I was very calm before the swim. In the past I haven't had the best times during the swim and was really hoping that this event would be different. I watched the first three waves go out and then got in the water and started wading out. There were a few guys that were yelling and making jokes and it seemed to loosen quite a few people up.
I had decided pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be jockeying for position at the front as people were already fighting for position. I thought that I would play it easy and let them work it out and I'd work to pass them later. I also wanted to start out easy and get into a good pace. When it was out turn to start I almost immediately ran into the all of the people and spent the next few hundred yards waiting and trying to get around all of the slower people at the front. After the first buoy things evened out and I was able to find some open space. From the first buoy to the second buoy was at least 1/2 of the swim so it was just dead straight and long. For whatever reason I could not swim in a straight line. I've never had that problem before. I could see exactly where I wanted to go, so my sighting was good, but when I would stroke I'd pop up a few strokes later and pointed way off. After a while I almost started laughing it was so ridiculous. After I finally rounded the second buoy I knew I didn't have to much more to do so I started digging in and ended up passing quite a few people from the waves in front of me. That's always a good feeling.
When I finally hit the beach I hit my watch and it was 27:53. My time above includes the 3:12 it took me to run down the beach, up through the houses down the parking lot and into transition. Good times.

Trust my ability to swim and get in the front at the beginning. Learn how to swim in a straight line....duh.

Transition time are lumped in with the bike time but by the Power of Greyskull, I mean Timex, I will go ahead and remove them....

I took a bit longer in transition then I wanted but overall it was fine. I was coated in sand and wanted to wear socks so I spent time cleaning my feet and then drying them to get everything on. I grabbed my gels and ran out the gate!

Nothing

I mounted my bike quickly and got up to speed and immediately grabbed a gel and some water. I did well until I got to the first hill which I felt I did well on, but a lot of people passed me. Once into the flat part of the course, I got in the big ring and started hammering. I got to the turn around feeling good and continued on my way back. 1/2 way back my back started really hurting (lower back). I got up out of aero a few times trying to find a comfortable position, but nothing was working. I decided there was nothing I could do so I kept on keeping on. I had another gel right before getting back to transition.

Train more.

Came in and ran through transition racked my bike, changed shoes and hats and then ran down to the other end of transition to get to the timing mat. Felt quick and good.

Nothing.

My legs were tight at the start and I was unsure of how my body was going to react. This was all new territory for me so I decided to be a little conservative on the first loop. I had to pee since the 2nd half of the bike and was hoping to find a bathroom but nothing was coming up. I kept trying to ignore it but it wasn't going away. Finally I found one and took a pit stop and it made my life a lot easier after that. I came out rejuvinated and happy. I spent my time on the run looking for people that I knew. On the first lap I saw my friend that I mentioned earlier and then I saw a guy whose daughter swims with mine. He's an Ironman vet and a really nice guy. I'd yell when I saw him and he's wave and laugh. I remember that Dave699 was at the race and that he sad his number was 1441, so I spent most of the run scanning numbers looking for him. Unfortunately I never saw him. On the second loop I picked up my pace a bit and started to push. Not long after that I saw Chris M heading in on his first loop so I gave him a yell and he returned the favor. After he yelled all the volunteers at the water station starting yelling my name and we were all lauging. At the very end my buddy was a couple hundred yards from the finish and told me to finish strong so I picked it up and ran it in.

At the end of the race I forgot to stop my watch so I had no idea what my time was. I felt like I ran pretty well but not great. Last night I saw my splits and thought that the 54:46 was really good for me. I ran a 10k last December for the first time and did it in 51:00. For having swam and biked first, a 54:46 wasn't to bad. The funny thing is that it's my worst AG ranked event.

Train harder and try to become a faster runner, although I really don't think that will ever happen.

I came through the shoot and gave them my bib ticket and timing chip. I grabbed a few glasses of water and some oranges and went back over to the run course and waited for ChrisM to cheer him on in.


I think I did well for my first Oly. I didn't really taper or follow a training program for this specific race. I think more TITS and running will always do a body good.


I had a great time at this race. I knew a few people there and there were a lot of volunteers. I think they could have had a few more things to do after the race and I sure could have used a cold beer. Oh yeah, my daughter did the Seal Beach OWS, which was her first OWS competition so my wife and kids weren't at the race which was a bummer. She got 13th. I had a good day and it was a good experience.