I was very pleased with this swim. I taught myself to swim 14 months ago. I started out with the pack and was able to keep pace with everyone. After the last turn I noticed that I was beginning to pass many of the swimmers in my wave. I was not swimming any faster so I must have maintained my pace better than the others in my age group. Last year I swam this course in 17:08 and today one year later I swam under 15 minutes. Big improvement. I started out with the pack and was able to keep pace with everyone. After the last turn I noticed that I was beginning

This transition has a pretty long jog to T1. I had a very good transition compared to my age group.

I really struggled getting clipped in after I crossed the mats in T1. I wasted almost 30 seconds trying to get clipped in and start pedaling. I need to work on getting on my bike more efficient.

This course has lots of rollers. My goal was to simply crush the bike. I wanted to go as hard as I could and I accomplished that. My average HR for the bike was 168 which means I spent the entire ride well over my threshold. I had a blast. Stayed aero the entire ride and I rode with my new hydration strategy of a bottle between my aero bars instead of my speedfill on the down tube. I enjoyed the aero bottle and I believe I took in much more water of the course than with my straw and speedfill.

You know your a triathlete if........The first thing you say to your wife after a race, "Did you see me nail that dismount?!?

This was a great transition. It probably only saved me a few seconds but I decided a few weeks ago to do a flying dismount. After watching a few youtube videos I practiced in my driveway until I felt comfortable. As crazy as this sounds It made me feel like a real triathlete :) Picture below

Not only was my dismount cool but my T2 was second in my age group for fastest. Great transition.

My goal was to begin this run at a 8 min/mile and do my best to hold it for 3 miles. After the bike course riding at over threshold I was simply exhausted and just could not hold that speed. I started off at a 8:45 pace and held that the best I could for the first 2 miles finished off the last mile sub 8 for a 8:30 avg finish.

This was the most fun part of the race because my training partner and I knew this is where our friendly competition would come down too. I am a faster swimmer and biker but he is a much faster runner. I knew if I was running a 8:45 he was running at least 1 minute per mile faster. When I started the run a mutual friend of ours gave me our splits and I had 5 minutes on him. My goal was too hold him off for the win. I managed to only let him get 90 seconds on me and finished the race 3 minutes ahead. Friendly competition makes this so much more fun!

Since this race is in my city and put on by my club I volunteer to help with setup and take down. My post race activity involved 3-4 hours of tearing down the race course and storing everything for next year. I am amazed at how much work goes into putting one of these races on.


On my calender for the next 8 months is 2 x 70.3s and my first full Ironman. That said I was not trained for a short distance course. I did this race because it was in my own backyard and my club put it on. That said I had a blast but the intensity that I gave I was not prepared for. This one hurt! Had a blast but my training continues today for my A race which is Ironman Longhorn 70.3 in 5 weeks

I beat my time 12 months ago by 15 minutes! Nice improvement on a sprint distance course