Most physical of the OWS starts I've been in. Was kicked hard a few times. Swam over a couple people. Vice versa. Fat lip. That being said, this was by far the most comfortable I've been in the open water. Sighted well. Didn't hyperventilate. Was calm before the start. Gave a good, steady, consistent effort and my heart rate was steady. Might have have pushed a little harder but was pleased overall.

Pleased with the time considering how little swimming I've been doing; pace was right on last years but I was much more comfortable.

(Official time was 39 seconds slower my time which was strange considering every other event and transition matched almost exactly).

No wet-suit strippers so getting the wet-suit off took a more time. Suit got stuck on my ankles.

More 'body-glide' around the calves and ankles.

Again about the same pace as last year with less effort. As usual my best event. The hill was tough but certainly not as tough as I remembered. I was concerned about the calf cramping and pushing it too hard. Kept a steady climb on the hill and hammered a harder everywhere else. About a mile an hour faster pace than my training runs on a similar course.

My bike is fast. Topped out at 49.4 mph! Group of three Oly racers on high end bikes and wheels passed me (all about my size) before coming back on the steep hill; by the bottom I went by every one of them on the downhill mainly coasting on my good ole Nemesis costing thousands less. Got to love that.

It was a good bike leg. A good effort pushing it hard in the right places. Legs were a little stiff coming off but not feeling like Jello. Thankfully no major leg cramping other than some stiffness in the left calf.

Might be time to pick up some tri bike shoes. The buckle on my road bike shoes is a pain to deal with in transitions.

Get some tri bike shoes without buckles so I can get out of my shoes on the bike.

Thankfully no major cramping in my calves, but feeling terrible gut cramps out of transition. I had a Hammer Gel an hour before the race and one right at start and I guess they didn't sit well though I thought I'd hydrated enough. Or perhaps I was over-hydrated because of concerns about my calve cramps. I had a lot of Gatorade and water over the last couple of days. I don't know.

Whatever caused it, it sucked rocks. That combined with the fact that the run course had even more sand than last year. I don't mind the pain when the heart is pounding and and the lungs are burning. That is good pain. But the gut cramps are the worst. Completely took the wind out of my sails and made me not care about my time as it looked like I would easily beat last years overall time (which I did). AHR was low z2. So the potential was there to be much faster. My run pace was ~8' pace when I was running but I walked a lot more than I'd like hoping the cramps would subside.

The last half mile back on pavement was relatively strong. Probably ~6'30" pace so at least I finished strong.

Figure out this gut cramping thing. Switch the Gatorade on the bike to water in the sprint races? Skip the gels? I don't know. Don't feel like it should be an issue with these sprints.

The usual post race bananas, grapes, orange slices and bottle of water.


Drop off on focused training and inconsistent at that. Concern of pushing too hard on the bike for fear of aggravating my calf injury. Terrible gut cramps on the run. Perhaps a slight lack of overall motivation to push it hard for a couple more places when I knew I beat my goal time considerably (though I failed to realize the bike course was 2 miles shorter than last year).


Great race. Very well organized with BBSC taking over. Swim waves ran on time which was a huge bonus. Transition area was nicely set up. Very professional. Probably the most well run of any race I've been involved. Great grab bag. Good shirt. Big crowd. Not sure I will do it again because the trail run in that sand is just sick and the long drive. Maybe if I do the Oly and go with others.

Considering I'd had the nagging injuries leading up, the terrible gut cramping and the inconsistent training I was good with my results. Basically similar times to last year without having to expend the same level of effort and without near the training. But more importantly I had a good time.