It's a crowded swim, but being able to talk and adjust ourselves was very helpful. I moved up a lot and only had to pass one person and never got passed. The lady behind me caught me quickly and I kept wanting to let her pass me, but she didn't seem to be trying to. I pulled away easily about half way through.

I took a gel just before the start. My actual swimming time was 5:15 which is what I calculated my pace on.

My effort was just right, maybe a little less hesitation at the walls.

I put on arm warmers here in a last second decision... it was the right one.

Be quicker.

5/20 in my AG is great for me, but I know it's mostly due to the number of beginners. The big hill was fairly early and I handled it okay. A lot of people were swerving back and forth like they wer in the Alps, but I made it fairly straight and consistent with just a little standing.

It took some time to recover, but I got back up to speed fairly well with a long east decent. I think I talked myself out of pushing harder at a few points because I was worried about the final climb and was still feeling the 1st.

Push harder, trust that I can recover if I over do it a bit.

It seemed to go okay but not great.

Very early on my race belt fell off and I had to stop to grab it. Jogged easy as I tried to get it right and discovered it was broken so I tied it on. I expected the downhill to go well. Granted I had to stop in the bushes but I was suprised to see I was behind 10/mile pace. I think I let that beat me. I ran the return faster, even uphill, but that was probably because of the stop.

Run harder, especially the 2nd half. ...My brain really doesn't work in races. I was just thinking about how I failed to respond to a guy with 32 on his calf because he passed me so convincingly. Only now did I realize I'm older than that. Oh well, I thought he was in my AG and if I had even tried to hold him I might have made up the few seconds I needed for another place up in my AG.

Lack of training and lack of will power.


I like sprints like this and the tough climb on the bike is actually kind of a selling point for me. Being so close to home I will likely do this every year.