I started a little in the front of the group because thats where I've been starting lately in other races. I registered for the elite wave start. The gun went off. Everyone started walk/running out to deeper water. As we got there, people started to swim and I found a place to dive in and get going. I think I had the initial "gasp-factor" from the cold water as I had to calm myself down a bit after first jumping in. After about 150y or so, I hit somebody's something with my funny bone. That was a little bit of a shocker at first, then my right hand was totally numb and useless for about 2 minutes. So, I'm swimming limp-handed and trying to keep up with everyone else. We get to the buoy and everyone is crowded around it, trying to turn which made it pretty hard, especially with a useless hand. After the first turn, feeling started to come back into the hand but the cold was getting to my arms. Arms started to feel a little weak, but I kept swimming is out and try and warm them up. Rounded the second buoy and this is where the waves (1-2ft) got to me. I'm a right side breather and the waves were coming from the right side. Twice I sucked water and had to stop for a few seconds to cough up a lung. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it really throws off your rythm. Another time I was sighting pretty good, and some waves that were tossing me around a bit pushed me to my left and I ended up running head-on into one of those balloon-type buoys. Nice. I pouned out the rest of that section, made the final turn and rode the waves in. As we were coming in there was a big pocket of super cold water, which was kinda weird. Overall my swim performance was a little disappointing.

Maybe start a little further back in the pack. Not suck water. Not let the waves throw me so much that I run into a buoy. Swim harder.

Got out of the water and to the wetsuit strippers. Peeled off the top half of my suit, layed down on my back and threw my feet up and let the strippers do their job. I had a prime spot on the racks due to my 5th OA finish last year so I ran there. I was a little surprised that there was fair amount of bikes still there. Grabbed my shoes, fumbled with them, got the helmet and glasses on and took off running to the bike out. Jumped on the bike and immediately got up to speed.

Not fumble with my shoes.

I knew I had to really whip out a good time to make up for my poor swim. So I immediatly started hammering on the bike and was passing lots of people. We had some headwinds the first half of the course, but nothing too bad. Maybe 5-10 mph. The legs were a little stiff starting off and not warmed up at all. I had some minor leg/hammy cramping that came and went. At about the 8 mile marker the legs and body seemed to warm up nicely and things were full bore from them on. Not much else went on, except a lot of chasing people down and passing them. One guy tried to ride my wheel for a while, until I realized he was back there. Dropped him hard and he never came back.

Earned myself the 2nd fastest bike split overall. 1st was about 40" faster than me - it wasn't the overall winner.

Took an S-Cap and a Gu at the beginning of the bike. Drank about 3/4 of my aero drink (water) and also about 1/2 of a bottle with 3 servings (600 cal) of Gu2o in it.

Nothing.

Rode into T2 with feet out of my bike shoes. Came in running pretty fast at the dismount area. Got over to my spot. There was about 10-12 other bikes on my rack. Half-racked my bike and had to re-rack it. Helmet off, fumbled with my running socks, got them on, shoes on, almost forget my number belt, grabbed the last Gu off my bike and headed out. On my way out I grabbed a cup of water and downed the Gu.

Rack my bike correctly. Not fumble with my shoes. Not almost take off without my number belt. I think I was trying to be so fast and make up seconds, that I fumbled a little and ended up taking the same amount of time if I would've just relaxed a little. Same goes for T1.

The first mile I kept the pace in the low 6's with a really high cadence to allow my running legs to show up. They came around pretty quickly and I started to pound out this run. I wanted to zip this one out to try and regain more ground. I had to go to the bathroom and that gave me a little bit of stomach discomfort, but I was able to put that in the back of my head and focus on the run. After the short/long course split in the run I knew who I had to pick off. There was a line of about 5-6 people that I passed pretty easily in the first 2 miles. Then we headed up Bluff Pass Rd. I didn't walk on that hill last year, nor did I this time around. The pace slowed a lot - down to about 8:30-9:00 m/m - but I kept trucking up it and made it fine. Got to the top, recovered nicely, brought the pace back up again and two more people were there for me to pick off. I chased down those two in the next mile and the rest of the run was pretty much spent on running hard and away from everyone behind me. Around mile 5, I saw one other guy about 2-3' ahead of me, which I new was too much ground to make up at that part of the race. On some of the corners I looked back to see how far those other two were and they were nowhere to be found. So, I kept pounding it out, hit the downhill hard, flew down the finishers chute and crossed the finish line in 4th place overall.

This run earned me the fastest run split overall.

Took in a S-Cap at the first aid station.

Nothing!

Crossed the line. Got some water and went to the bathroom. Met up with Amy. Saw Jeff T there and talked about the race with him. Drank my Endurox. Shortly after stopping the race I started to get stomach cramps pretty badly. Those ended up bothering for most of the rest of the day and I spent most of the time after the race sitting around and talking with people I knew out there. I can only attribute the cramps to drinking lake water. A little after noon, we sat around for the awards ceremony to collect my 2nd place AG bottle of wine.


Do I even need to say it? Okay - the swim.


Besides the swim, I am VERY pleased with the results. I earned myself 4th place overall and 2nd in my AG. Also, the 2nd fastest bike and the the fastest run splits of the day.

This event is a prime event. It fully sold out and very well put together. Like last year, I have absolutely no complaints about how the race was ran. Excellent organization and co-ordination. BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and grilled corn on the cob as an added bonus for post-race eats, too!