Pretty disappointed here. What with the swimming I've been doing lately (I'm already well in excess of what I did all last year) and my improved pool times, I expected better than this. Almost makes one think the extra swimming effort makes no difference, although I will say the extra time in the pool has had a positive mental aspect (which I'd hoped for): the swim, despite my poor time, didn't seem like anything more than just another workout. Even better, I was able to keep breathing generally under control. Cool moment: rolling to breathe and seeing a bird floating across the sky just above us.

Honestly not sure. I got delayed and slowed by the crowd at the beginning, and again when the next wave came on just about halfway through, but I'd not think it would make this much difference (2:30 longer than my recent 400m pool time). I can only assume I'm weaving back and forth too much and, therefore, adding distance to my swim.

Average T1; wetsuit came off pretty easily. Everything else normal.

Would love to figure out a way to cut 20-30 seconds off T1. I don't practice these anymore, but I'm not sure what I'd be able to do differently even if I did.

I seem to have suddenly seen a change in cycling ability, with roughly similar efforts to last year resulting in faster times. This effort was almost two and a a half minutes faster than last year, which I did not expect, but am quite pleased by. I'm not sure what to attribute this improvement to, other than just ongoing training kicking in. This was a fun ride, but crowded. About halfway through the first loop I fell in with a pack of riders that couldn't really separate from each other, and I stuck with them through the entire second loop since they maintained a solid pace. I hit 30+mph on the big hill, which separated me from the rest of them (thank you to gravity at 205lbs), but as I loosened my shoes and pulled my feet out before the final turn, another gravity-assisted pack member passed me by.

Nothing, this was a solid ride for me.

I thought this was fairly quick but it was actually ranked lower than my T1. I jogged out with no walking and don't recall any other wasted movement. Always takes more time to get my running shoes on than I'd prefer, though.

Look into running shoes and ways to get them on quicker.

Pleased with this run. My plan was to to run to the turnaround at a pace between between 9:40 and 9:50, which I was able to do without become overly tired. After that I wanted to run a couple of higher intensity "intervals"; I ran at around 9:00 for four minutes, jogged easy (including a water break during which i walked for 20 seconds), then did three minutes more at about the same pace. After that I played some fartliek games running from one cone to the next, with easy jogging in between, until I got close enough to the end to keep going. Finished under 30 minutes and wasn't totally blown at the end.

Maybe running that second "interval" for four instead of three minutes; it's an unknown, but curious how many seconds that might've saved. What's strange to me is my run times, showing solid improvement over several years ago, are still not much better in relation to the pack than my swims. That just shouldn't be; would love to figure out a way to gain some improvement here.

Went straight to the lake, walked out into water up to my chin, and dunked myself to cool off. Very nice. Walked around a bit after that and ate some of the goodies (and yes, the spread included frosted donuts with sprinkles plus glazed chocolate doughnut holes; but I only ate the equivalent of half a doughnut).


Swimming, again. And, increasingly, despite improvements, a run that still has me way in the back of the pack.


Really like this race, and DQ deserves a big shout out for their efforts and abilities in bringing these things off safely and enjoyably.