Found a relatively open spot in the pack and started out easy to get into good rhythm. Concentrated on good exhale to eliminate CO2 build-up.
Sighted about evey 10 strokes, Was easy as airport control tower was inline with buoy line and made goo sighting target.
First leg went well, Had some occasional bumping, but nothing too bad.
Went wide at turn to keep away from pack and looked to find flags at the finish. Water was pretty smooth. Some very light swells at about halfway and got a couple of tastes of saltwater, but was easy to time breathing to avoid.Got a little more congested as the pack compressed a bit heading to the beach. Got boxed in for a bit by a guys who went to a wild breaststrole. Moved to the left to get clear of him.
Water got shallow and most folks started walking in waist deep water about 25 yd from the beach.

Best. Swim. Ever. Kept in rhythm and smooth the entire way. I think it was the first race when I didn't do one single stroke of breaststroke for sighting, or any other reason.

May have been able to push my tempo more, particularly towards the end, but not overly concerned since my main objective was keeping smooth and efficient.

About a 500 yd run from the beach exit up to the spirnt distance T1 entrance. Kind on trotted/jogged, really didn't go too hard.
Shoes on, helmet on and glassed on and off. Decided not to do flying mount due to pavers on roadway. Plus I had a rack close to Bike Out, so was only a short jog to the mount line. Clipped in smoothly and was off.

Go harded on the run up to T1. As mentioned, I was a bit paranoid about the streets with the pavers both mounting and slipping my feet in my shoes, so decided to leave them off the pedals.

Lost a lot of time heading west into the wind on long run out past Tropicana Field.
Kept in gear to keep 90 cadence, but was only managing 12-14 mph. With tailwind coming back, jumped to +20mph, hitting almost 24mph. Was very careful transitioning from asphalt to pavers when coming back into downtown.
Passed a few follks who had passed me earliers. Had to be vigilant on the streets with the speed bumps after the Oly course merged back with the sprinters as everyone wanted to move the edge to avoid the bumps.
Pulled my feet ou of my shoes on the last smooth run of asphalt along the yacht basin before the 90 deg tright urn onto pavers in front of the Vinoy Hotel heading towards T2. As I rounded the turrn came upon a down rider being strapped onto a head/neck board by EMTs. Hope he was OK, but reinforced my apprehension about the paver sections. Got off at dismount line with no issues.

I would have liked to go harder, but was diliberately conservative in my pace. I'm a bit behind on where I would like to be in my bike conditioning, so that is where I need to focus going forward.

Jogged through T2 with bike. I was on the far side, maybe about 100yds. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on, grabbed visor and race belt and was off.

No real issues.

Very hot at first. Got out of my planned 3:1 r/w plan ariound mile. Walked quite a after 1st water station.
Not just heat, but had a few twinges in my calves, so didn't want to push too hard since it was ther first race of the season.
After the turnaround got some cloud cover and breeeze. Started to feel better and got into a better rhythm the last mile. Also nice that several residents were out with garden hoses for anyone who wanted to sprayed.
Love the finsh stretch with the grandstands on both sides and the announcer calling your name. Did a happy arm pump rather than my usual "click the watch" finsh.

Think poor run was mostly due to my lack of bike fitness with the heat a secondary issue.
Probably need to do occasional bricks.

Every got a cold towel at finish so that felt great. Grabbed a Gatorade and walked around. Other than heat, really didn't feel too bad.
Looked for some friends and then went into the athlete's tent for a 1/2 banana, mini muffin, OJ and two pieces of cheese pizza. Listened to the live band for awhile and then went out and grabbed a beer and walked back the finish to cheer on more finishers.


As metntioned, behind on the bike. Will make that a focua between now and my next race in July at Englewood.
Broken record - still need to loose 10-15 more pounds.


Great event Had a terriific time. Good swim helped to offset "average" bike & run.
Rite of passage for me as a triathlete, finally doing a big-time "name" event.