Based on recent history of disappointing swims during races, I decided to complete forget about drafting. I had come to the conclusion that I was worrying so much about drafting, that my form would go to shit and my navigation would suffer dramatically.

Well, the swim felt better, and my time was much better, but I was worse off in my placement among my AG and overall.

One second slower than yesterday.

The 5 guys that finished ahead of me in the AG were all ahead of me after the swim. The only people that passed me were the elites coming by me on the mini-loop. I passed at least 4 or 5 guys in my AG on the bike.

Wind was blowing almost directly across the course. It was off-axis just enough to be a very light headwind going out and a slight tailwind coming back.

Funny event. I'm coming up on one of the later aid stations and there are two ladies there. One is holding water, the other GE. I call for the GE. The lady holding the GE turns around and heads back over to the boxes and is calling to one of the other volunteers for it. I've stopped and unclipped one foot at this point and call to her, "It's in your hand." She does a double take and starts apologizing profusely as she hands me the bottle. She thought she had water in her hand.

It was a good bike. It wasn't as fast as it seems, even with the super-flat course and fairly favorable wind, but still good. There's no reason that my power shouldn't be 10-15 watts higher, though. I've done it before, including at Longhorn last year.

Had some problems getting the bike racked, so it slowed me up a few seconds.

Wow. I actually placed higher in my AG and overall on the run than on the bike. That's very unsual. Then again, 7:49 is a pretty decent 1/2 mary pace.

Coming off the bike, I was taking it easy. My hamstrings were really tight, as were my tibialis. Just looked that up, by the way. Those are the muscles on the outside of your shins. Anyway, I was really tight and not sure how I was going to hold up. I drank Gatorade and water at the first few aid stations, and then switched to Pepsi. I held 8:00 miles and felt okay.

Things gradually started to loosen up. By mile 6 I was feeling pretty strong so I upped the pace a bit. I upped a bit more as I started the last lap and just held on through the finish. The wind for the last lap was brutal. I feel bad for the folks that were only on their first couple of laps at that point.

Nothing. I don't think I could have run this any better. I held off until I got my legs under me, ran hard, and about 1/2 mile from the finish, I felt like the wheels were about to come off completely. If I had to go another mile, my pace would have dropped off considerably.

Went to the massage tent immediately.


Lack of swim training and lack of power on the bike.

It was funny....out on the bike and as I started the run, I thought that there might be a very outside chance I was in podium position for my AG. I based that on the fact that not a single AGer got by me and I picked off quite a few of them. Turns out that 3rd place was 18 minutes ahead! That's huge.


There's a reason I've done 7 of Keith's races in the last 1 1/2 years. If you can get to one, do it. They're some of the best races in the country.