Actually swam :14 slower this year than last, but I think this years course was longer and laid out more correctly. I was in the fith wave and when the horn sounded I ran off like everyone else. I did a few dolphin lunges and by the time I did my fourth one, I was in enough water to start swimming. I was a littel cranked up, and probably went out too fast to the first bouy. By the time I got there I realized this and then slowed down and concentrated on length of stroke. My wife commented that the second leg of the course is when i pulled away from the pack and started making ground. By the last bouy, I had caught the wave in front of me and was feeling very strong. Half of the last leg was walkable, which i did. I should have ran, but hey, I was tired.

I thought I did pretty well.

There was no timing chips so my bike time includes T1 and T2 transitions. i struggled to get my shoes on for some reason, but once they were on, i took off and actually got into the bike fairly quickly.

Not be so tired from the swim.

It took me a good 7-8 miles just to settle in an find my "happy place". I struggled a bit in the beginning and went from aero to the hoods a bunch, because I could not get comfortable. Once my HR came down I could get into aero and stay there a bit longer. I didn't battle anyone out there. I was either passing or being passed. There wasn't anybody that I could battle back and forth with and that always makes it more fun.

Get comfortable sooner.

I had a great T2 transition and felt pretty good in the run right off the bat.

Can't think of too much.

Well, I almost acheived my goal of a 9:30 pace, but my second goal is always to run with out stopping. Which I did. I read a great article on focusing and i think a lot of times the reason i would stop is my mind wandering a bit and then just to forget to keep running. I really looked at small goals along the race to keep me going. Run to that tree, or run to the sign. Small goals along the way to keep me focused. Seemd to help. My hamstring cramped a bit after transition and I babied it a little, which hurt my normal running stride, if you can call it that. Made the turn around, was passed by my neighbor after the 1/2 way point, which i thought was good.

Log more miles

Water and a walk to stretch the hammy.


Lack of training.


This is a great little race that is organized and fun to do. For being a smaller race there was some pretty impressive hardware in the transition area. Lots of carbon, Zipps and tri-specific bikes.