This was my first OWS of the season. The water was cold and choppy and the time trial start did not do much to aid in finding feet to draft. The shape of the course made it difficult to navigate well and because it was in a marina with a lot of boats that all look alike finding something to sight was difficult. When I jumped into the water it was cold enough to take my breath away. I saw several people jump in the water, swim 30/40 yards and call for assistance to pull them out of the water. The conditions weren't great, but at least we had a swim, which cannot be said for this race in the past. My overall swim time was disappointing as I was hoping to get out of the water below 40 minutes, but given the conditions I cannot complain.

Navigate better.

The swim exit to the entrance of T1 was about 200 yards. My rack position, however, was next to the bike exit in T1, which required me to run about 350/400 yards barefoot on concrete and asphalt. When I got to my rack I was able to get my equipment on and bike out fairly quickly.

Nothing

This bike course was flat, flat, flat. The problem with this course, however, are the road conditions and that we had a headwind for approximately 28 miles on the way out into Bayou Savage. On the way out it was a struggle to stay around 18 mph and my HR was a bit high. When I got to the turn around I was average right around 18 mph. On the way back I passed several people and was easily pushing between 21/22 mph. At times I looked at my Garmin and noticed that I was going 26/27 mph, which I realized was way too hard of an effort to maintain for any appreciable amount of time and that I needed to save my legs for the run. Coming back into T2 is a bit tricky because you have to go downhill and make a quick turn into the dismount area.

Nothing.

T2 was speedy for me. I did not have to go too far to get to my rack from Bike In. I quickly racked my bike, helmet off, shoes on, visor on, race belt on, and out of T2.

Nothing

This was a relatively flat point-to-point run course. Heading out of T2 my legs felt ok. I knew that I was probably pushing a little too hard to start so I backed off a little. Just before the 1-mile mark I got a terrible side stitch that I had to walk out. I then started running again but the side stitch remained. I then had to make the decision that I would not worry about hitting my goal of getting a sub-two hour half marathon time and, instead, I would run aid station to aid station. I walked through each aid station and got water, perform, ice, and a sponge. By the time I was on the run course the sun was directly overhead and it was getting warm. I did my best to keep my body temp down and keep moving forward. The run was scenic and running through the park was nice because there was at least a little shade. When I finally came out of the park on to Esplanade Street I knew I was in the home stretch. I picked up my pace a little and when I turned on to Rampart Street I could see and hear the crowd at the finish line. That last half mile was great. The finishing chute for this race was great. You run under the Armstrong Park archway that is lit up and there was a big crowd. It was a great feeling crossing that finishing line.

Nothing. Although I know I can run faster it just wasn't in the cards on race day. I raced the race that day and that is all I can do.

I crossed the finish line and collected my finishers medal and grabbed a bottle of water. I quickly found my wife and grabbed my finish gear bag so I could get my flip-flops and a dry shirt. I sat down in the shade for a few minutes and then grabbed some pizza. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and went to dinner at a great place on Bourbon Street. The only negative about this race was my failure to put on any sunscreen. I got cooked and it took over a week to heal.


Cold choppy water on the swim, headwinds on the bike, and side stitch on the run.


The race organization was great. I know that there were some complaints about the time trial start because there were people that didn't get in the water until almost 2 hours after the pro wave started. Fortunately, my age group was the second AG wave and I didn't have to wait long. This race was well run.