This was a good swim for me. Sighting was right on when I could finally see the buoys and trusted the crowd in front until then. LOTS of people stopping and swimming crisscross in the first 1000 yards. I bet I ran into 6-7 people before the 500 mark some of which I had to stop. But that can't be helped, do what you can!
The helpers were great at grabbing you and helping us out of the water on the boat ramp. I didn't stop to have my suit stripped but I noticed while running into T1 that someone had unzipped my suit coming out. That was nice!

Stroke: 32/100y which was good. Pool swims were around 28-30. 3,160 total strokes.

What I did for the first time and really liked it is to set my Garmin to alarm and auto lap every 500 yards. A) It gave me an idea of how far I've gone and have to go. B) I can break down the data later. Although it's open water and a little skewed.

Garmin Connect has this data. But here's the short of it in 500y intervals:
1) AvgPace: 1:23; AvgCadance: 35 ~ yep, swinging arms
2) AvgPace: 1:26; AvgCadance: 31 ~ settling the stroke down
3) AvgPace: 1:39; AvgCadance: 31 ~ typical 1200y lull that I didn't fight through well
4) AvgPace: 1:12; AvgCadance: 31 ~ realized it and kicked it in gear w/o sacrificing stroke. 1:12 seems unrealistic for me...
5) AvgPace: 1:16; AvgCadance: 28 ~ crowd thinned out, stroke improved. 1:16 seems unrealistic for me...


Nothing really. I sighted too much at first but mainly because of running into people got me gun shy. My stroke was horrid for the first 500-1000 yards then finally got it under control.

There's wasn't much room exiting T1, mounting, and starting a climb with a left turn. No one jumped on bike or ran barefoot to mount line.
I was a little slow here. Took off suit at bike and started getting ready. I also pre decided to put on my socks and wear my gloves on the bike. I've had to grow skin back on my knuckles and ankle before and have no plan of doing that again. If it takes some time then so be it.

A funny note here I'll address later. My endurance tabs I left in T1, well because I was swimming, to pick up for my ride.

Edit: I forgot a funny! Remember to check your cycling shoes and make sure your cleat covers are not ON before you try to mount!!! Good thing it wasn't a flying mount!!!

Practice T1 a little more. Although it went well.

After I got on my bike I realized that I left my endurance tabs in T1. I did not remember gettings them at all. This freaked me out!! Now all I have is Hammer Perpetuem that I've trained with but this was my first race to use it. I started asking for gels at the aid stations. At the second station I picked one up and sucked it down. I put the trash in my "dedicated trash pocket" and guess what? My tabs!! I didn't forget them. Now I'm a little over an hour into the ride and popping my first tabs. This worried me but I was relieved and hoped not all was lost in the nutrition plan.

Unfortunately it was. I started feeling slight cramps in my quads in the last 10 miles or so. I was taking 3 pills each time instead of two trying to catch up.

I finished the bike great and was VERY happy with my ride. We had a wind pick up from the west during the ride which we had to ride back in. I was holding 18.2 mph average until then. I was only riding 15-16 mph into the wind and struggling to do that. I knew I had gone too hard.

One of the hills down into the canyon I got going a little too fast and crossed the center line. Thank God there was only one guy climbing up and gave me room. There wasn't anyone around me at that time and I was having to judge the descents alone. It was a long hill and only got a little wild at the bottom but it could have been a disaster if a big group was climbing up.

* Start my nutrition in T1. This will insure I have my tabs and any gels or other stuff I might need.
* If I do this ride again I might switch to even a bigger bike cassette. This was an 11-28 and I probably could have used a 32 or 34, maybe even more!! I was mashing WAY hard to get up these hills. I think this affected me later on. Read on.

Again, no room to jump off your bike. You rode up, stopped, unclipped, and jogged into T2.
I wish race companies would make the bike rack bars a little higher. I had to fight to get my bike seat under the bar to rack it. Next time I might just rack the handle bars but I didn't think of that until later.
Already had my socks on :)
I stopped right before the exit and cleaned out my shoe. It felt like I had sand and rocks in it.
Really had to pee (which seemed to take forever) coming out of T2 so I knew my hydration was good. Just didn't know about my nutrition.

Nothing really. I carried a water bottle with me which I tossed in the trash later on. Not sure I'll do that anymore.

I came out of T2 feeling okay. I guess the sand and grit in my shoe was really in my sock. I did some wiggling of the toes and moved it around where it was comfortable. I averaged right at a 8:55 m/m pace for the first 24 minutes then I bonked. My hamstrings were cramping bad (which I've some some trouble with lately and kind of expected) but my quads were joining in. I had to stop running try to walk it off. The rest of the race was a walk/run effort. I was zapped and very disappointed. To train that long and hard and blow it was discouraging to me. I smiled and talked a little with others who were in the walk/run boat but deep inside I felt gut punched. To run a 2:30 half marathon was horrid for me. My slowest was my first 70.3 and it was 2 hrs.
I continued to drink water, take tabs, and gels as planned.

* Go back to what has previously worked with my nutrition. Gels every 30 minutes, salt/end tabs, one or two solid food bars, gatorade, and water.
* Keep myself in better check on the bike effort.

I ate the recovery fruit/food they had, drank some, and went into T area. First time I've not had to wait for the T area to open. That was an upside I guess.
Walked my bike and gear up the big hill to the parking area. I drank a Recoverite there and ate some crackers. At the hotel (after a shower) I put on my recovery pants, ate a clifbar and a pb&h sandwich. I had another recoverite drink an hour after the first. I took a two hour nap. During my nap I woke up running a fever and took a few ibuprofen.
The banquet was at 6pm and got there around 5:30. They were already serving food which was my main reason for going. Feeling MUCH better I ate and decided to bug out before all the boring stuff started about people I don't know. I drove around and bought a six pack of Shiner beer and medium Pizza Hut pizza and headed for the hotel hot tub.
Surprisingly I'm not really that sore compared to how my run went.


Bonk on the run due to two things:
Mashing the pedal effort it took to climb those hills was huge and possibly the root cause. I should have noted it and dialed back on the flats.
Nutrition never felt spot on. I was over an hour late with my endurance/salt tabs and not sure if Perpetuem is all it claims to be.

I didn't pee again until I was back at the hotel, flag that my hydration might have suffered on the walk...


This was my first time at bslt and it held the promise of being a tough course. I would like another shot at this one!!

Full data:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/818968093