Going into the race, my plan was to swim slightly harder than my normal training pace. I think I did a pretty good job of accomplishing this and didn't get too caught up in racing any specific person. The sun was pretty bad on the way out, but somehow I managed to swim a pretty straight line to the yellow turn buoy. Coming back was no problem at all. I have to say, in the last 4 years or so of triathlon racing I've really improved at swimming straight and not getting off course. This was a good swim for me.

I wouldn't do anything different

I took a little extra time to put on socks for the bike leg, to stash some gel in my back jersey pocket, and to put on gloves. For rides of this length I'm willing to sacrifice a little time in T1 for a more comfortable ride.

Nothing

The bike leg went pretty well for me. I did get passed by a few (ok, several) people, but I kept telling myself to race my own race and I'd be seeing some of them once the run started.

The course basically out and back, done twice. The first leg I felt really good, we still had a little shade from the trees on the side of the road. I really tried to hydrate as much as I could. The second lap was a little hotter than the first and I felt my legs leaving me just a little. Lap 2 was about 2 minutes slower than lap one, but I'm okay with that.

All told, I think I drank 5 1/2 bottles of fluid and took 12-14 endurolytes during the ride trying to battle the heat on the bike course and the inferno to come on the run.

I wouldn't change much on this leg. I possibly could have pressed on a little harder in the second lap.

Again, took just a little extra time to take off all the bike gear, put on new socks, etc.

The first 6 miles were very hilly, the last 7 were mostly flat with slight elevation changes, all 13 were in the sun and hot, hot, hot! Temperatures reached 90+ on the run with absolutely no shade.

I was running well the first 5 miles or so. Not pushing the pace at all and still maintaining 7:30 miles or so. After that, the heat just took hold of me. I continued to run most of the time, but at a much slower pace. I did walk some, but only for 30-40 steps at a time. Luckily, I never cramped.

I did manage to pass 6-7 people and secure a place in the top 10 overall, which was good even if I wasn't able to hold it together for a sub 5h day.

I'm not sure what I could do differently. I suppose I could have trained more in the heat, but at some point you're dealing with diminishing returns with that strategy.

I felt like I wanted to collapse, but I knew I should walk around some and try to rehydrate. After a few minutes of this I found a nice shady spot to watch more finishers come through. I definitely saw a lot of suffering out there.


The heat. I know I'm in significantly better shape than last year, yet I was 2 minutes slower. Had the temperatures been a more normal 75-78 I'm sure I would have broken 5 hours and possibly 4:50. Even so, I'm happy with my performance and my overall placing.


I can't believe I'm about to type this, but major kudos to Race Day Events. I've done 5 of their races this year, mostly because they're convenient, and every one has had problems with organization, timely awards, accurately marked courses, etc. Atomic Man was the exception. They did a great job and I really appreciate it given the difficulty of the course and the day.