I saw John who I know is a faster swimmer than I am so my plan was to get on his feet and follow them the entire swim. I felt great the first 600m as I stayed on his feet when all of the sudden I started coughing. My chest had flem in it and I was hacking like crazy. I had to take a short break to get my breath and it was all down hill from there. Swim a few strokes and cough, swim a few more and cough some more. I ended up fighting the cough not only through the swim but throughout the entire race.

I cut the neck of my wetuit last week during OWS training and my breathing felt much better. The combination of cough and tightness of the suit made it really difficult to breath. I either need to get a different wetsuit or never race in a wetsuit again. I just can't get used to it and may be one of the very few that actually swim faster without a wetsuit.

I felt horrible after the swim and really wanted to stop after the swim as I new this was really a B-/C race for me 3 weeks before my HIM. I figured I was here so I might as well use it for training, but I didn't want to get sick.

Get out of suit ok and put on shoes, helmet, and sunglasses and I'm off. Just get to the bike out and one of the volunteers notices I'm not wearing a timing chip. I have no idea where it is. It either got kicked off in the swim or came off when I ripped my suit off.

She said she'd get another chip so they could keep my splits. I told her I really don't care as I don't expect to be overly competitive in this race and I'll just keep going. She said no just wait. Ok, I waited....and I waited... Seemed like forever but it was only 1 minute. 1 minute in transition is HUGE. Got the new chip and I was off. Thus, the slow transition time.

When I got back into transition after the race my chip was wrapped inside my wetsuit. When I pulled the suit off the chip went with it.

Next time I'm wearing a wetsuit I'll check to make sure my chip didn't come off with the suit.

I knew my legs just didn't have it today as soon as I got on the bike. With 3 weeks to go before my HIM I've been training at peak volume before I taper for that race. This is why we really need to clearly define our A, B, and C races. I'm very competitive and even though I knew coming into this race it was almost a C race it was very difficult to come to grips with the fact that I just wouldn't have it today.

I didn't drink a lot on the bike and I think it was due to the continual coughing. I had about 1/2 bottle of Gatorade as it's all I could take. I had 1 Gu with 4 miles to go and washed it down with a little water. As bad as my legs felt I still had a decent bike split although I have to believe if I was properly tapered I would've come in above 22mph.

The course was great and it was a lot of fun riding through downtown and along Congress Ave. People were out in the cafe's, along the streets and bridges just cheering you on.



Since you ask me that today, I would say taper before the race. But when you ask me this after my HIM, I'll be real glad I stuck to my training plan for my A race.

OK, so the race was way gone and I knew I wasn't feeling my best so I figured I'll take time and put socks on for the run just to make sure I don't get blisters that would effect my last week of long training. Oh, guess what, I didn't take my socks out of my bag. No problem, since I'm just training I'll get them out of the bag, put them on, and go. Dig around the bag for 10 seconds and can't find them. Screw it, I'll run without socks as I normally would for this distance race and off I ran.

Oh my, if I thought my legs felt bad on the bike I had another thing coming. Shit, look at my pace. I think I can walk just as fast as that. I have NEVER felt this bad on a run. I've done many longer bricks than an Oly distance and faster paces than this. I just could not get going at all. I figured I'll just back off and enjoy the race.

One positive about this run is I know that I won't feel this bad during my HIM. If I can push myself through this as bad as I felt I'm not as worried about the HIM run as I was.

Stretched out after the race and went straight for the Diet Coke and pizza.


This was right in the middle of my peak volume weeks for my HIM. I have no doubt this had a major effect on my performance.


This event itself was a great race. The venue is fantastic and Jack & Adams (and their entire staff) did their usual great job!

This was very difficult for me because I'm used to placing in my age group but there is one BIG lesson I learned.

TRAINING AND TAPERING FOR YOUR A RACE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING RIGHT NOW. IT WILL PAYOFF LATER! I may have felt like crap for this race but I'll be much better prepared for my A race.