The swim went basically according to what I expected. The water was 89 degrees! It didn't seem that warm but the latter half of the swim I think it affected me. Still, I swam ok but not great. Sighting was very difficult but I managed to keep a decent line. At least 3-4 people (led by a red cap from the Open category) cut the final turn buoy, presumably because they didn't see it, and went straight for the next sighting buoy.

Just need to train more. 2X per week isn't going to improve my swim.

Pretty fast, even with putting on my socks and a mediocre rack position. Had the shoes on the bike. Had a little trouble getting them tight once I was riding.

Still need to practice mounting with the shoes on the bike. It was better but still a little sloppy.

I felt really good. There was wind but it never seemed to be a full-on headwind, more crosswind. The other racers complained quite a bit about it afterward though so maybe it was stiffer than I had noticed. I was moving really well, 23-24MPH for the first 10 miles or so, but there was a tailwind. My HR was pretty high so I tried to back off a little and keep it under 170. Once we turned right at mile 10 we did have more wind. I was pleased with the ride. It might have been a little too hard but generally I think I got the effort about right. I drank one bottle of Nuun on the bike and ate two gels.

The only hiccup was that for some reason I was thinking the bike distance was shorter than it was so I took my feet out of the shoes WAY too early. I pedaled on top of the shoes for probably 1-2 miles.

Know how long the course is dufus!

I was planning on around 7 mins / mile (my pace was 7:04 last year)... silly me. My watch hovered between 6:55 and 7:20 for the first couple of miles. From there it went downhill. Toward the beginning of mile 3 I was really slowing down. I got progressively slower throughout the run, getting up to 8:30s by the time I finished. When I got to the turnaround at mile 3 I was happy to see that there was no one behind me for about a half mile. I was pretty sure I had the lead in my AG. I hoped that if I could just keep running I wouldn’t get caught. My heart rate monitor wasn’t giving readings on a lot of the bike and much of the run. When it finally started reading late in the race, my HR was 181 for mile 5 and 186 for mile 6. That’s as high as it’s ever been. I kept watch behind me and when no one appeared by the beginning of mile 6 I felt relieved. I slogged to the finish line feeling awful.

Maybe be more realistic about how the weather would affect my run and dial back the bike a bit? But I'm not sure that would have made much of a difference on the run anyway.

Involved lots of ice water towels and pouring water over my head.


I need to get back to track training to improve my high end run speed. I also need to think about how to handle the heat better next time.


Great race (aside from the heat)