I went out hard, and tried to keep the pace. My goal was to do this swim in 7:45. I'm not sure why I missed the mark so badly. Still, my effort was solid, and I steadily passed people the whole time.

finish with a higher turnover. i've got some of the swim videotaped, so I'm going to see what I need to do to pick up my stroke-rate.

Again this year, I had to bark as some people to get out of the way. People just wander around the TA like there's no race going on!! It's unbelievable.
My goal here was 50 seconds, so I did well.

I missed my first pass at the velcro on my right shoe, but that was miniscule.

**now, if I had not flatted 3mi into the course, and had been able to keep going with my momentum, feeling great and all, my ACTUAL time spent cycling would have been 30:12, translating to 23.8mph. Yeah, I dominated it!! My time last year was 33:30 or so, and my goal was 32 this year.
But as luck would have it, my tire was crippled half way throught the 2nd lap. I was furious and frustrated. I worked so hard all summer, was so excited to defend my AG title at this race, and was doing great... until I heard that dreaded noise. Psssst!
So I started running my bike back to the TA to fix the flat. Yeah, I know, I should have had a kit with me, but I was trying to travel light like most folks do in these races. Besides, in most cases, when you flat in these races, your race is basically over. Maybe if my front tire had flatted I could have changed it quickly and gotten back on my way, but since it was the rear, I struggled mightily with the horizontal rear dropout. It took FOREVER to fix the damn thing. I was not a happy camper!
But then I got back out on the course to finish my last 4 laps. I hammered it hard and really pushed the pace. I was mowing people down and having fun, so that was good.

Ummm, not flat. Or keep a kit on the tri bike?

That transition practice paid off nicely the other day. I killed this transition!
I think I planned on giving myself a minute for this, so I'm happy with the brief stay in TA!

Nothing, except maybe get there earlier to get the end spot of the rack. I just don't like having other peoples' stuff really close by.

I let myself down on the run here, but I'm not terribly surprised. I just haven't had the run training that I had last year.
So while my goal was 24:30, and I missed it pretty badly, I'm not all that disappointed. Lap 1 and 2 were both very close. I felt a little better on the second loop because my 2 nasty side stiches had finally subsided. Also, there was just nobody out there to race against. Nobody chased me down. There was nobody outpacing me or forcing me to work harder. It was just me and my watch, so it was tough. I like to think that if my ideal race was still being played out, I would have had a little more desire to actually finish hard since there would be a podium spot on the line. But who knows? Motivation can be fleeting and permanent at the same time.

maybe wear the Garmin so I had a better idea of my pace.

on another note, i would say to avoid the water stops with the icy cold water. it really causes me to cramp in the gut. but on the other hand, i drank some on the bike (just a few onces), and about 4 bottes of fluid immediately after the race, and i was still down about 4lbs for the day. that's not good! but i don't feel that thirsty out on the course, so...

drank a ton, checked my dismal time, stretched, loaded up my gear, grabbed some snacks from the rec center, and headed home.


I trained hard and smart, tapered appropriately, and executed a good race plan... but it just didn't go as planned.