Started the swim and just felt like crap, not really sure why. I let everyone go OR I swam to far to the right, I couldn't really tell - picked up the effort and ended up next to my buddy Tim H, who is a great swimmer. He ended up on my right, and then I never saw him again in the race. I asked him what happened and he said he just went to my right side to draft, but he just kept going right - and he never caught the draft. Otherwise I spent the entire swim by myself and only saw one red cap at the end, and that ended up being Chad, who I ended up chasing all day.

Swim straight?

Quick T1 - not much to add?

Get in shoes quicker. Due to the cold, I was having trouble.

Started out downhill, picked up speed pretty quickly, and my wattage was solid. I hit the main road and I just cranked it up. It was so cold that it was a bit blurry due to the pressure on my head - but I just tried to ride as safely as I could. I couldn't feel my feet or my legs, so it was easy to go hard, b/c there was no pain! Ben K came flying by about 3 miles in and he was GONE! I think he out-rode me by almost 3 minutes, which is quite a bit. He was the only person to pass me on the bike. The return leg was just as fast and I felt strong throughout. I never left the big ring even with the rollers and the uphill climb back to T2. I took one small swig of HEED on the bike. It was so cold and wet that it wasn't even an issue.

nothing

Ran to my spot, but mis judged where I was - had to run an extra 2-3 racks to find my stuff. I didn't panic at all and if anything I was too leisurely about the whole thing. I could NOT get my feet into my shoes, which caused me some time, but overall a pretty good T2. Grabbed by hat and headed out on the run course

nothing

Took off very easy on the run, hoping to catch Ben and Chad - knowing they had both crushed me on the bike. Right out of the gate on the run, I focused on one thing: cadence. I moved my feet quickly beneath me, and I think it helped a lot in today's race. At the turn around I saw that Chad was 45" up on me and Ben was around 30" up. I pushed hard the entire run, only getting passed by the eventual AG winner. That guy was running in a league I used to be long to, but am no longer allowed in: the sub 6:00/mile off the bike club. He was clocking 5:50/mile. I could see Ben in front of me, about 400m up the road and Chad was up there too, but there wasn't enough room for me to catch them. My run time ended up being 1:30 faster than Chad, and 1:15 faster than Ben. I ended up 4th in my AG losing to those guys by 30" and 36" respectively. I was 13:25 at the turn around, so that means I ran a 13:06 coming back in. IF I had another 2 miles, I may have been able to catch those guys. But, not today!

Nothing. I gave it everything I had for the entire run.

I ran out the one mile mark to watch Melanie come in - but I didn't see her, so I turned and ran back. Turns out she ran 7:41/mile - so on three weeks training, she is getting it back pretty fast. She'll get there.. :-)
I also bundled back up and rode home to the Grand Lodge where we were staying.


3 weeks training? not much. Took 5 weeks off, and have been back at it 3 weeks. Feel pretty good though.


Great race - I highly reccomend it!