Pre-race my intentions were to have a negative split on the swim. When I started I felt awful. The first 200-300 meters sucked because everyone was so packed together and I couldn't get into any rhythm at all. Once I got my own water (read: everyone dropped me), I was better, but was still kind of hoping they'd blow the horn for thunderstorms when I got to the turn around so I could just walk out of the water with no excuses. Felt a little better on the way back in after about the halfway point there. Finished my first full lap, hit my watch and saw I was actually having a better than normal swim. Second lap felt significantly better for two reasons. First, it always takes me a while to settle into a breathing rhythm on the swim for longer swims and I need to remember that. Second, I was realizing that when I'd site my body would drop off plane and my legs would stay there for longer than need be so I made a conscious effort to correct that. After the turn around I started increasing my turnover a little bit and figured it was only another 325 meters and I'd be there. I saw Wright get out of the water about 5-10" ahead of me.

Even though the second lap felt a lot better, I didn't negative split. I think it probably has more to do with being pulled for longer in the big draft at the start versus swimming in my own water most of the time on the second lap. Splits were 13'55", 14'14". This ended up being a PR for me in the water so I guess it's a good thing they didn't blow the horn when I wanted them to!

Start at the front and let people swim over/around me rather than in the back. That was annoying.

T1 was uneventful. Took my time so I could dry my feet and put on socks so I don't get any unnecessary blisters before the half.

Nothing.

Even though I saw Wright when I got out of the water, he got out of T1 ahead of me by a good bit since I was taking my time. Once I got out I grabbed some water and started easy for the first mile, just practicing control like I want to do at the half. At that point I felt great and could have run like that forever. I counted off where he was based on a landmark and figured he was ~ 40" ahead of me, at which point I figured if I caught him, fine, but if not I'm not wasting a ton of energy to try. After the first mile I picked up my pace a little bit and realized I gained some time. I was still pretty conversational and was talking to most people I passed, basically just having a good time running. Stopped and got water at the turn around and took off. Second mile was better than the first and I caught Wright with about 1 mile to go. We ran together for about a half mile and were talking some, then I moved about 2-3 steps ahead. With a quarter mile to go I picked up my cadence and moved about 12-15 steps ahead, thinking that I could go with the "if it's hurting me, it's killing him" mentality. Then it was just waiting to hear him go for his final kick. I could definitely hear his breathing being fairly heavy. With about 30-40 yards to go, I heard it, went all out and crossed the line in front of him. I thought it was by a couple steps, but the results (I think) said it was by 0.6 seconds when I looked at the print out last night. Much closer than I though, but a lot of fun anyway.

Splits were 8'20", 7'35", 7'20" (for the last 1.1 miles).

I could have picked up my pace earlier on the first mile, but saw no reason to. I didn't intend to go overly hard and blow out my legs, though they would probably have sufficient time to recover if I did.

Walked around and talked a little bit while drinking water and gatorade, and eating oranges and bananas provided by D3. Good stuff. Then we had beers with the BT crew. Big turnout and it was good to see everybody. Good way to relax a little bit, recap the S&T and talk about Sunday's race coming up. If it weren't for this work thing to wake up for, I think a lot of us could've probably stayed and drank for a while last night. Oh, and Wright and I each won a visor for the best finish of the day.


Could have gone faster on the run if I wanted, but it was a conscious decision not to. Swim was a PR so nothing there.


Well-run, on time, and always fun to do on a Wednesday night. After the one before the Boulder Peak I didn't really like the idea of it being the Wednesday before a big race, but I've since changed my mind. Even though I don't go hard on the run, I think it's the perfect mid-week, pre-race event. The swims give me a little more confidence going into the race and it gives me a chance to get my legs going as well. Basically, it helps me evaluate where I am and I'll probably go into the race/s more relaxed as a result.