I thought I had a really good swim. there was a tremendous amount of contact all the way to the first buoy. It didn't bug me, but it did slow me down, having to jockey for position, and losing good body position. Started catching the wave ahead (purple caps) as I got close to the far set of buoys. Navigation couldn't have been better. I was going from mark to mark. After the final turn buoy, I lost the ability to swim straight. First I was left of the pack, then to the right and back again. At this point I was in more purple caps with a few white caps (2 waves ahead) than red caps (my wave). I kept getting kicked by breast strokers. Finished up strong. Getting out of the water onto a floating dock was kind of difficult, but the volunteers were very helpful.
I think I'm happy with this swim. Top 20%. It felt very good. I was relaxed, was able to maintain a decent level of intensity, and didn't feel like my stroke was breaking down too much at the end.

Learn to swim. This is about as good as it gets right now.

Unusual wrinkle in this transition was the necessity to stuff my wetsuit and goggles into a trash bag to be transported to the stadium. I took my suit off as soon as I hit dry land, so I could fold it up as I ran.

Nothing. Picked up time on the field here.

A very good bike split for me. The legs felt fresh right out of the gate. It was fun climbig up Main St and around State Circle. I almost bit it when we had the first hard turn onto Rowe Blvd. I'm still not sure how I missed that traffic cone. Daremo was coming out of T1 at the same time and I kept sight of him for, oh a good mile. Whew!
I just let 'er rip the whole ride. I timed the rollers very well - pushed hard on the downhill and kept momentum to the next crest. Sometimes I didn't have to downshift past 53x15/16. I did get caught with my pants down on one hill (the only hill of consequence). I misjudged how big it was and thought I could climb it in 53x19. Well, I did, but it hurt. There was a brief flat before the next phase of the hill, so I at least downshifted to the 21 tooth. That still hurt. Caught up with Dave right after that hill. He, of course, wondered why I wasn't going any faster than I was.
Most of the bike course was very tight. It was difficult to pass, and I was constantly up against the traffic cones and a couple times I had to dart outside of them for a few seconds to get around bike traffic. Another hairy moment came turning back onto Bestgate Rd. A volunteer was spray painting an arrow on the course (???!) and the other volunteers were screaming at me to stay to the left, basically right where this guy was standing. I could try to go between him and a cop (3-4' gap) or swing wide around him and hope he didn't try to back up. I got around him and narrowly missed another traffic cone. *Sidebar - if anybody knows how many traffic cones were in use today please let me know. It was mind-boggling.* The inward stretch on Bestgagte / Rowe Blvd was awesome. A slight downhill, where I dropped the chain onto the 13 tooth and flew.
I didn't pass many 40s on the bike, so I wasn't sure what that meant (evidently I passed 23). I was pretty confident I had a strong bike, but, at the time, I was surprised I didn't reel in more fish. Made me wonder how good of a swim I had.

Course knowledge would have helped. Some of the sharp turns were scary. Top 4% - I'm not doing much better than that.

Good transition. Took a few extra seconds to grab a drink out of the bike bottle. Socks stuck a little. Lost a little bit of time here, but only a few seconds.

Not much.

Not sure what to think about this run. I really thought I'd keep it closer to 7'/mi than I did. I can blame part of it on loopy nonsense around the stadium. The first half mile we ran on grass that was first rutted up, then sloppy wet (soaked socks in the first 1/4mi, cute). Out onto Taylor and Rowe should have been better, but it wasn't. Saw Dave coming back on Rowe. Passed one M40-44 on the path at the stadium, then couldn't find any more. Hmmm. Passed Linda on the way up the bridge. I saw Dana Dobbs (heading down the bridge), and figured he was first in our AG. Then I saw a few guys with 600 series numbers (I was 655), but hoped they were 45s (no such luck). There were two guys in my AG that were not very far ahead. I had my marks. The first guy started walking once we got going uphill off the bridge. One down. Passed the next guy turning onto Taylor Ave. I had to comment on how ugly his shoes were (I was was wearing my Newtons too). Back onto the stadium property and I remembered from the A-10 finishing uphill (and how much it hurt). Much to my pleasant surprise we turned to go into the stadium before we hit that hill. It was different finishing in the stadium, but I never looked up to see the Jumbotron.

More speed work? Drop 10 lbs? Get younger? Different shoes? Don't know. Top 7%, so I'm pleased with the run, yet I think I could/should have done better. HR was mostly in the low 150s. Last year I was keeping in the 160s for a 10K. More questions than answers after this run, but I know I'm bagging my goal of a half marathon PR at Nutmeg.

Ran another 4 miles.


Swimming ability, speed training, body fat, age.


I had much trepidation heading into this race - two transitions, the bike and run courses were being changed almost weekly. I have to hand it to CTA, from a racer's standpoint, they pulled it off very well. From the viewpoint of Naptown motorists? Not so much. My only beefs were with the run course and the way gear dropoff was handled at the stadium. There was no security at the bag pickup and bags were strewn all over the place by the time Dave got his.
Overall I enjoyed the race. We'll see if they can pull it off again.