After the gun goes off everyone jostled for position. I decided to start on the far right near the trees and work my way over to the madness near the buoy line. After the first bridge I settle in behind a female swimmer and followed her for most of the first lap. The first 1.5 laps I stuck with my original plan to do three breaths on one side, sight, switch to breathing on opposite side. The swim was pretty uneventful. I felt comfortable and by the first turnaround was already passing people in blue and white caps (5 and 10 minutes ahead of my start). First 0.6 mi took 19 minutes. The swim back was a little easier and with a slight current.Glanced at my watch took 18 minutes to get back. At this point I was very happy as I was halfway done and not feeling worse for wear. The way back out was also uneventful and I did the distance in 19 minutes again. The last 0.6 mi I was feeling confident enough that I went to swimming with a true bilateral breathing technique. I noticed I was going faster and my shoulder was still holding up. I glanced at my watch as I went under the banner....1:12:00. I was very happy and trotted off to the transition area.

The swim went perfectly considering I switched my swim technique three weeks before the race from windmill to TI swimming. I think I could easily take several minutes off my time a year from now by just continuing to develop this swim technique and get an adequate swim base.

Took my time in the transition area. Used the changing tent to put on cycling shorts for extra comfort and lube up the groin area with bodyglide. Drank 32oz of musclemilk for extra calories and took my allergy medication as well as a couple ibuprofen. Put on my cycling jersey, socks, headband etc.

Check where to leave to the transition area. I ended up walking my bike around the whole transition area instead of cutting across my rack to the exit area and wasted almost a minute in the process.

My nutrition plan was to drink what I had in the aero bottle to the first rest stop. At each rest stop I grabbed a Gatorade Endurance and Water. I put the water in the Aero bottle after the rest stop and drank that and the gatorade between each rest stop. 8 stops x 2 botles = 16 bottles of fluids consumed in the race. I also ate a GU espresso w/ caffeine at every 10 mile mark. Even with all that liquid I still had some dehydration issues on the second lap and had to make sure I was sipping more often as I got the chills in the heat.

I passed Karen on the first lap in front of the hotel at mile 53. She was still cheering for the guy in front of me when I then passed here and she realized there goes Oliver. I yell out "I love you" and keep on trucking. The second time she was near the finishing line and I saw her sign as she was cheering me on at the finish line.

The second loop was much hotter than the first and a wind started to kick up. I had to battle some dehydration issues despite my heavy drinking pre-ride as well during the ride. Around mile 90 the origin of the tibialis anterior muscle started to hurt and I had to drop down a gear to alleviate the pain. This pain also made the second climb up chalk hill a little more difficult than the first.

The drafting call I got completely sucked. On the turn heading on the road that Windsor HS is on on the first lap there is a false flat leading up to the turn. The guy in front of me slows down from 22+ to 17 mph on this little incline so I catch him near the turn and yell out that I'm going to pass on his left before the corner. He doesn't hear me or something and stays on the left side of the bike lane and I catch him in the corner unable to pass him. I let him go ahead of me out of the corner but a course official sees that I'm right behind him in the corner and writes down my number. I was mad ad proceeded to to the pass the guy after the HS. I was so angry at the penalty and it fueled me to go a little to hard to start the second lap.

Make sure if I come up on someone to fully pass them so I don't get tagged with a drafting penalty.

Drink, drink, and drink some more water. Ate some of the food at the BBQ but it didn't really agree with me to well. Had a 15 minute massage on my right shoulder blade to try and get the monster knot out. Waited around for the awards ceremony and then went out to dinner for chinese food and some ice cream.


The fact that I started training almost exactly one year before this race to pull this race off was nothing short of a miracle. I am very proud of how far I have come in so little time. The picture of me is 1 month after I started working out and having lost the first 10 lbs.


Definitely a low key event compared to an NA IM produced race. I had a great time and to come in so close to 7 hours left me with a great sense of accomplishment and made all the training worth it. Will probably do the half-aquabike next year for fun.