Started pretty well, going 5x5, but the chop made it difficult to get good breaths both as I swam and when I came up to sight and also to catch a few breaths while breast-stroking. Water was slapping me in the face pretty good on the outbound and crossing links because the waves were being pushed into me. Made it difficult to get good breaths. Never got to gasping but I was panting pretty good and I reached that psychological point where it became difficult to exhale while my face was in the water, meaning I ended up exhaling and inhaling in the short amount of time I had to breathe, even as the water was washing over me, which only exacerbated the issue. Ended up doing a lot of dog paddling, even a little bit of back-stroking. After making the last turn and heading into the inbound leg things got a little better. I was at least able to do more swimming and less paddling. But I got out of the water more winded than I should've been, which carried over into the bike. Not a good start.

I was more than prepped for this, except for the chop, and that's what threw me out of sync. Ended up with a still decent time, which is shocking, so not altogether sure what I could've done differently.

T1 started literally on the beach as we exited the water, which means it includes the time taken to cover the 250-300 yards up the hill to my bike, and the time it took to get on my back and have the wetsuit stripped off. Love that part of it as it takes that off my shoulders. The jog up, though, after exiting the water winded, made it tough. In addition to the dainty tip-toe across sharp gravel lot to my bike.

Not sure there's anything. Could've run faster up the hill but that would've winded me further.

Pretty good bike ride, although my butt was getting seriously sore around 13-14 miles. Cannot even imagine riding 25 or 40 as the Olympians and X-50 crazies did. And I'm still confused over the "no passing on rumble strips" directions we were given by the officials just before the swim. There were a lot of rumble strips, probably at least half the course, maybe more. And I spent a good 7-8 minutes riding at 13-14 mph behind a woman thinking I wasn't allowed to pass her because of the rumble strips, even though 2-3 people passed us both during that time. So I'm not sure if the instructions meant 1) don't pass at all if there are rumble strips present, or 2) if you're passing, don't ride on the rumble strips. Quite confusing.

A very pretty ride, though, despite the rough roads and the confusion. Got rained on lightly just after exiting the park until just before our first turn...so for several minutes. But that made for a beautiful, brightly colored rainbow set off against a stunning, light pierced cloudscape rising up in the west after we made that first turn. Very, very cool.

Good ride, although uncomfortable on the arse over the last few miles. I incorporated four 8-minute JARP-type intervals during the ride to keep my mind occupied and to ensure that I rode hard enough to do well. I will say I'm a little concerned that may have hurt me on the run. Need to determine if slowing down on the bike will cost me more minutes than I might gain on the run.

Decided against pulling feet from shoes before getting off the bike because of the severely uncomfortable surface of the transition area. So maybe gave up some time here in order to save the feet.

Good transition.

I think this may be the first time my run ranking was worse than the swim. Unbelievable, and a terrible run. Just cannot account for this and it's driving me nuts. As mentioned, I have concerns that pushing on bike, particularly for 17.5 miles (versus, say, 10-12) may have burned too much energy and left me depleted for the run leg. Took me 11:00 for the first mile, 12:04 each for the last two and, yes, there was some walking, much to my chagrin.

No clue. Seems no matter what I do, training or otherwise, this seems to be the result. HR doesn't seem out of control but wind does.

Grabbed a water and sat for a bit with TSW. Totally blown out.


Swim conditions that I didn't handle well, and run conditioning that I can't figure out how to improve.


Great job by DAR bring this race back after cancellation last year. Like the new bike course for the sprint. This is a tough race.