Lined up about 10 feet from the big buoy and three rows back. Never done a mass swim start before. Total chaos, full contact for what seemed like 3/4 of the swim. Dunking, kicking, grabbing all the way. I felt like I wasn't swimming at all, just surviving. It seemed like I was getting passed constantly and I was sure I'd go 1:15. Previous IM times were 1:00 and 1:03 at Louisville. Shocked to see 1:00xx when I got out. I don't seem to gain much from the wetsuit.

Line up further back or dead front.

Slow T1. I ride in bibs with a singlet and chose not to swim in the singlet due to the temperature. Putting the singlet on while wet was a pain. Also put on Desoto wings which was time consuming.
When I got to my bike a volunteer was standing there and said I had had a front flat and that it had been repaired. No idea how that happened in the 90 minutes I had been away. I thanked them profusely and went on my way.

Wear the singlet and wings under the wetsuit.

AP 209 NP 219 I was shooting for NP 225 and leading up to the race was feeling so strong I thought I would be able to do it easily. In the end I struggled to do 219. First hour was good, after that I had no legs.
Having my friend Rob's wife Mary run up Timber with me was the highlight of the ride. Otherwise I couldnt wait for it to end.
Total bike nutrition: 2 Lara bars, 1.5 bottles Perform, 1 gel, 5 saltsticks. 154 calories per hour. I weigh 180.

I don't think I took in nearly enough calories and this is what caused me to feel so poorly for the majority of the ride. I was holding back on the calories to assure no stomach problems on the run. Final 30 minutes was only 192W. While the ride was more painful than I would have liked, I'm happy with the speed given the wattage and my size, 6' 3" and 180 lbs. My new lower position paid off.
Also, I needed an 11-28 cassette (already on order) instead of 12-27. I like to really spin up the hills and I was forced to coast in places I should have been pedaling because I spun out my 50-12 gear.

Got off the bike and legs buckled, felt awful. Ran in to change and came out feeling great.

Don't change socks

Came out of T2 knowing I was going to have a great run. I don't know what causes my legs to burn so bad on the bike even at low wattage but whenever that happens I can always still run well. Plan was to hold back the first 6 miles then start working. When I realized the last 3 back to the starting point of the 2nd loop were all uphill I decided to hold back until loop 2. Saw Mom on State St and she told me i was 14th on the swim and that i looked great. First 13 I felt amazing, knew I still had a lot left. Picked it up at this point running several mid 7s by taking advantage of the descents. I had no idea what place i was in but knew i had a shot at about 10:15 overall. Ran up Observatory the 2nd time which Rob had told me was all but impossible. I was pumped to have done it. My plan was to see mom again at mile 20 and find out what place I was in to decide if I needed to bury myself. I never saw her so knew I had to bury myself. At this point it became much more difficult and going really hard actually meant just keeping the same pace. I was glad to have negatively split the run. Rob is probably going to tell me I didn't go out hard enough. Previous best IM marathon 4:03.

Possibly go a little faster earlier and risk blowing up. By pacing the way I did I guaranteed myself I wouldn't be forced to walk and I had just the right amount of total agony. Maybe I'm just afraid of the pain.

Saw Mom as i crossed and could see how amazed she was at my time. I still had no idea what place i was in until she told me. I got to see her phone with the tracking page and saw that i had passed 6 people in my age group in the last 6 miles which I was ecstatic aboutt. Walked around a few minutes, rinsed off face, picked up bike, went to eat. I only peed once on the bike and once at mile 1 of the run. The cool weather makes a huge difference for me.


Not enough calories on the bike, non-optimal gearing.


Awesome town, hard course, bumpy pavement, great fan and volunteer support, great weather. This was a 50 minute PR on a harder course but with better weather than Louisville. I need to try a flatter course to get more competitive. Overall it was a great performance for me and I felt I made huge gains over last year.
Huge thanks to my Mom for making the trip and helping out so much and a big hats off to my friend and training buddy Rob who destroyed the race with a 9:29.