A short 50 yard run down to the water. As soon as I hit the water (or maybe before), my HR shot sky high and I felt like I couldn't breath. So for the first 50 yards of the swim I swam water polo style (freestyle but with head up). After that, I transitioned into a better tempo. We got pretty spaced out so I never really got kicked or anything. I was breathing out of the left side and noticed the Warden walking parallel to us.

At about 250 yards, I hit a little mental wall. The second buoy seemed pretty far away and I felt like I had already been swimming for 1/2 hour. I was also drifting left (due to left side breathing probably). So at this point, I started to stretch out my stroke a little and pick up the pace.

I wouldn't do anything differently. I have a ways to go on swim technique as I felt I was dragging too much. I came out of the water at 8:40 and I wanted to come out at 8 flat so that was good.

T1 is after a run up the beach, then up some steps, across a bridge, up some more steps and up the steepest hill (maybe 15 yards). By the time I got there, my feet where smarting a little from the concrete so I was glad to get to my bike.

Sat down on my bucket, squirted off my feet, wiped them off, socks on, shoes on, sunglass on, helmet on, bike off rack and I'm gone.

It was very cool to be one of the first into and out of the transition area.

Nothing. Setup worked very well (for what it's worth, I used the following setup (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=115) along with a 5 gallon bucket to sit on).

I thought for a few months about clipping in the shoes and doing the whole running start thing but I didn't and I"m glad I didn't. I really don't think it would shave off that much time.

Done with the transition and now on the bike. My HR at this point is sky high. I had previously taped two gels to my bike. So I rip one off and try to open it. As I do I fumble it and it falls. Oh well, so much for nutrition.

I start biking and I'm still breathing pretty hard. It was probably 2 miles before I felt that I was starting to setting down. On this course there is one major hill (for this course - not a 3 gap hill - but just enough to slow you down to single digits briefly) about 3 miles in with plenty of flat and rollers on the rest of the course. We go up the first little climb and I pass a girl on her mountain bike (she must have had a smokin swim time). I make a funny about the hill, she laughs and I move on.

Next, we go downhill and come back up for the one major hill and I'm shifting down about midway up the hill from my large chain ring to my small chain ring. I drop my chain. Damn. I look at my watch and it reads 24 mins and something. The next 3 minutes is about as comical as you can get in a tri. I reset my chain, and start to go (get one foot clipped in). Since I'm on a hill, I can't get enough momentum so I fall to my left. Damn. Getup and get everything reset. Start to go again (again, one foot clipped in) and I fall AGAIN (this time, chain is dropped). At this point, I just about kick my bike in disgust. About the only good thing that can be said is that no one saw me fall.

About 10-15 people pass me. One dude asks if I'm ok. I start thinking maybe I should ride downhill, and then come back up the hill but decide this is not a good option.

Finally, I get everything reset, take a big, deep breath. Somehow I manage to get going (without falling while clipped in) and make it up the hill. I am pissed. I look at my watch and it reads 27 something. 3 minutes. Damn. I think of BryanCD's IMAZ report of him flatting, and hammering to catch up. So that's what I did. I hammered. I'm flying by people until I'm back passed the mountain bike girl that I originally pass.

Things go good until the bike turnaround when the hilarity ensues again. I see people turn. I yell back "is that the turn?". I try to fumble with my bike computer to see what the mileage is. Two other guys coming back who made the same mistake yell to turn around. So now there are cars and I have to wait until they pass to turn around. I am probably 250 yards from the turnaround point. No sign. No one yelling "this is the turnaround point". Bastards.

So I hammer back. At this point, more people are turning and I know I'm going to have to merge in with them. I'm hauling ass and have no intention of slowing down. Me and a guy turning around almost crash, I off road it a little. I could tell he was not happy but oh well. Tough shit.

Realizing it had been 6 miles and felt like 2 miles, it was hammer time. This time, on the hills I decide I'm going to just leave it in my big chain ring, shift down to my 25 cog and just stand and push through. Worked pretty good.

I pass a kid cycling his ass off on a very small 10 speed. He mentions something, I mutter "what", he repeats but I can't hear him. Me and another guy on a Felt tri bike (big masher) keep passing each other. I pass him on the downhill and he passes me on the uphill. I swear his cadence must have been 50. We both pass a few people during miles 7-10.

At this point, I figure "this is some race - what else can go wrong". At about 2 miles to go, I see a guy on a mountain bike pulled over. I drift over and ask him if everything is ok. He gives me a nod and then lets out a huge hurl. This cracked me up (I probably shouldn't take humor in something being physically sick); I think to myself, ok the bike didn't go so well but at least I'm not puking.

Huh, not drop my chain and fall of my bike?

Seriously, if I just stood up, I would have made it up the hill without downshifting. The good news is that by stopping I probably lowered my HR. I need to work that part of my bike skills (starting on a hill).

On the turnaround thing, I had my computer set to cadence and MPH. Next time, I think I'll do cadence and distance. This would have helped.

T2 was another perfect transition. I saw the Warden and the girls coming in. I got my right foot unclipped easy but couldn't get my left foot unclipped for a split second (had flashes of falling down again this time in front of everyone).

I counted 5 bikes in T2 which made me #6 overall. Sweet.

Again, sat down, off with the cycling shoes, on with the running shoes, off with the bike helmet, on with the hat, grab race belt and I'm off.

Again, need to practice a few bike skills (figure out why it's hard to get unclipped sometimes).

Out of T2, there is the huge downhill and we run back to the swim start area. So your running, but it's down sets of stairs, up sets of stairs, huge short downhills and climbs before you get to the road.

Even though I have done bricks, I could tell from the start that this was not going to be an amazingly fast run. I pretty much figured I would get passed.

And that's just what happened. I ran as hard as I could and got passed by what seemed like 5 people. For the first mile, I had what felt like stomach issues. I could not tell if it was muscle issues from falling down or cramping.


Nothing really.

The girls caught me at the finish chute but I was so out of breath and didn't want them standing in the chute so I pushed them back. After 5-10 minutes I finally got my breath back and grabbed some water and Gatorade. Fun Killer had made a friend and both congratulated me on a great time. As we were leaving we saw a neighborhood friend that does tris (not seriously though) and he gave us his shirt (said he didn't need it).


Overall fitness. My running is coming back. I feel like I have decent endurance on the bike but not enough strength (I feel like I do fine on the flats but could do better climbing hills). I feel like this will come with time. I will continue to take monthly swim lessons and build my endurance there too.


A good race and course. The run from the beach to T1 sucked but I guess that is tri-life. Very hilly run but that again is life in the Peach State.

I feel like without the hill/chain drop/falling down issues and the turn around issues, I would have been 3-4 minutes faster. Issues aside, I'm happy with the bike, happy with the swim and OK with the run.

As long as I keep working out and I keep getting faster on my runs and stronger on my bike, I feel like I could drop at least another 5 minutes off this course. I don't think this is a course you can go sub-1 hour on.

Thanks again to Lou and Greg for the advice on going without the wetsuit. Great advice. Thanks to everyone else for all the positive comments. I was definitely thinking about all my BT friends during the race.