Mental lapse #1. As I was waiting for my wave to start, I got lost in the moment. Started to people watch, talk to a few bystanders, and just think about the coming day. I was waiting for my wave, which was at 8:44, when I looked at my watch and it was 8:41. I wasn't ready and my AG was already heading down to the floating dock! I bolted through the crowds and made it to my wave as they were moving out. Whew! That would have sucked!

On the floating dock, loosened up a little, splashed water on my face and down my wetsuit, and waited. Since I was at the back, all the front spots were taken.

When the horn blew, the first wall of AGers jumped in. They caused the floating dock to move and I almost fell down...on the dock. Quickly regained balance, then jumped far out and to the left, then started to swim hard.

Rough first 200m. Received punches to the body and a kick to the face. I thought my lip was split from a particularly hard heel strike to the lower lip area. Shrugged it off and kept swimming.

At one point, early in the swim, I looked down and could see a sand bar. I thought to myself....where there is a sand bar, there is current! The next thing I know, I got swept in a STRONG current that kind of scared me for a moment. Almost like a rapid. No joke. I just swam harder to take advantage of it, then I was out. It was under one of the bridges on the route.

I was pleased that I was able to maintain a strong effort for the duration. I didn't tire, although my left shoulder did start to bother me. I have to attribute that to my wetsuit. I did favor it a bit, but didn't slow down.

Stayed as close to the yellow and orange buoys as I could. The sun was right in my face and the only way I could see the buoys was after I passed them. The sun was blinding, even with tinted goggles. Kept the pace up and saw the red buoy, at the last minute. I cut across hard and bolted out of the water.

I figured I could swim 28:30 with the current, so was very, very happy to exit the water at 26:xx.

Not start at the back of the wave and maybe be a little more aggressive with drafting off other athletes.

Bolted out of the water and started to sprint. This is one of the things I do every race. You can make up a lot of time and move up in the placings by a fast transition.

Bypassed the wetsuit strippers and just ran to my bike. I can get undressed much faster than they can rip my suit off. The guy next to me in T1, last name Hicks (too), swam a minute and half faster than I did, yet I ran out of transition before he did.

I'll have to wait until the results get posted to Athlinks or something, but it looks like I had one of the fastest T1s.

Transitions count!

Nothing.

Ran out of T1 and jumped on bike. Pedaled with feet on top of shoes and just pushed it kind of hard for a 200m to get out of the crowds. When i went to put my feet in, I realized shoes were velcroed shut! Damn it! I'm going to label this as Mental Lapse #2. I had to slow way down to unvelcro the shoes. I was very mad at myself here.

Pushed the first 17 miles kind of hard, but the crowds and crowds of ppl just made it hard to do. I tried my hardest not to draft, staying to left (which would technically be blocking) as much as I could. I'd dart in to the right side of the road whenever there was an opening.

The entire course looked looked like a peloton. Not kidding. I even mentioned it to a few different cyclists as I'd pass them. They all agreed. Also, there was a slight headwind, at first, then the wind really picked up later in the ride. i was almost blown off my bike two times, once in a clearing, and once on a bridge.

At mile 28, I started to feel the hard effort. My hamstrings were close to cramping. DAMAGE CONTROL! I started to take extra gels and drink more of my electrolyte fluid. I pushed it just hard enough to where I could control the cramps and not overdo it. it took another 15 miles of constant monitoring before I could push it hard again. This is Mental Lapse #3. I thought I'd be fine on 2 bottles of electrolytes and 550 calories for the 56 mile ride. I ended up grabbing two bottles of Perform (YUCK!). I normally consume 200 calories per hours on the bike and am fine, but that's, I realized, at training pace. At race pace, I'm going to have to up.

Despite the cramping, I could still spin up the hills pretty good. I'd scoot back on my saddle, sit up, and spin up kind of hard. This is where I passed the most ppl. A lot of these cyclists really struggled on the hills. These hills were not as bad as the ones I train on back at home.

In the last 15 miles, I was able to push it hard again. A few guys passed me (passed by a total of 7 cyclists) and I continued to blow by the rest. This is where I felt my fitness really come into play. I wasn't tired or beat up, I wasn't really hurting all that bad, and I was ready to get on the run.

Goal was to go 2:35 or better.

Pay attention to my gear (cycling shoes) and have to rethink nutrition...no way is this going to work at B2B

As I approached the dismount line, the guy in front of slammed on the brakes. I was already ready to jump off bike and go, but had to slam on brakes. Rear wheel came off the ground and I almost slammed into the guy that was stopped at the line. I guess this is my fault, since I need to make sure it's safe to do a dismount.

Forgot to hit the lap button on garmin until I was at the rack, so the bike/t2 splits are off by maybe a minute.

Since I'm in Mizunos, have to wear socks with these shoes. I need to find shoes I can go sockless with.

I'm not a fan of this course. The terrain is great, it's just that the loops and loops and loops, passing by the finish so many times is mentally challenging.

Started off really well, but decided to back it off b/c I wasn't planning to run this all out. Ironman has my first split at 5:35min/mi...That's not right, at all. Garmin has me at 6:30. I dropped it down to a 6:50 pace for the next few miles. I felt comfortable at this pace and know I can run it fairly easily.

At mile 6, the lack of nutrition really hit me hard. I was in damage control at this point again. At this point in the race, i had taken maybe 650 calories of nutrition. I started to know up in my back, hamstrings again, and generally not feeling good. To put it plainly, I was miserable.

Started to ingest cokes, water, tried a Perform again (YUCK!), and kept at it. The miles really ticked by slowly.

Finally entered the last mile (what seemed like the longest mile ever), and then went through the chute. A 40-44 AGer started to race me about a tenth of a mile out, but I sped up and he was done.

Crossed the finish and was done!

Goal for the run was a 1:30...nutrition was the cause of my failure here.

HAVE to take more nutrition in on the bike to have a good race.

Had a massage, then ate. Stretched out and talked to Steve and a few others.


NUTRITION.


Very well run race. Already have plans to do it again next year.