Z swam well for not doing a single stroke all year.

Just have to change the ankle timing bracelet, though we struggled getting it off Z's ankle.

I had a problem mounting the bike right out of the gate, and probably wasted 20 seconds or so. Then during the first climb, someone couldn't push the pedals and fell into me as I passed them. I didn't fall, but I did have to stop and regain myself.

After that it was just a hard climb, then the steep downhill on the other side with the super sharp left turn with all the hay bails. I used quite a bit of braking as I wasn’t comfortable cutting the corner at the speed I was going. Once I made the right turn onto the main road, I just settled into the bars and got to work.

I tried to give an even effort and I was passing people most of the way. One guy in my age group, the eventual AG winner and 3rd overall, went FLYING by me after a few miles. I could see he was surprised to be passing someone with a 51 on his calf, since he was also the fastest swimmer in the wave. I yelled that I was a relayer to him and he gave me the thumbs up. Interestingly, he was the same guy I had met at Dr. Baroody's two days before and we had mentioned that we were both doing Eastman.

I knew the course was uphill all the way to the turnaround, but I was a little disappointed to see my time when I hit the turnaround mat. Much of the way back I was either spinning out or due to the gusts and the handling of my setup I was not pushing as hard as I could – certainly not as hard as the uphill out portion of the race. Once I got back to the park entrance, I really hit the climb hard and then descended and passed the timing anklet off to T.


The wind was pretty strong at times. I had the P2 and the Zipp 808s, and with the gusty winds the setup was pretty twitchy. I need more time with the 808s to get used to the handling. My overall HR avg was 156, which is exactly my threshold per testing. I’ve been higher for 20 minute tests , so I’m pretty sure I could have gone harder. I’m also pretty sure I redlined higher than that on the way out (uphill) and easier on the way back. The power meter has since showed me how uneven my efforts are on hills, so there’s probably some time to be gained by going more steady.

I beat Jonathan's bike split, so all was well with the world!

Just gave the timing chip to T. We did a great job in the transfer.

T ran well given he has really been suffering through a foot injury. I really didn't think he'd be able to run on race morning, but he toughed it out.