this was a good swim for me. not my fastest but i enjoyed it more. did a couple of the things i have learned recently and it made the swim more fun. last year was 6:25 so i shaved off 54 seconds.

going to stay in the water and work on my mechanics. i think its completely possible to shave off another minute.

the entrance to T1 was a nice distance from the pool. i didn't race it but i didn't really go slow either. was 8/32 for the effort. last years T1 was 2:09.

beat last years 36:56 (-2:48) but i expected that i would do that. it was raining again, thats 3 for 3 in my last few races. no one passed me but today it seemed a gargantuan effort to maintain speed. i just didn't have the juice. this speed isn't out of line with what i am doing this year so while the perceived effort was higher, my performance wasn't really that different. i could feel my hamstring trying to be uncomfortable and this may have affected me as well. overall i am satisfied though.

looking back now i see that i didn't have a T2 time from last year, they combined it into the bike ride. i now think i probably rode about the same.

this probably would have been my best T2 ever but for one small glitch. spent about 10-15 seconds getting my shoes comfortable when the little clip thing pulled into the shoe and between the top of my foot and the shoe. i had to get it out of there and that took some time but i am still ok with the performance.

get the laces perfected sometime before 11pm the night before the race.

29:27 was the time to beat from last year and i did it soundly. todays run was not the fastest this year but it was the best feeling of any ever in spite of the fact that i was running with an injury. i breathed easier and felt more comfortable than ever. it was actually almost enjoyable and that told me as i finished that i probably could have gone harder. no regrets though, i think that the plan my coach has me on is sound and will produce faster run times if i do what i am supposed to do.

sat under the pavillion and drank beer and ate pizza. talked to many new people, seems i am getting more familiar with and spending time with more people after these races. Met two of my rivals, Dave D. and Scott V.M. both are guys who's names i recognize from seeing them in the results all the time. Dave is pretty dang fast and i will have to wait until next year to beat him. the other Dave that i have been trading wins with got me by a bit more than a minute today, we are very evenly matched, i kill him on the bike but he wipes the ground with me on the run. i'm gonna get him in october, mark my words. one other rival that has beaten me 5 times in 5 meetings finally went down today. i hope to keep that trend going too.


level of rest, my leg, and a run that is still dragging me down.


i am still not happy about how hard it seems for them to get the timing down pat. we like to see our results quickly, not the next day. other races seem to be able to have everything ready and online before i even get home.

even though i rated this race as an "ok" performance i guess i should be feeling pretty good. i am 37th out of over 300 people and last year i was 126th. i bettered my time by 8:19 which i should be happy about. i have two months now to recover before my next race.