess. It may be off slightly, but I know my swim time and run time, so I'm not too concerned. I know I was slow, b/c I walked up to my area and as I was taking off my wetsuit, I thought I was going to fall over from dizziness so I sat down to put on my shoes. Even while sitting I felt like someone just punched me in the head, but I'd guess a lot of people felt the same way.

Nothing - I wasn't in a huge hurry.

Was a little disoriented at first from the swim to run transition so I didn't take any water. Turns out I should have b/c a half mile in I was dying. The wind sucked, but I wasn't pushing hard. I was really just using the run to get in a decent Z2-3 effort, which I accomplished. I only intended to be Z2 on the way out, but again, the combination of heat and wind pushed me up to Z3 even though I wasn't pushing too hard. Once at the turn around I felt a lot better (after water) and was able to maintain what felt like a comfortable Z3 pace on the way back in. I wasn't concerned about my split time since I was just running it in prep for Sunday.

Drink water on the way out.

Ate some oranges, drank Gatorade, and won a visor.


Elements, but everybody had the same conditions so there's no complaining about that.


Good time drinking beers and hanging out afterwards, per usual.