I was to go first in my heat, which I don't necessarily care for. The second guy passed me after a few laps but then we stayed in that order for the rest of the indoor swim. Shoulders started to fatigue a bit. Ran to the outside pool and forgot to put my goggles back over my eyes before jumping in. Oops. Screwed a few people up trying to get them on. I'm an idiot.

Swim has improved since last year. Knocked off almost 2 minutes. I think my actual swim time was a little over sixteen minutes, which is what I predicted. Forgot to start my stop watch though. Not sure why I feel everything in my shoulders rather than my back/lats.

Felt slow here. Had lots of black pebbles on my feet from the parking lot and had to take the time to wipe them off before putting on socks.

Practice. 1:01 faster than last year.

I wanted to average at least 18 mph and actually be closer to 19 if I could. So all in all I'm happy with this. I felt really good on the first loop and tried to push it a bit. Still was passed a few times but did more passing than not. This is a tough little bike course. First half is all up and then when you finally get to the down, you still get more ups. Second loop was ok. But felt good, no stomach cramping as in the past.

Need more miles. Long rides are at 20 right now and few and far between. But I shaved over four minutes from last year and was 2 mph faster and I was only five minutes slower than the fastest bike time. But I think the next step up will be harder so I've got some work to do.

Dont' you hate space hogs in the transitions? Someone had their full sized milk crate sitting directly under the bike rack and it was impossible to fit a bike over it. So I couldn't rack my bike in that open spot and had to jockey for another. PUT your milk crates and 5 gallon buckets away from the rack. I put my tri backpack at the far end of the rack where no one has anything...

What would you do differently?:

Nothing.

Felt pretty good starting off though my legs were a bit clunky. At about mile one they felt better. I picked off lots and lots of people on the run and really felt good. Big hill at mile 3 seemed a lot smaller this year. Passed some guys that beat me on the bike (always feels good :)

Run harder. Still had a lot left at the end. My biggest problem on the run has been abdominal cramps/side stitches. It seems to stem from poor breathing and water swallowing on the swim. Today I didn't have that problem and my run was great. Whenever I felt the slightest twinge, I'd take deeper breaths and rub that stomach muscle; call it preventive care. I also didn't use Gu this time and just used Accelerade. This seemed to agree with me. I don't know if this will be feasible on longer tris.

Stretched and did a short cool down jog.


It really comes down to my amount of training. I can only run about 10-15 miles per week, bike 20-30, and swim a few thousand yards. This is barely adequate for sprints. Unfortunately, with my work schedule and family life, I'm pretty limited. It wil change when kids are in school and that's when I hope to step up a bit.


Another good tri for Highlands Ranch. I wish BKB would list all of the rankings in each discipline. Unless you were in the top 15 overall in each part or in the top three in your age group, you can't get your rankings.