Wet suits were optional, but those wearing were ineligible for an AG award. I wasn't worried about a top 3 spot and never have done an OWS swim of this distance. So, I elected to wear one.

Got kicked HARD in the left eye about 75m into the race, resulting in goggles coming partly off. I think the dude was breaststroking. Got the water cleared and back on game quickly. Took a pretty good beating throughout the first 400 meters. I caught myself straying off a few times but not too far off course. Definitely could work on sighting. I felt super getting out of the water; warmed up and ready to kick some A$$ on the bike.

Warm-up for about 200m before.
Practice sighting more.
Push a little bit more at least on the 2nd half which seemed to go by so fast compared to the first half of the swim.

Felt great coming out of the water. HR good, no sea legs, ready to go. Had trouble with wet suit hanging up on right ankle. Working at it caused my calf to cramp - "Oh crap!" But got the suit and cramp worked out - no damage done other than the 30 seconds or so getting out of my rubber foot trap.

I was 38th out of 38 in my AG - yuck!

I got also got tangled in my tri-top. One of the pins from my bib even came off in the process. I would have worn it under my wetsuit, but was concerned about race bib pins rubbing my belly for 1500 meters. Another 60 seconds lost here. Lesson learned.

I had left my shoes in the pedals, cause I didn't have room in my tri-bag. Also was flirting with the idea of mounting that way and straping in on the fly, for the first time. However, I have never practiced mounting this way and cranked them off to strap on before pulling the bike out. Good decision, but should have made it while setting up, NOT in the middle of T1. Duh!?! Another 15 seconds lost.

Get a race belt, so I don't have to mess with putting a tight wet shirt on during T1. Either practice with shoes already clipped in or have them ready to put on in T1. I clearly didn't think through setting up my transition.

Goal was to average 20mph, which I knew would be pushing it for me, about equal to my 20mi TT effort. This was a "B" race for me and I wanted to see how much I could push on the bike. I'm a "rookie" on the bike and wanted to test myself somewhat. If I blew up, I knew I could still "finish" the 10k. Its a comfortable run distance for me that I'm really confident running and managing.

Nothing. I wanted to see what I could handle and pushed it about as much as possible. I felt like I caught quite a few people on the bike. I love catching, passing, finishing in front of people with $3,000+ bikes with my $800 model. I just kept thinking - it's the engine suckas.

Better than T1 but just OK.

Get Yankz or something similar.

The first mile felt tough. Early in the run, this shorter woman about my age comes flying past me. I was thinking, "man my HR is under 160 and this is just plain hard." Another, younger woman, this time passes me; and another. "Did I push too hard on the bike!? This is going to be a long 10k..." Then I come to the "Mile 1" sign, click the lap function and it spits out a 07:38. "Oh, that's why it felt hard, I'm scorching it here." So I settle down and get into a more comfortable rhythm. I kept it real steady for the next 4 miles keeping a good pace (08:10's to 08:15's) and HR just below 160. Then, I kicked it in a bit and was able to pass a few guys in my AG. However, One guy, with a "37" on his calf, I passed about 0.4mi before the end, came storming past me with about 150 meters to go... damn!

As I came up to the finish I saw the clock clicking 02:39:40, 41, 42... I look to the left and see my wife and kids cheering. I yell to my wife pointing at the clock "it looks like I made it." She knew my stretch goal was 02:40:00. She smiled and rolled her eyes as I came through. I could hear her thoughts - "you're such a dork, but I'm still proud of you."

Maybe start pushing above 160bpm with about 2 miles to go.

Just relaxed. Ate a yogurt, some water, pretzel rods. Cleaned up transition area and packed up the car.


Transitions were a big factor. I think I could push it more on the swim and run - maybe a minute faster for each. For the bike, time in the saddle would be the only thing. I hammered the bike pretty hard.

The week leading up to the race was stressful at work and I spent most of my waking hours at the office. Sleep was pretty poor - not one night over 6.5 hours. I somewhat trained through without taper, including a pretty good workout the day before. A proper race week taper, nutrition and rest management could have made the experience better. Still, I'm very happy with the result.


A VERY nice race and well organized. Great course with a plethora of fantastic volunteers. Nice crowd support on run (hoses and sprinklers, kids with high-5's, etc). Bike course marshal (on motorcycle) was quite visible; prob. saw him 4 times over the 25 miles. I witnessed zero draft violations. However, no photographer and limited race swag (rather plain cotton T-shirt). Still, overall, an "A" class race.

It was my 1st olympic distance race and was very manageable (about 230 triathletes). I would recommend to anyone in the area to do it in 2008; especially if its your first.