They let us start within our waves however we wanted. We just jumped in every 3 to 5 seconds. I tried to position myself behind fast people. I jumped in and drafted off the guy in front of me. He was going at a decent pace but started to burn out so I went past him at the first turn buoy. I was on my own between the first and second turn buoy. I feel like I did a decent job sighting but I wasn’t swimming as straight as I normally do so I had to sight more often than I would have liked. Just after the second turn buoy, someone in my age group came flying by me. I grabbed his feet for about 100 yards, but I decided to let him go because it was taking more energy than I wanted to burn. There was a long run between the swim exit and transition that added to my time. I’m pretty happy with my swim.

Practice swimming in open water or with eyes closed in the pool.

They were wetsuit strippers which was huge. I hadn’t practiced taking off my wetsuit which could have really bit me in the butt. My transition was smooth except for my helmet. I put it on and something popped. I just figured it was it popping wider. However, it popped out of the side and turned out to be a huge headache the entire bike ride. I had readjust it at least every mile as my helmet would slide forward on my head. It was a big pain in the ass but could have been worse.

I’m not really sure how the bike went. My time was much slower than I expected it to be, but it was hard to judge my effort into the wind. It was also very tough to stay focused on constant effort when I had to keep adjusting my helmet. As it was a time trial start, I mostly was passing the entire ride. There were 3 people who passed me. One kid was flying so I didn’t stick with him that long. The 2nd I followed for a couple miles but then let him go as my HR got up. The 3rd I passed at about mile 5. He then came flying by me at mile 30, but I kept him in my sights. I think I let my helmet distract me into not focusing on consistent effort in the 2nd half of the race. I was able to real him back in and finish just behind him at the end (which was a mental victory). My nutrition felt like it was solid throughout. I took a gel 15 mins in, GU chomps at 1:00 mark, another gel at 1:40 and then a final gel at 2:25. I finished 2.5 bottles of GU brew double salt and felt like I was close to my plan of 17oz of water every 35 mins. My ride was good considering I still had the legs and energy to get after it on the run. However, I think I could have dropped at least a couple minutes without hurting my run.

Fix helmet, show more focus, and ride outside to work on cornering.

This was a little slower than normal because I wore socks. I probably lost an additional 15 seconds due to only practicing my T2 once before the race.

This run went all right. I took water or IM perform at each aid station. Took my first gel at mile 4 and my second at mile 10. I started out going slow at about 730 pace and felt great. I bumped it up and was going sub 7 min pace without much effort. I’m not sure my exact splits but will upload my data shortly. I felt pretty good until about mile 5. Starting in T2, I knew I would have to pee at some point. I held out until mile 6 or 7 I believe. I got another wind at about 10.5 mark. I turned a corner and saw someone in my AG who had passed me around mile 5. I was able to chase him down and pass him with about a mile to go, which was a huge pick me up. Unfortunately, he started behind me and still beat me by a couple minutes. My legs definitely felt it during the middle/end of the run, but I think my nutrition is what did me in. I've bonked before from going out too fast and this felt different. I’ll need to use some salt tablets on the run and probably take at least one more gel. I am happy that I never walked during the race (stopping to pee is different :) ). I'm more mentally tough than last year, but I still have a lot to learn when it comes to suffering.

Nutrition, ability to suffer.

It's a nice course but it's a nightmare for spectators. I don't think I would come back unless they changed the course to make it more spectator friendly.