Before I get into my comments on this, I need to make note of something. All times listed in this race report are approximate (the time my girlfriend's watch gave). I wore my chip on top of my wetsuit in the ankle, and took it off so I could get the wetsuit off during T1. I forgot to put it back on until starting the run, so I clearly don't have T1/Bike/T2 times. Even the swim time seems off, as the official time they gave me is 25:22, but that feels wrong. I swam a strong leg (by my standards), faster than expected, but still a 25:22 is beyond my reach. The 28 my girlfriend had seems more accurate, especially because that was the time I was ideally shooting for, but didn't expect to get. Three minutes faster... no way. Anyway, onto my comments...

I got a good start, and got some clear water from most of the pack. This doesn't mean I was in front, I just navigated well enough to not have to deal with people for that long, though I did take a lot of punches in the process. The rest of my navigation wasn't great however, and I did more distance than I needed to. My stroke felt strong however, and I cruised the whole way, without ever pumping my HR up too high.

Navigate better. Plus learn to swim faster beforehand.

Slow T1. This is off my GF's watch again (approx). The official time was 1:47, but as I left T1 w/o a chip I don't know how they came up with that number. Also, I've been consistently around 4 minutes in my T1 in my last couple of races, and this one was no faster (probably slower).

Forgot to put my timing chip back on my ankle, wow I'm dumb.

Put my damn chip back on, oh ya, and change everything else to make it faster.

I did poorly on the large hills at the beginning of all 3 of the loops. The rest went quite well, stayed in my aero position almost the whole time. Drank 3 24oz bottles of water in the process (lost one of them when I hit a bump somewhere along the course, but luckily I had already emptied it). Best bike leg I've had all season, really loving my new bike (2007 Cervelo Dual). Official time had me at 1:18:34, but as I wasn't wearing a timing chip at the beginning or end of the bike leg this time seems to have been conjured out of thin air. The 1:13 is the reading off my GF's watch, and is obviously not official.

Push harder, I never really left my comfort zone. Oh, and learn to corner.

Slow T2. Had to put my chip on, and rest didn't go that smoothly anyway. (approx time).

(This is an actual time, as I was wearing my chip again -- and corresponded well to the time my GF had me at for this leg).

I went into the run feeling strong off the bike. As I had done 20 flat in 5K legs of sprint tri's without trying, I was hoping to turn that into a low 40's time here. This was my first olympic and I clearly underestimated how much the first two legs would tire me. My heart just gave way after about a mile, and I was never able to keep nearly the pace I should have. It was brutal without shade, and opening on a large hill. I hadn't done any consecutive exercise for over two hours straight, so I was just not ready for this. I slowed my pace severely, and emptied the water stations.

Train for longer. I wasn't ready to exert myself in the sun for that long consecutively. Running is by far my strength, but my lack of training turned it into my weakness over this long a race. I just bonked completely.

Not enough long distance training.


I loved the new distance, definitely preferable to the sprints I had been doing. Just was a chaotic day. The ticket through off my mindset completely, and then the forgotten chip was just stupid. Definitely coming back next year to best this time by a lot. Have to train to avoid that bonk.

My approx times listed above put my just over a minute above my actual time. That difference probably came from a shorter than guessed Bike/T2, but who knows.

Weird day.