I started slightly to the outside and then swam to the inside and kept a low inside line all around the course. I had some traffic problems at the start but after that had fairly clear water. I swam deliberately and steady and I could have swam faster but needed to conserve energy.

I would do it the same, it went well.

I did the shoes on the bike again and I have to say it has only worked one time really well for me and that was last year. This race I just couldn't easily get into the shoes so I stopped outside of T1 and took them off the bike and put them on. From now on I'm going to just run out of T1 with the shoes in hand and then put them on. I don't like running in the shoes and running in the shoes will tear up the cleats.

Carry my shoes to the mount up line and then put them on, the shoes on the bike is history for me right now unless I get some tri shoes which are made to easily slip on on the bike.

I knew it would be a hot and humid day so I had my Profile aero bottle plus two other bottles for a total of 3 equivalent Gatorade jugs. Each bottle had two salt tablets dissolved into it and it still wasn't enough. My speedometer failed about halfway through the course so I rode the last half on cadence alone. I had several technical problems, which were all due to a new Velocity rear wheel I had just mounted on the bike. The speedometer failed because the magnetic target was loose and slid out of range. The rear brake wouldn't stay centered on the rear wheel so I got some rubbing. And finally I had not checked all the cog combinations and some of the lower cassette cogs would not stay shifted when using the granny ring of my triple front derailleur. So it was a frustrating biking day and two days later I'm still tuning the brake and derailleur.

Check out everything thoroughly. I did a easy test on flat pavement in front of my house but only when the drivetrain is really stressed do you get the feedback needed to really tune it. I finished tuning the rear derailleur on a group ride Monday after the race. Note to self: never race with untried critical components.

T2 went Ok, not really fast, but not shabby. I just didn't feel like running just then. It was really muggy and the thought of a 10K with two 5K loops was very unappealing.

basically two things:
1. Train more
2. Train under adverse situations such as high heat and humidity more

I don't know where to start. I was miserable and although I drank lots of fluids I was still dehydrated. It was very humid and I don't do hot and humid well. I walked half the run and from the halfway point on had mild quad and calf cramps alternately in both legs. I did run the last half mile and sprinted through the chute. Something about the finish getting near always motivates me.

Hydrate even more. I drank three Gatorades on the bike and had another in my fuel belt but it wasn't enough.

I went to the hot lake to try to cool off and it helped some. Todd a coworker who did the race and had a great race offered me a beer at his travel camper and it tasted great. Todd brings his whole family to these things and they are very supportive. Todd's doing IMOO (Ironman Wisconsin) this September.


The usual suspects; weight, training, heat, humidity, blah, blah, blah


The Tri-the-Parks post race food is just some fruit, cookies, gatorade, and water. It's just boring and most of the fluids were gone when I finished. Their race packet is boring as well, never anything cool or interesting.