Started towards the outside back since I knew I was slow. Got about 100m and my goggles were leaking pretty good so I stopped to re-seat them. When I looked up I was dead last in my wave. Just went out at a pretty easy pace to start. I couldn't see anything so I decided to just sight on the sun and try to swim straight into it which actually worked well. Got to the turn buoy and tried to pick up the pace a little (after stopping one more time to fix my goggles). Stomach started becoming a bit upset down the back straight so I eased off again until it went away, then picked up the pace when it was better. I was sighting off the last buoy and it seemed like I was way off to the right of everyone. In fact there were a couple of times I got worried I might be going the wrong way since I was so far frmo everyone but I swam straight so I'm not sure if it was longer or not.

I need to focus more on just maintaining my form. I tend to lift my head alot more and lose concetration in OW. Still alot of opportunity for improvement here, but I was expecting 37 minutes or so, so I was really happy to be out of the water in 33. Also need to learn to draft. Did the entire swim basically by myself.

Found my bike easily and it went smoothly.

Forgot my gels. Really wished I could have had one on the bike.

Took it kind of easy out of transitiomn to get my HR down. Found my bike computer wasn't working so I had no idea about my speed or cadence for the entire ride. I was kind of worried about blowing up my legs on the bike so I kept a slow pace all the way to the hill. I just fell in with everyone else although it was killing me not to go by them. I did NOT want to get out of z2 at all here but I still passed a few people. Strangely I found the hill kind of fun with all the chalk messages and people cheering on both sides of the road. There were a bunch of guys dressed up and cheering everyone on and one of their friends was just in front of me. Two of them ran next to him shouting at him the 1/4 mile to the summit which nearly made me bust out laughing. Once I was past the radar guns I pushed the pace down the canyon & along Nelson. Lower back got sore again on the way back. It didn't slow me down but might be a concern for the Long Course. Eased up again on 63rd and tried to be light on my pedals because I was thinking about the upcoming run and saving my legs some. I was definatly feeling my legs at the end though anyway.

I was aiming to go under 1:20 so I probably could have pushed the pace more.

Didn't feel blazing fast I but I can pinpoint anything that felt slow either.

Nothin.

Goal for the run was 10min/mile. Legs felt just fine starting the run and once past the 1st hill I just kept my hr right at the z2-3 mark. Got to the 1st mile and saw it was right under 9/mile and my pace felt comfortable so I just kept it right there. Still, it seemed like I was getting passed left and right, but it was mostly the f30-34 wave which started right after me so I didn't mind at all. Got a slight sidestitch during miles 1-2 but I watched my HR and it went away, never to return. Walked thru most of the aid stations while getting water/gatorade, then tried to pick up my pace a little bit after the turnaround. Picked it up again coming back onto the dam and kept my hr not much below LT for the last 1-2 miles or so. Not sure if it was actually a faster pace or just if it was the same pace and just kept me from slowing. Legs were shot at the end but I knew the end was close so I just pushed it as hard as I could (or really just kept from slowing). Overall I was really surprised and happy to run under 9-minute miles. Pace was only 2 seconds slower than at the Sprint so either I had a really good run here or a bad one there...

Just keep running and eventually I'll get faster.

Cooled off & walked around. Got my bike and watched the pros transition and then met up with most of the BT'ers & drank beer.


Still learning pacing. Keep working on swimming. And biking. And running.


My 1st Oly and my goal was -3hrs and I did so I'm really happy. And I left room to improve for next year, um, on purpose. I got my pics frmo the sprint and I looked so serious in them all so I wanted o make sure & have a good time here. Got home and went to take out my contacts and it turns out the one I thought was gone was gone so I think I did the entire race without it and didn't even realize. Race was well run and organized as expected. Really cool to see alot of the top names in the sport in person too as well as such a big group of BT'ers.