Well this was interesting. I was swimming for the first time in my new Blue Seventy long sleeve wetsuit. I was milling around in transition and headed toward the swim start when I realized there were people entering the water already. It was only about 30 seconds before my wave left. I had no time to panic or be nervous. However, as soon as I hit the water, it was like a million needles in my skin. It was by far the coldest water I had ever been in. NO WHERE close to 70 degrees.

I started to swim and immediately my left goggle filled with water. I got out the first 100M and turned the corner and stopped and messed with the goggles. Over the next 500M, I kept stopping, emptying, trying to get a good seal. I've never had this problem. In fact, normally I would just shut my eye and ignore the goggle filling. However, the water was so cold that it felt like my eyeball was freezing. It created major issues. I alternated between freestyle, tarzan and breaststroke as I attempted to acclimate to the water and get my goggles sealed. Eventually, about halfway through the swim I was able to settle in and just swim.

I'm not sure there is much I could have done differently. I wasn't prepared for the cold, and I don't know how I could have been.

Evidently, the Army corp released some water from the reservoir the night before and the warm water drained off. This left the cold/deep water there.

It was a bad swim, but it was almost entirely due to the cold water, I feel.

Due to the cold, I knew this was be a very slow transition. I took the time to dry off (using a t-shirt) my feet to put socks on (I usually ride without socks) and also my arms to apply arm warmers. These took a while to get on. I put my shoes on and walked/jogged with my bike to the mounting line.

Also, because our stuff would be transported to the finish line, I took time to stuff everything (wetsuit, etc) into a plastic bag and duffle bag.

Due to the time it took, I did not apply sunscreen. This was a risk, as it was quite overcast. I did end up getting pretty burned, but not too badly.

Nothing. It was ok based on conditions. The air temperature was in the 40s, so it was still pretty chilly.

Overall, a good bike leg.

I was quite cold, but warmed up pretty well and was not as miserable as I feared. I used my arm warmer to sop up tons of snot that I was draining (due to cold weather and sickness).

I glanced at my watch and waiting until 9am before eating drinking anything (about 15 minutes) and used the clock to eat/drink at intervals. I used the Shiv's fuselage, a BTA bottle and my rear bottle. I did not need an additional bottle for exchange. I had the fuselage pre-mixed with Nuun tabs and then added plain water as needed and dropped Nuun tabs when filling. I did not premix the other bottles because I wanted the option of plain water (instead of sports drink) if needed. I also had 4 Gus packed in the fuel cell and used each of them at intervals.

Overall, it was a pretty good bike. I think I may have went a bit harder than I should have and I felt it on the run. But not by much and as fitness improves, hopefully my ability to pace will improve.

At one point, a long line of motorcyclists passed by. At the end of the line was a red minivan. This van buzzed me so closely, I really felt I was going to be hit. They honked and did it intentionally. Evidently, they buzzed quite a few other cyclists. This scared me, and then made me mad. As a result, I lost my cool and started mashing. I don't know why...but I was furious and rode much harder than I needed to. It took me about 10 minutes to cool down. I think that was a mistake but am unsure if that contributed to my slow-down on the run.

T2 went smoothly.

none. I could have found my spot a bit quicker.

I started off the run and could not feel my feet. They were numb from the cold and 56 miles on the bike. There was a small hill going up to the path but otherwise it was flat.

At the first mile, my watch split showed 8:08. Too fast for me. I knew I needed to slow it way down. I was hoping to finish in about 2 hours and a pace of about 9:15 or so. The 2nd mile showed 8-twenty something...again...slow down. By mile 4-5 I was down to about mid-nines. At this point, I was starting to fatigue. I was eager to get to the turnaround point. I ate a banana and alternated water/Heed. At mile 8, my pace was down to 10 min. Uh oh. Too slow. I didn't want to push too hard, but knew my pace was dropping off. By mile 10 I was hurting and was just telling myself (just an easy 5K left). I knew I was still on pace for an improvement over NOLA, but it was going from "big" improvement to "marginal" improvement.

As I approached the finish, I started looking for my family. I saw a blonde little girl running down and hill and at first thought it was Lily. Not her. As I got closer, I was looking for my wife's red shirt and soon spotted the "SUFFER!" flag being held up for me. There they are. I tried to smile at my son (they give me a hard time about my stone face) but not sure it worked.

I think my pacing was just off. I felt I was in good running condition and thought I could reverse split and have some stronger miles late, however I must have overestimated my run fitness off the bike. Next time, I will have to focus on some longer miles off the bike. Overall, it is still an improvement over NOLA and I am satisfied with the effort.

I was finished. I was hurting. Bad. I couldn't really stand, but didn't want to collapse either, as I didn't want a trip to the medical tent. I took a bottle of water and found a place at the amphitheater to sit down. I took about 10 minutes to decompress and get my bearings. My wife urged me to sit in the shade. I moved, but quickly moved back to the sun. It was about 70 degrees, but I was chilled. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped up. Soon, I went to the chiropractor tent where they did some light soft tissue work.


Pacing and overall fitness


This was a GREAT event. It was a 1st time event, and they pulled it off well. Great SWAG, great spirit. It was organized and even with some changes, they communicated well. The post race had a good atmosphere and BBQ for participants It was not a WTC event, but it felt every bit as professional and felt like the athletes were treated quite well. I would not hesitate to do this one again, however a midwest race in October is a bit of a crapshoot as far as weather.