This was a pretty good swim. Due to the TT start, I had basically a giant 1500m long line of people I could pass, and did pass. I was only able to find one person to draft on, as he was the only one I encountered swimming faster than me. Problem was, he was swimming quite a bit faster than me, and I decided it was better to swim comfortably then to expend too much energy trying to catch his draft. There were a fair number of breast strokers (and a few floaters), and I caught a couple of kicks to the chest. But I stayed as far right as I could, and thankfully missed most of the people who were zig-zagging their way downstream. When I hit the end, I confused the guys who were trying to pull me out by getting out of unassisted. Then it was up the crazy number of steps into T1.

Probably not much. Maybe eat a smaller dinner the night before. And learn how to not have to pee 97 times while waiting to start racing.

To get into transition we had to run up 50 steps or so on the riverfront park to get up to street level. Came through the fence, and then had to remember where the hell my bike was. Finally I figured it out, and ran down the second to last rack. Threw my cap and goggles on the ground, jammed my feet into my bike shoes, on with the helmet and sunglasses, and I was out. Running in wet grass proved to be difficult with my bike shoes, and I almost fell a few times. I had to go about 150m with the bike before I hit the mount line.

Learn how to do a flying mount, and how to mount with shoes already clipped in.

Of the 3 sports, the bike is definitely my limiter, especially when there are hills. And the Chattanooga course provided hills o' plenty. I had heard that the course featured "lots of rollers," which I suppose was true enough. Most of the climbs weren't steep, just long...painfully long. One of the first hills on the out decided to be both long and steep. A LOT of good cyclists were grinding in the small chainring/granny gear for much of the course, as I would later learn. I am not a good cyclist, so I was definitely granny-ing up some of the hills. I did manage to maintain a good cadence, though, and even had the guts to power up a few of the smaller climbs. I got the karmic smack put down on me for my good swim while biking - passed by a bunch of people (maybe 50 in total), of which several were M25-29ers. This was to be expected, though, and the guys that caught me dropped me like 3rd period French - there was no way I was re-passing them.
The out part of the course proved to be the most difficult, as the climbs on the return were shallower, and there were more downhill portions. It was a bit into the wind, but thankfully it was well within the predicted 5-10mph range. In the final 5 miles or so I managed to make up some age group ground, as we hit some pretty impressive descents. At one point I was close to spinning out my 53.
The last little bit coming back into T2 had us navigating through the riverfront portion of downtown, which thankfully was flat and fast. My legs were pretty cooked from that ride, and I was doubting my ability to run a decent 10k.
To the confusion of MANY racers, the RD decided to lengthen the bike course well beyond the standard 40k for an Oly. Coming back into town, we passed a sign which read "Mile 26," and then we rode maybe 1/3 or 1/2 a mile beyond that. Not really sure why this was the case, especially for an AG Nationals qualifying race.

Ride more hills - definitely. And probably just ride more, in general. Though, considering the course and the damn hills, I'm very happy that I held close to 20mph.

Came back across the dismount line, and promply almost fell over when I slipped on my right cleat. Straightened up, and sprinted the bike back to my rack. My seat post is set high enough that it had trouble going under the bar, so I threw it up on the brake levers. A quick change of shoes, swapped the helmet for my M-dot visor, and I was out.
There seemed to be a lot of dawdling going on in T2 - I'm not sure why. A fair number of people standing around, even more walking out. Not me, baby. I was out as fast as I could be, knowing that I would need a good run to make up for my ass-tastic bike (or so I thought at the time).

Learn to flying dismount, with shoes clipped in.

This was, for me, a GOOD run...nay, a GREAT run. Normally on training runs of this distance (give or take), I will stay at around 7:45/mile or so for the first 2.5-3, then the pace generally creeps up until my average is in the 8:10 range or so. Not today. The course started out with a pretty impressive uphill, during which I gritted my teeth and charged. And I continued to charge, right on until the end. I passed several hundred people on the run, and was only passed once myself.
The aid stations were well placed, but they had Powerade as their sports drink. Who, might I ask, drinks Powerade?!? They also decided to switch flavors throughout the course, which I thought was a spectacularly awful idea. Anyways...
I made it a point to slow down to grab P-ade at every station, and to walk 3 steps or so - just enough to drink without sloshing it all over myself. Then it was right back to laying it out on the course. I hit the 5k turnaround and felt great! Tired, but I knew that I was going to have a strong second half of the run.
The return was uneventful for the most part. More passing people, thankfully no being passed - all the while just maintaining a strong, steady pace. This changed at the very end of the course.
The final .2 miles were decidedly downhill, and I was running strong. I heard people coming up behind me, and I did a quick check to see what AG they were in. One guy was, quite literally, right behind me, and looked about my age. So I asked him, "hey, how old are you?" To which he replied "26." My initial, out-loud response was "oh fuck." Thanks to that infernal TT swim start, I had no idea where I stood in my AG, but I knew I would be cutting it close for an AG Nationals spot. I shot back one more look, and the guy responded "wanna go?" Oh, I want to go my friend...how I want to go. At that moment, going was all I wanted to do. So I went. HARD. I have never had an all out sprint finish, at least until that point. We were both charging full bore, at an all out sprint. I think I bested him with about 50m left, as he dropped back. I hit the line, and immediately started dry heaving. I was pretty worried I was going to ralph on the woman taking my timing chip. I think she may have been concerned too.

Nothing. This was bar none the best tri run I have ever had.

Stopped dry heaving, and hit the food tent. 2 pieces of pizza, a banana, a Snickers Marathon bar and some Powerade later, I was ready to collect my stuff from transition and head back to the hotel for a shower. Nina was in NYC for the weekend, so I didn't really have anybody to talk to, so I didn't hang around for too long.


Hills on the bike, and lack of hill training on the bike.


As usual, Team Magic puts on a first rate event. They were quite a bit late with the swim start, but that was totally outside their control. The course was quite challenging, but in a good way. I would recommend this race to anybody.

Most of my decision making during this tri was based on the fact that I was gunning for an AG nationals spot. This is really the first time that I have ever raced and/or competed in a tri, not counting GJCC (as I had no idea I was top 10 until after I finished, and the field wasn't particularly strong). There were some impressively fast guys on course, and I knew it would take everything I could give it to hang with them. I ended up finishing 19/65, and earned a slot to Portland next year in the process.
I also set an Oly PR by 15 minutes (my first, and only other Oly was NYC 06, where I finished 2:49:35 with a >1hr 10k), not taking into account the extra 1.5 miles of the bike course.