Well, after HORRIBLE swim experiences in the past - this was great! After my warm-up, I decided to start right in the thick of things to get the full swim experience. Afterall, I will be starting with 2000 of my closest friends at IMCDA. :)

The first leg out (200m) was great! I started right in the middle of the pack and managed to get kicked, punched, had my goggles knocked off, and in general had a blast. Right from the get go, my breathing was right and my pace was great. I rounded the first bouy with the lead group right in front of me. On the second leg out I was still swimming great, but my sighting was a little off. I was swimming to the left of the pack, but not in the center. I finally corrected my line and joined the group for the last turn coming home. I actually passed a lot of people along the final stretch and found a couple of people to draft from. All in all, a great swim! I finished right with the second group leaving the water.

Nothing - my best swim ever!!! I might not have been super fast, but it was great for me!

As my swimming has been so poor to date, I've put very little emphasis on transitions. However, I now need to start putting a little more effort into doing these quickly. Not much to say, other than I had my usual cup of coffee.

Try to go faster.

OK - this is where the race starts to get interesting. Last night I changed out my first ever flat tire on my rear wheel. Having never done this before, it actually wasn't a big deal. While changing my tire, I used my last spare tube and only CO2 cartridge so I decided to leave my tire repair kit in the car. On the morning of the race, I double checked the air pressure in the tires and everything seemed in order (more on this later).

Well, getting out of transition area to the bike loop required a pretty hard climb of just under a mile. Seeing as I live at sea-level, I have very little experience biking hills. However, I did what I was told and sat back in the saddle and pedalled up the hill. Not once did I get out of the saddle. The only small problem was I was having some issues keeping my bike in mid to low gears on climbs, but I found the right gear combination for most climbs. Actually the first climb was pretty good and I wasn't passed on the way up. However, between the small gear issue and the flat tire I felt like my bike was getting back at me for lack of use in August. ;)

After the hill, we found the actual 2 loop course and I was rewarded with a nice downhill off the bat. The rest of the loop consisted of rolling hills and I alternated between periods of 30+ mph (down) and 10 mph (up). Overall the first loop went off great. I was only passed once and I think I passed 5 or 6 people doing my race. For the most part the hills were fine with one large hill up and down on the back stretch. Going down the large hill I managed to get to 41 mph (a record for me), but was only able to hold 8 mph going up. Still, after the first lap I felt strong and finished in 1:02. My goal was 2:05 total for the bike, so I was right on track.

The second lap started and me and another guy started trading places back and forth. I would pass him on some flats and he would pass me on others. At one point on the back stretch we started chatting a little. We figured that we would probably finish the bike around the same time and we both had a sub 50 run goal, so we promised to keep a look out for each other. So, off he went. Going up the second lap big hill I lost him. My legs were done climbing for the day. I wasn't out of endurance, just the leg strength necessary to climb. So I made my way throughout the rest of the bike course a little slower than the first lap. This is where my lack of time on the bike and hills in particular were catching up to me (truth be told - all my focus for this race was on the swim and run and barely nothing on the bike. training = performance).

Well, about mile 33 I found my friend (from above) on the side of the road dealing with a dropped chain. I offered to help (even though I knew I couldn't) and he told me to keep going. This was not how I wanted to pass him. Sucks for him! Then the tables turned. On the next climb, I heard my rear tire rubbing against my brakes. So I looked down to figure out what was going on. I could tell my rear tire was losing air - WTF??? Twice in 2 days??? I decided to push on as I had nothing on my bike to deal with the problem. If I only had my CO2, I could have topped it off and been good to go for the last 5 miles. I decided to ride a little slower than I would have liked and tried to put as much weight on the front wheel as possible. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I have no idea whether this accomplished anything. (My friend passed me after his dropped chain and that was the last I would see of him unil the finish). Well, riding my front tire slow worked until about the final mile when it was almost completely flat. Remember the up hill from the start of the race? Now I need to go down that hill with an almost flat tire. So instead of flying down the hill at 30+ I was holding myself in the teens getting passed by many. Then when I was almost at the bottom I could feel my rear tire fish-tailing. It was now completely flat and unsafe. So I dismounted and ran/walked the bike in the last 1/4 to 1/2 mile.

Oh well, I think this situation cost me around 5 minutes. All things considered, not too bad.

Train more on the bike.
Train more on hills.
Have tires that wanted to stay inflated.
Get a better bike.

I was so frustrated with the end of the bike that I really took my time. Heck, I could have had a picnic if I wanted looking at the time I spent here.

Give a crap about this transition.

So finally I was in my element - the run. I originally had a goal of a sub 50 run. Once I was out of transition, I felt pretty good. The first mile was slightly up hill and I hit the 1 mile mark at just sub 8 and I didn't feel like I was working hard at all. Then the true uphill came. Remember the first hill from the bike? We are now running up a similar hill to get to the main road. Still, I was handle the hill and mile 2 ok. I think I hit the mile 2 mark at 8:10ish. Just before mile 2 I started talking with a guy running about my same pace (notice a theme here?). We decided to keep each other going as we both wanted to run 8's. The rest of the course was rolling hills and I was doing ok. We hit mile 3 at 8:20ish. I stopped to walk through the water stop and told him to keep going as I would catch up to him after the turnaround (just ahead). True to my word, I caught him a bit after the 5k mark. Then I started to lead as he ran behind until mile 4. We hit mile 4 right on pace doing just over 8's. Then we hit a pretty good downslope and I picked up the pace. It felt like the right thing at the time. The only problem is the downhill toasted my quads. Gravity kept pulling my down, but when we hit the uphill my quads revolted. I ended up giving in and walking much of the up hill. I sent my new friend along without me which was funny because we both thought it would be the other way around. Well mile 5 was over 9 and mile 6 (downhill) was about the same. Then finally when I got to the final .2, I was able to run and took it all home.

Train for hills.

Not much.


Lack of proper time on the bike. Lack of time on the hills.

That being said, this was my best overall performance yet. I ended up with 2nd in my AG as this was just a small race. That's not a big deal, but I do know this performance would be good for a solid MOP finish in a larger race and that is all I am looking for. All in all a good day! :)


Very organized race for such a small crowd. I would do this or the Half again next year if it wasn't so far from home. Lot's of fun, including the hills. :)