I'm too lazy to give swim/bike/run comments, so you get it all right here.

First, my race prep: I rode 42 miles yesterday, including some sprints with the Master's state RR champion (I lost). Then we went over to the Trek store, where they were having a Computrainer 5 minute power challenge; get the highest watt/kg number for 5 minutes, win a prize. I overcooked it trying to keep the 380 watts needed to beat the 140 lb beanpole who was in first place, and lost again. Mental note: wear helium pants to next challenge. Next we went to a party where I drank lots of beer, ate burgers and wings as "carbo-loading". Went home, slept 4 hours, got up at 4 AM to drive to Clermont. No, this was not an "A" race on my schedule...

I barely made it to the race in time; I drove in about 20 minutes before scheduled start time. I ran through the check in line, ran the bike into transition as they were calling everyone to the water, and basically dumped my stuff in a pile beside the bike. Ran to the rest room, emerged in time to hear the end of the National Anthem and the "1 minute to start" call. :o

I'd forgotten my swim cap in my haste but figured nobody would bust me for it as my sunburned head matched the orange caps pretty well. Must've worked..I swam what felt like the longest swim ever; I had no watch and the course felt loooonngg. To my surprise, when I waded up onto the shore the clock was at 29.xx and I'd actually done a decent swim.

On to the bike, where I didn't even have water for my bottle. I grabbed cups from the volunteers and stood in transition, pouring them into my bottle so I'd have fluids on the bike. Then I dug around in my pack for the bike computer, reset it, clipped it on..slowest transition ever. :) I felt about as I'd expected on the bike, sore from the past few days, in need of more liquids than my half a bottle, so I just rode conservatively. This course is a fun one, full of rolling hills including several steep short grades that require restraint to keep from wrecking your legs for the run. Of course, the Powertap continued its' flaky ways as of late and quit working about 6 miles in. I rolled back into transition with no clue as to my split, figuring it couldn't be good because of how I'd felt, even though only one guy passed me. Turned out it was OK, 6th in AG and 36th overall.

After another slow transition spent sorting my stuff out and finding my socks, I ran out feeling OK. The heat was definitely on, the race is appropriately named. I hate running on hills and don't get to do it much, and by the end of the first loop I could feel my left calf getting tender, so I upped my stride rate and started shuffling to finish it off. At least I was passed by several spectacular women during this section to keep me, errr, focused. :)

I finished about a minute slower than St. Anthony's, where I ran one minute out of every 5, I think. Of course, this is a much harder course, hotter, beer prep, yada yada..

I ended up 7th in AG, which was a surprise. This was good prep for the Hammerhead Oly in late Aug., where I plan to actually taper, get some sleep, and hopefully set a new PB.

The final tragedy of the day: the Twistee Treat in Clermont is closed. :( I was seriously bummed; I drove my truck with no A/C down and back and I was really looking forward to ice cream before that long, hot drive back.