Swim went well for the most part. I sighted poorly in one section and crossed the line of buoys into oncoming swimmers! But I corrected that quickly and was back on track. Unfortunately, there were two yellow buoys (one for the sprint turn around and one to signal swimmers to head to shore). When I saw the first yellow buoy, I forgot that there were 2 and I started heading for shore. I also started pushing my pace thinking the swim was basically done and I would sprint to the finish. Wrong! I looked forward to sight to shore, but I saw houses, no beach, and no spectators. Luckily, the water was shallow enough for me to stand. I figured out where I was (way off track) and got heading back in the right direction. I think I hurried trying to make up for my mistake and sighted poorly the last 200-300 meters of the swim. My time was still pretty close to my goal, but it could have been better if I had stayed on course.

Despite seeing that yellow buoy, I should have looked to make sure I was supposed to head to shore. If I had taken the time to look, I would have realized I needed to go to the next yellow buoy. Just poor execution on my part. A couple extra seconds to make sure would have saved me 30-60 seconds on my time.

My left calf cramped in T1! That cost me a little time. I also couldn't find my bike gloves. I wasted another 20-30 seconds looking for them. I must have left them in the car because I never found them. I really prefer to ride with gloves, so I wanted to try to find them if I could. My time of 2:37 was 52nd out of 63.

I couldn't do anything about the cramp. It happened and I had to get rid of it. I don't like to ride without my gloves, but I could have saved some time by not bothering to hunt for them in all of my gear once I realized they weren't in plain sight.

My ride went pretty well. I was anticipating a noticeable drop off in my pace between the first lap and the second lap, but that didn't happen. I think my times were about a minute apart. I think I probably pushed a little too hard on that second loop. My quads and hammies cramped badly on the run and that had to be because of how hard I rode that second loop. On the second lap, as I got towards the end, I got trapped a little behind 2 slower riders. i wanted to pass them, but I was also trying to save my legs for the run. In the end, I became too impatient and really mashed on the pedals to pass them. That didn't help my run, that's for sure!

I probably should have backed off my pace a little more and save my legs for the run. I felt like my bike performance by itself was very good, but given that I needed to run a 10K afterward it was not well paced.

T2 went very smooth. I think it was about as clean of a transition as I've ever had. I stuck the landing on my flying dismount and jogged into transition. I made the quick change of shoes, helmet off, run visor and race belt on, and I was out onto the run course. My T2 time was good for 30th out of 63.

Nothing really, it went really well.

About 1/10 to 2/10 into the run it felt like my calves might cramp, so I stopped for 15-20 seconds to stretch them. About 4/10 of a mile in, going up a decent hill, my quads and my right hammy started to cramp all at the same time. I could never go more than a 1/2 mile before I needed to stop and try to knead my muscles to get the cramp out. It took me until the 10K turn around before I took in enough electrolytes and fluid to get the cramps to stop. By then the damage was done. My fastest mile was the last one when I finally felt more comfortable about pushing my pace and worrying less about the cramps coming back.

Take in more fluid and electrolytes on the bike. Also, pace myself better on the bike and make sure I saved enough for the run. I'm also going to start going to a massage therapist once a month to get some of the tightness and knots out of my muscles.

Got 30 minutes of massage, ate some watermelon and bananas.


The bad cramps in my quads and hamstrings. My run was almost 10 minutes slower than my expectations and it was all due to the cramps. As soon as I got the cramp to let go, I started running right at or a little better than my race pace. But having to stop every 0.4-0.5 miles to get cramps out, plus having to nurse my legs through the uphill sections just killed my time.


I was nearly hit by a car on the bike and literally forced off the road on the run. I would have liked to have seen some more volunteers out there to try to help keep the competitors safe. One truck came through towing a trailer and they left my no more than 3 feet of road to run on. I had to go over into the thick weeds on the side of the road to avoid being hit! On the bike, a car came out of a side street and only came to a stop about 2 feet from my bike. Motorists were not very respectful of the competitors and there were many vehicles that moved only a very little to give you space to race.