The swim went as well as I could have hoped. I'm not sure why, maybe losing more weight, but my swimming has improved a lot the last month or so. Started out at the front of the crowd and had a few people swim over/around me but it wasn't too bad. The first 1/3 of a mile was pretty crowded then after the first turn buoy it thinned out a bit. Got around the second turn buoy, headed for shore and then things got interesting. I had been passing people who started in the wave ahead of me and then really started to catch a lot of swimmers. This turned into a bit of a problem with trying to get around them. Probably cost me a bit of time but not a whole lot. About 100 yards from shore my left hamstring cramp on me and continued to cramp a bit the rest of the way. Had to stop and stretch it out as soon as I got out of the water. I hoped it wouldn't bother me for the rest of the day.

Not much. Maybe get through the slower swimmers better but not sure how to do that other than just swim around them and keep going.

My hammy was still tweaking a little bit so I didn't run that fast to my transition. Got the wetsuit off quickly, into shoes, and headed for the bike mount line.

Not cramp up my hamstring.

Here's where my race kind of hit a hiccup. When I got to the bike mount line my front tire was flat! I couldn't believe it. I had ridden my bike yesterday and pumped up my tires about 15 minutes before the start of the race. They were both fine then but sometime during the swim it managed to go flat. Fortunately it was the front wheel so I got it changed fairly quickly. Unfortunately, it cost me 4 minutes and 15 seconds to do it and by the end of the race this would be costly.
The first few miles of the bike are mostly flat with a little climb on Lakeshore Drive. Out along the Ironman CDA course to Higgins Point turn-around then back toward town. Kept a pretty good pace, 21-24mph along here except for the hill, and getting warmed up as it was still pretty chilly, especially in a wet tri suit. Passed a ton of people along here, including one of the Docs I work with who was doing the race on his old single speed bike! Pretty cool! Somewhere about 8 miles into the ride the course turns off Lakeshore Drive and into a pretty good climb. Maybe two miles total and it gets pretty steep at the top. I passed quite a few people going up the hill and was feeling pretty good, except I was still bummed about the flat. The course flattens out and then a bit of downhill for a couple miles then a couple more climbs and a couple short downhills. They had to shorten the course 2.5 km here due to some ill-timed road maintenance but it was not that big a deal. More ups and downs back to a pretty good, long downhill back to Lakeshore Drive. Maxed out at 48+ mph here. Got back to Lakeshore Drive and started to put the hammer down. Held 24-26mph for the next couple miles then got back to town. Still kept the pace above 22.5 mph through town to T2.
Even with the flat, I had a good bike I think. I figure that the time I lost on the bike would have been pretty close to what it would have taken me to do the 2.5km that they cut off the course so I still would have been about 1h 12m for the 40km. As it was, for the 23.4 miles I was 1h 8m and change of actual riding time. With as many hills as this course has, I was really happy with that.

Not flat out!

Pretty uneventful.

Nothing except run faster.

Took off on the run and didn't feel like I was really going too fast. My legs felt ok though after about the first 3/4 mile. Hit the 1 mile mark at around 8:50, and felt good so decided to just go for it. Saw several of my fast friends who were ahead of me and got to see my brother when he was at about the 4 mile mark. He looked really strong and was running well! Climbed the hill behind Starbucks and passed the 3 mile mark at a good time and decided to try and pick up the pace on the way back. Actually started passing people from time to time over the last 3 miles and felt pretty good the whole way. Got passed a couple times as well but not as much as I thought I would. Saw John a few yards from the finish and got a high five! Capped off a good race!

Not much. Before the race I figured the run would be my weak point, as it was, but it wasn't nearly as slow as I thought it would be so I've got to be happy with it. Probably could have pushed a little harder but I always feel that way.

Slow walk back to transition, found John and we congratulated each other. He had just hammered his race and I was really proud of him! Waited around for awards and had some BBQ and drank lots of water.


The flat didn't help, obviously, and I need to work on my run but overall I was really happy with the race.


Without the flat I would have finished at about 2:33 and roughly 45 places higher than I did overall. Still, it was a huge PR for me over the only other Oly race I've done, by about 30 minutes so I'm really pleased with it.
The other thing the flat did for me was keep me out of the bling! In my AG (over 40 Clydesdale) 2:33 would have been good for 2nd place. As it was, I missed second by 2 minutes and third by 50 seconds. So, I wasn't too happy about that but it's all part of the game. I haven't ever flatted during a race before so I guess I was due. Just wish it would have been a race when it didn't cost me!
Still had a great time, great weather, got to race with my brother and several of my friends and co-workers so it was all good!