This was only an ok swim. I was really revved up when I got up in the morning, but I started to run out of steam waiting for the swim. I think it showed in my performance. I started at the far right of the group to stay out of the way of some young kids who looked like swimmers. This worked pretty well. The water at Vincentown is opaque brown (it's a cedar pond) so you can't see anyone unless you're breathing or sighting. I had two collisions with (probably) the same person toward the beginning, but then got a lot of open space. I wasn't even bothering to sight the buoys, but was staying behind the group. The turnaround buoy appeared before I knew it and I did a great job just skimming around it, passing someone as I did so. The way back was a little tricky. I was breathing in the direction of the sun with clear goggles (I hadn't wanted to wear polarized ones in that dark water). I had a harder time sighting, so just assumed that as long as I was behind people I was going the right way. I suspect I went a little too far to the inside and had to zig back a bit for the actual swim exit.

Be a bit more motivated on the swim. Also, hit my watch when I cross the timing mat. I saw Jeff coming down into T1 as I exited the water and got distracted calling to him.

Slow T1. I jogged over to my bike, turned down the correct row, then lost the bike for a second. I exchanged a few words with Jeff while cleaning off my feet and getting my socks on. The shoes gave me more trouble - my heel crushed the back of the left one and I couldn't unncrush it, so I had to slide my foot out again. I think everything else went smoothly.

Put my shoes on better? I'm not sure what I could have done there.

I started off the bike poorly. I was starting to mount and realized my watch was still on my wrist, so I pulled over by the curb and switched it to my bike before starting. Definitely lost a few seconds there. Once I got started, I was riding really well for the first five minutes or so. Once I was out on Red Lion Rd, I passed Jeff (who had left T1 a bit before me) and several other people while holding a stiff pace. I settled down and slowed down a bit once I got out onto clear road. There were stiff headwinds and crosswinds on along most of the course which slowed us down. I was trying to keep my pace above 18 mph, but it was tough. I kept going into higher gears that I was mashing - I haven't worked on keeping a higher cadence and it showed here. I had the hardest time along the top of the triangle of the loop, where there were really heavy cross-winds. I slowed down to 12 mph at one point. It was really hard to get myself to push through the wind. I also hit a snag near the finish. I approached the turn-off to go back to transition and some runners were out ahead of me. I was unable to pass them safely because I had to turn across them, so I had to slow down for a bit and let them go.

I think it was an ok bike. I might want to work on my cadence, since I've noticed its been low.

I think T2 was pretty good. I trotted in, had my bike racked quickly, and got my shoes off smoothly. I grabbed my race belt, watch, and visor and put them on while running. I forgot to grab my water bottle, but it wasn't a very warm day so that wasn't a huge problem.

My run started off feeling awful. It took me a few tenths of a mile to get my legs under me and my HR was uncomfortably high. I tried to just stick to my breathing rhythm and go with it. My first mile was just over 10:00, which surprised me, but I gradually lost steam from there. I stayed under an 11:00 pace and did not walk, but it was difficult to keep putting one foot in front of another. A big mental effort was needed. Fortunately, I can handle that now.

This was training. I've been doing Z2 stuff with only a little fast running starting in the past two weeks. I was able to hold a fairly fast pace and very high HR for half an hour, which was impressive considering what I've been doing. I'm sure I'll see big advances in pace over the next few weeks.

Watched Jeff's finish and walked around with him. Since neither of us placed, we didn't stick around for awards but went out for brunch at the diner.


I'm sure jet lag played a role.


Very nice small town race.