I surprised myself a little bit as this was faster than last year on a LOT less swimming, especially recently. Sighting on the first leg out was very good and for the rest of the swim I think I sighted better than normal. Tried to keep up an easy, long stroke. Both calves threatened to cramp towards the very end of the swim and finally did so once I got on the ladder to get out. I took a deep breath and went through it. They were fairly minor, but hit again as soon as I tried to run down the dock, though again it was fairly minor and didn't prevent me from running.

Got my suit stuck on my timing chip and had a lot of difficulty getting it off. This was the first place I lost time without a good reason.

I crossed the mount line and jumped on my bike. Someone yelled nice mount and responded by yelling with a severe cramp in my left leg. My leg shot out away from me and I nearly kicked a police officer in The Area. After a few seconds it lessened enough for me to start pedaling and get my shoes on. My left calf stayed tight pretty much throughout the ride but by mile 45 or so it was pretty negligible.
The real problem on this course was that they only had water on mile 18. The bottle handoffs at miles 32 & 45 just weren't there. This is F'ing ridiculous. Apparently they got it out there eventually, but this meant I started the run dehydrated already. I basically didn't drink after mile 32 because I was out.
It also meant that I never had to whiz bad enough to actually pull it off on the bike. I tried, but on a really flat course I have to be able to get started quickly or else stop. And I tried. Several times I tried and just couldn't get it going.

I stopped in T2 to pee. That cost me quite a lot of time. This transition should have been more like 1:11.

Hot. Windy. I gave it everything I have, but it just wasn't enough. I was stopping to drink at every aid station and was still dying of thirst. When I ran into the wind it was like hitting a wall, but at least it cooled me down some, especially with the cold towels I picked up at each aid station. When you ran with the wind it was like being in an oven. I know, I know, low 80s isn't that bad, but it sure feels like it when you're not used to it.

I gave it everything I had. I can find a hundred different ways to make up 14 seconds, but in the end I didn't. It was a solid effort and I still feel it on Monday. As a marker of the conditions consider that 5:00:13 would have only been good for 101st overall last year and that was with a smaller field than this year. 55th overall (the above numbers are men only and one woman was faster) and 7th in my AG is a very strong result.