I thought maybe I had a shot to go a bit faster here, but given that this is my best time here for the swim I'm pretty happy. I got on some good feet right away and stayed with them most of the way out. Someone slowly passed us on the right so I hopped on those feet for awhile. Pace was about what I was comfortable with, so I figured it would be best to stay with him. With a few hundred yards to go, I felt like maybe I could pick it up so I went around the guy and powered home. My favorite part was how amazing the two guys I drafted were at sighting. I barely had to check the whole swim.

Not much, always good to draft for the majority of a swim leg.

Excellent T1. I love the silicone spray, the suit comes off my ankles sooo much easier than it used to.

Nothing

Perfectly excuted bike leg. My goal was to average 80% of FTP for the whole ride with a low VI, and that's exactly what I did. I hit 80% on the nose, and finished with a VI of 1.01... can't do it better than that! Pace was hard but manageable, and I fought to stay focused on the last 1/3 of the ride when I began to feel fatigued. I'm really glad I ate my salt pills along with all my food, as I felt the beginning of some cramps in the last few miles.

Nothing, nailed my plan to a T!

No nonsense, 2nd quickest T2 in the race

Nothing

First thing: Almost everyone said their GPS measured the course short, somewhere around 0.3 to 0.4 miles. So I can't count this as my first sub 1:30:00 half marathon in good faith. (Side note: How do they mess up the distance with two out and back sections?? Just move one of the turn-arounds back a bit).

Ok, now for the run. This was hard. VERY hard. Going up the early hills my quads started cramping pretty bad. I fought off panic at the thought of my race slipping away and made a plan. I would eat two shot bloks (extra sodium) at the first two aid stations, then one at the following two. The flat section before the 2nd big hill couldn't have been better placed. I was able to get into a nice cadence and good form, and the cramps started working their way out.

When I hit the big flat section at the top I focused on getting back into my planned pace. It was very difficult, but I felt like I could maintain the high intensity. Coming out of the shade on the bike trail the heat really started bearing down, and I was grabbing sponges and Coca-Cola to keep myself going hard. The 2nd loop was a ton of pain, but I finished strong for an awesome run split.

I may have started out up the first hill too hard. Obviously I underestimated how much sodium I should take in on the bike, but luckily I narrowly avoided disaster with the cramping.

Went back in the lake to cool off (I was in a daze after finishing). Tried to stretch a little while cheering for the rest of my teammates (including my wife, who killed it!) that were still on the course.


The cramps didn't help, but this result was beyond my wildest expectations. I basically had the best possible split for all 3 legs.


This may be my favorite race out there. The course is great, plenty of volunteers, and you can't beat the beer tent! That I would have my best race ever here (and first one after turning 30) is just so fitting.