This swim has a couple of caveats. First, they time the race so that you swim with the incoming tide. It pushes you pretty good. The second caveat is that there is a LONG run from the swim finish to transition.

Before the horn I managed to push my way to the center of the line and got behind someone who looked like a good swimmer. He was. He left me behind pretty quickly. I actually got going pretty smoothly and managed to draft for a little while. A ways in though I noticed that there was nobody in front of me. All the really good swimmers were way ahead. And I took a chance and looked behind me and nobody was close behind either. I was in that middle area behind the really good and average swimmers, all by myself.

But I really felt smooth during the swim and concentrated on long pulls and easy gliding. It was a good swim, but Mrs. Fatmouse said my stroke was strange as I came toward the finish. That might have been a result of the current.

Push harder to stay on the toes of the really good swimmers.

Transition did not go well. The sole of my shoes got bunched up. I did take the time to put on my GPS watch just so I could play with the data. All that added probably 25 seconds to my T1 time.

I need to retape the soles of the shoes so they don't bunch up like that.

I really hurt myself by not doing a short warm-up ride because somehow the gearing got messed up and I had to spend about 30 seconds figuring what was wrong at the mount line. Note: that's not where you want to do equipment diagnostics.

Once I got that figured out I went easy the first mile and then started to push. I passed a bunch of guys, and got passed by some. Several of us passed and repassed each other the whole way.

It was a good ride, and I'm mostly happy with the time. I think they changed the course a little because I did this race 2 years ago and finished faster then. That doesn't make sense.

Get the bike ready BEFORE the race.

T2 was in the range of most of the people in the AG. Could have been a little faster, but my bike position was about the worst it could be.

I was actually feeling pretty good at the run start. I pushed and passed a number of guys, but few from my AG. About half mile in I got my normal nausea bout and had to push through that. I don't think I slowed down for it since I've learned in previous races that I can get through it.

About halfway through the run I got to within 10 feet of a guy in my AG and thought I was gonna pass him. I didn't see him look back, but I could tell he saw me and started to increase his pace. I kept speeding up, but he kept getting further and further ahead. Toward the end of the run I looked at my watch and saw that I was doing 6:05 pace, but was not catching him. Like the swim, by the end of the run I was in a no-mans land, with people 15 seconds ahead, and nobody close behind.

Post-race I always think I could have pushed harder, especially since this was my last tri of the year. But my legs say that I pushed pretty darn hard.

Animal crackers, water, coke and gatorade. We ended up hitting a Waffle House for breakfast after the race. Gained any potential weight right back.


Training. My "A" race was in June and I've been coasting since.


Great race with the tidal assist on the swim and flat course. People can set personal bests here.