Start was okay, the usual bumping and crowd around the first turn because it's so close - people haven't strung out yet. My sighting down the first long stretch was NOT good. I was army swimming - left/right. I've not had so much difficulty sighting before, strange. After the second turn to come the long way back I fell in behind someone I found was sighting well and just kept on her heels and occasionally checked our progress; it seemed to work well. I followed her all the way back and all the way back out again. The second to last turn brings you to an odd angle to the final 90 degree turn home, I lost her and the sun was coming up over the ridge causing blinding off the water. I could have maybe swum in a few more strokes before standing up to run. The run out was fine; getting cap and goggles off was fine on the run in.

My sighting distracted me for sure on that first leg and I felt so slow. Normally I don't have an issue sighting so I'm not sure what happened here. I'm a dominant right side breather and all turns were to the left but I've done this race before and not had the problem.
Swim faster. My training times are significantly faster so this was frustrating.

I was happy with T1 time. Shoes went on quickly, same with sunglasses and helmet. Wetsuit came off well - a little stuck on the left foot but not bad.

This was one of my faster T1 times but maybe get the wetsuit off my foot faster and learn to jump on my bike. I haven't gone to rubber-banding my shoes yet so that could help.

The ride starts right out going uphill and then into nice rollers. It's like a big rectangle - think of the start at about 3 o'clock position - riding clockwise around with the lake in the middle. The opposite side of the lake takes you on Route 7 which is a 50 mile/hr road for cars but has a decent shoulder (not a closed course). There is police presence at major intersections allowing wide, fast turns which is nice. The "hill" is at about 12 o'clock on the dial. It's really not too bad. There is a water station near this hill - the only one for the bike course. You do this loop twice. On my second time around I had a GU at about the 9 o'clock position. Shortly after this I made a wrong/early turn. Ooops. My own fault. I recognized it quickly, turned around and got back on course. A couple of people blew by me as I was coming back out and I couldn't get the momentum I had had earlier. The hill the second time around was not too much of a problem - just made me breathe hard. I had water in my Aerolite bottle and another water bottle underneath that was about 2/3 full - I did not need this one at all but drank almost all of the Aerolite bottle.

I wouldn't take a wrong turn. Doh...
i think I would take a GU on the first lap and another on the second lap. I ate breakfast at about 04:45 and race start was at 08:00 so it's been a while for food.

Coming into T2 I crossed the blue timing mats and there was a raised rubber mat housing cords. As I crossed it, my bike bounced up and away from me. I leaned to catch it and my pedal drove into my leg just above my right ankle bone. I knew it as bleeding but assumed it was "but a flesh wound." A friend was in T2 chatting with me (he had finished the sprint) while I changed shoes, put on my visor and belt. I probably burned a few extra seconds there but no biggie.
My timing chip strap was coming undone and I had to take time to re-do the whole thing. I think this is where I burned my time.

I wouldn't let my bike bounce up the raised rubber mat.

I hydrated well on the bike - finally! My plan for the run to preserve the knee was to follow my training plan and run 1 mile, walk 1 minute and do these intervals for the bulk of the run. It was hard mentally to walk but I did about 4 walk intervals - 2 of them a full minute, 1 was 45 seconds, the last was 30 seconds (though i also made a point to walk through each water station so I shortened my last walks). I really felt great and not taxed on the run! I passed a fair number of people and my knee felt great. I did 8:47 min/mile with walking so I was happy with that and felt fine the whole time - smiling and encouraging others, high-fiving a couple of folks and chatting with others. Part of me wonders what my time would have been if I hadn't walked but I bet it wouldn't have been that much better and I would have been pooped. A woman I passed and chatted with stopped me after the race and talked with me about the program I did when I was running - she's interested!
The whole run I did feel blood running into my shoe from my cut above my ankle but the adrenaline was firing so I didn't let it bother me. As it turned out, I had a pretty gaping cut that could have used a few stitches. LOL. Ah well, that's what makes us tough...might have to get a tri tattoo to cover the scar!

Not much! My goal was to see how my knee would react on the run and it was successful. Sure, I'd like to have not walked at all but to at what cost. My "A" race is next month.

a little stretching and had my cut cleaned up.


Poor sighting on the swim, walking on the run, lack of general strength on the bike.


This is a good venue for a triathlon. They did Oly Nationals here about 4 years ago so they must be doing something right! The race is very smoothly run and the volunteers are fantastic. There is good police presence. The only restrooms are the beach restrooms so about 6 restrooms for the ladies (no idea for the men); no porto-potties.
The water is generally quite clean and very few weeds. No medals but top 3 in each AG get pint glasses; there is a raffle at the end based on bib numbers (I got a t-shirt). Swag bag includes a water bottle, cliff bar, and you get free picture downloads which is very cool.