I struggled to stay relaxed for the first little bit, and it seemed to be very crowded for the first 300-400 yards, so I wasn't finding my zone. I still really suck at sighting, so I kept bobbing my head up and stopping. On some stretches where I wasn't sighting at all, I zig-zagged a bit and had to get back on track. I only started to feel really comfortable about the last 500 yards. The swim definitely felt LONG... I think what made it seem long was the two laps. If it had been a long out and back or single loop for the Oly it would have seemed easier. It was almost right on target with my expected time, although I was hoping I could do it in 27-28 min. My main goal was to HAVE FUN and save some gas for the rest of the race, and I succeeded at that, so I don't feel bad.

I still had fun. There's something that just seems crazy fun about swimming out in the middle of a lake with a bunch of other nuts for nearly a mile.


I need to figure out how to sight. It's killing any sense of rhythm (not to mention my swim time) when I bob my head up to make sure I'm on course.

Ok, so I guess I took Drew's advice way too literally. I practically took a nap during this transition. I thought, eh, I'll burn an extra minute or so and ended up burning more like 2-3 more. Whoops! I just didn't want to go out on the bike unprepared. Things that added to this transition time was getting off the wetsuit. Didn't happen as easily as I'd hoped. I also had to put on/take off shoes out of the water, and coming into transition, and that added some time (prob. a minute), and then my decision to wear my camelbak waterpack for the bike added more time than I thought. There were just way too many things to worry about.

I'll lose the camelbak water pack, since I hardly used it- It's difficult to take sips off of the nozzle without choking on water since you have to bite the thing to get water out and it just keeps coming. I was breathing too hard to use it on the uphill too, so it was mostly just extra weight on the bike :( The gloves may have helped, but I think I would have been okay without them. And as far as transition shoes go, I will remember to bring my crocs to run in next time. All of those things should easily shave 3 min. off my time.

I hopped on the bike and thought I'd really hammer this ride out, but then I found myself questioning that thought as soon as I hit the first hill. I wasn't sure what to expect on the rest of the course, so I took it pretty easy. I was carrying unneccesary extra weight (the water pack) on my back, and was sucking diesel exhaust from the tail end of a train right next to the course. It wasn't pleasant. The ride down mostly made up in fun what the out took away- I hit some very good speeds coming down and passed a couple of very elite-looking dudes on fancy bikes racing the sprint. Maybe they didn't care, but I sure enjoyed it.

Ditch the water pack (did I already mention that?) and push harder. I'd drive out the course if I could before hand so I knew what to expect. Had I known the course better I would have been more comfortable with pushing harder.

They haven't finalized the T2 times... so not sure on the actual time. I'd guess I took about 2:30. This transition was better than the first. I didn't have nearly as many things to worry about, although I did mess around with some supplements and that took time. I had to rip open a pack of enduralytes (I meant to take them BEFORE the bike but forgot) and took some. Not sure if it really helped-- probably should have taken them earlier). Then I fought my running shoes a bit. There was sand/rocks in them and they were soaking wet since I used them for the T1 run from the swim. Not good.

Not much... just all the things I've already mentioned that had the cascading effect on this transition.

My run was somewhat uncomfortable because of my shoes- they were soaking wet and had rocks in them. I wouldn't say that they ruined my run or anything, but I was definitely thinking about each step. Despite that issue, the run felt pretty good for the first 3.5 miles or so. I was managing to hold roughly an 8:15-8:30 pace for the first section, and felt pretty good doing it. I saw Randy headed in at mile 5 (I was at mile 1), saw Drew at mile 4 (my mile 2) and eventually saw Dave right after the turnaround. I was excited to see I was slightly ahead of Dave (runningfoo), but I knew that lead would be gone within a minute or two, but it was reassuring to know that I wasn't murdering my race time. Everyone was doing equally as slow (we all underestimated our goal times). It was at mile 5 that I really started to have trouble. I got a side cramp and some cramping in my legs (quads) that made it hard to run. I stopped and walked for a bit and ran again. It didn't help that I could pretty much see the entire mile of trail I had to run at that point. It looked like forever. Somehow I mustered up the willpower to run in and sprinted the last tenth or more in passing three people. It hurt but felt good. Randy and Drew cheered me in.

I'd make sure I could run in dry, rockless shoes. And take the enduralytes way before the run. Maybe take some goo or something too. I don't know. It's hard to say. Everytime I get to the run it's sooo brutal. Especially in the hot sun. Guess I just have to take what I'm given ;)

Did some light stretches and BS'd with the rest of the BT Utah crew. We were all whining about our times together, but also gloating about the fact we'd just completed an Oly... especially us first-timers.


All sorts of stuff. It was definitely a good learning experience. It was a good first experiment to see what might work in an Oly. But hey, it was my first. I really had no expectations, so I think I did just as I should have expected for my first.


A very fun course... but a very challenging one. The event was very well planned and organized, and everything worked fairly smoothly. Tons of volunteers, race officials, police to barricade and control traffic. Plenty of aid stations. I'll definitely consider doing this race again!!