Water was a bit choppy, and I was pretty much stuck in traffic for most of the swim. A bit of trouble at times sighting one of the buoys, and got a bit off-course.

My swimmings gotten much stronger, and I felt comfortable throughout. Probably could have pushed it a bit, but was probably about the right effort.

Caught a bit of a cramp in my left calf while taking the suit off. Despite the best efforts of BodyGlide, had some problems going over the ankles and heels. I chose to wear a long sleeve shirt under my jersey, since it was cold, and that was a bit of a problem going on.

Positives -- no socks, and everything laid out well. Also used binder clips to keep my bike shoe straps in place -- briliant!

Tip from my coach -- cut an inch or so off the bottom of the wetsuit and it slides over the feet much easier. She's an Ironman -- I'll give it a try!

Learn to do the "shoes already on bike" thing.

What can I say. It's the fastest measured bike ride I've ever done! I worked on maintaining high cadence, perhaps at the expense of speed at times, but I was able to accelerate over rises very well because of that. Bike traffic was annoying at times -- too many riders who park in the middle of the road.

Not much. I thought I gauged the effort well, and given my knee rehab and relatively light bike training, I thought it was a strong, confident ride.

Smooth transition. Good planning and organization paid off.

Learn the "ride with feet on top of shoes" thing.

This went well -- my first 5K since surgery, and my longest continuous run since surgery. A bit breathless at the start, and the legs were heavy, but monitored my pace well and kept it under control.

I was hot by the time I started running, so the decision to wear a long sleeve undershirt wasn't a good one. Better to put up with the heat for a short run than lose time by taking it off, though.

Ate and talked. Got to meet my on-line coach, Debi Bernardes -- very nice lady in person. Good luck in Hawaii!


Training. I'm in base training mode right now, so I'm not primed to race. Also weight to some extent, though that's getting better -- at 171 now, would like to see how I do at 165.


Another nicely-done race by Set-up Inc. A good size, nice venue, fun course.