This was my first time racing in open ocean and saltwater and also with a running mass start but I stayed in the back and it was fine. A bit of a shock to hit the cold water again at first but settled in ok and got going. Very little contact, even going around the buoy. Made the turn to the outbound leg and just tried to settle into a rhythym and enjoyed the crystal clear water, you had to be able to see down at least 50 ft. Made the 1st left hand turn and took a couple of mouthfuls of saltwater on this short 100m section outward. Turned onto the backstraight which was the hardest section of the race. It was 800m long but there were no buoys along the way, just the one at the next turn. Combined with this leg being into the sun and the large swells (not much chop, but you had to try to time your sighting to be at the top of a swell or you couldn't see anything) navigation was really hard. To start with I just tried to head in the direction I thought I should and made sure I still had people around me evey now & then. Was on and off some feet here too. Eventually I saw a buoy up ahead. As I got a little closer though I stopped and put my hands up to block the sun and have a look around. Saw one of the kayakers slapping his paddle at a couple of other swimmers to get their attention - we'd been heading for the very 1st buoy, not the final one. Picked out the final one farther on and headed for it but luckily I wasn't as far off course as the others. Had some problems with my left arm during this stretch though. My left shoulder (the one I've had problems with) just seemed to become really sore and weak. I couldn't pull at all with it and for some reason I couldn't even cup my hand. Eventually I made the turn for the beach and was as happy as ever to reach the shore.

Better preparation - ie do all my swim workouts beforehand and work on my technique. Didn't do a very good job of sighting either, it was hard to time it with being at the top of a swell. Also, I tried to be liberal with the body glide since the salt water is a bit more abrasive but I still ended up with a big raw spot on my neck.

A little discombobulated coming into the tent. It was a little crowded so it took a little time to find my bag and get the stuff I needed out of it, then stuff my wetsuit back into it.

Didn't have much of a sense of urgency, could've moved a little faster.

Took it pretty easy to start to try & get my HR somewhat under control, but it would've been hard to go too fast on the city streets anyway. Once I got to the highway I upped the pace. On the Calella end there were a few hills, then it flattened and straightened out more towards the turn around with a few roundabouts thrown in (they were fun - even though I wasn't in a peloton I kind of imagined myself as part of a big pack splitting around it like they do in the TdF since we had the road to ourselves and could cut the corners). For the most part tried to keep HR low z2ish to start, but mainly I just wanted to keep the avg over 20mph - that was my goal for the race. Felt pretty good and nutrition was going fine.

Hit the 1st turnaround with a 20.9 mph avg which I was happy with. The return trip was into the wind and seemed to have more uphills though. I didn't push it too much up them so when I ended the 1st lap my avg was down to 20.4. I had decided before the race that I wanted to push the bike leg since overall it's a pretty flat course and for all my other races I have biked conservatively so as not to blow up on the run. This time I wanted to see what would happen if I wasn't quite as conservative. So when I started the 2nd lap I decided I wanted to push the effort and get my mph up over 21 since I would be going with the wind - 21 was now my goal average for the race. Legs were starting to feel some fatigue but I was moving by alot of people which was fun.

Hit the last turnaround with a 21.1 mph avg so all I needed to do was to hold on for the return. Cat and moused with a guy from the Calella Tri club for almost then entire return leg which worked out well for helping me keep my effort up. I pushed it harder when the wind picked up and especially on the hills. At one point I was out of the saddle and just having fun pushing hard up a hill until I reminded myself that I still had to run and to push hard, but not be stupid about it.

After the 2nd lap my avg had only dropped to 20.9 and I tried to keep the pace up on the streets, and I was happy with my final avg, came into t2 feeling like I'd nailed the bike and could still have a good race after the slow swim. One big disappointment was that the course was short. My bike computer said about 5 miles but when I measured it online it's about 4 miles, which is pretty significant. Still happy with my time, feel like I nailed the bike, but in reality there should be another 10-11 minutes or so on my bike time. Time does include the run to the rack and then to the mounting line/tent though which was maybe a minute on each side.

Not too much. I maybe could've pushed a little harder on the 1st lap but probably not too much so I'm happy with the ride.

Didn't take my feet out of my shoes while riding since I knew that the mats covering the transition area were wet and I didn't want to start the run with wet socks. So I ran with in my bike shoes & it was fine. Racked the bike, then took my helmet off as I ran into the tent. Bike shoes off, sneakers and visor on was quick. Time only includes time in the changing tent though, not the run from/to mount/dismount line and racking the bike.

Nothing, went fine.

Legs were tired getting off the bike but felt fine once I moved into the run. Didn't pay attention to anything to start with, just tried to settle into a good pace without having my HR skyrocket. Found something that felt good even though there were a lot of faster runners from the later waves and especially relays going by me which was a little disheartening. First 5k went by ok, but after that my legs started getting tired. The temperature was pretty comfortable, hot enough that a cup of water over the head felt good, but not much hotter than that. Towards the end of the 1st lap it was starting to become a trudge but I had a momentary feeling good so I decided to try & push the pace a little more.

I was able to keep up a little harder effort (didn't really go any faster but I think it kep me from slowing down, my splits were pretty consistent at 5:15-5:30/km for the entire race, including the last couple k's at 5:15ish). Decided to try and catch Thierry (some French dude whose family was cheering for him) although it took about 5k to finally get back to him and pass him. Saw Kelly a couple of times too although I didn't have much extra energy to spare to say much more than 'ugh'. The last 5 miles or so were pretty difficult but by now I was starting to pass people and when I hit the last turnaround I just kept telling myself you can do this for 5 more kilometers. One more trip thru the sand traps and I was back in front of the bleachers but this time making the turn to the finish.

Not much. This time was only 3' off my best 1/2 IM run which was during my IM tune-up race when I'd been doing much more running for longer. Feel like I executed pretty well except for not taking in much nutrition aside from some Sport Beans (and water and gatorade at the aid stations).

Sat down for a few minutes then devoured a sandwich, soda, banana, couple of pieces of sponge cake...


Aside from my perpetual swim problems I felt like it went really well. I was a little worried about not having much (any) over-distance training beforehand but it seems like everything worked out fine.


Overall it was a fun, well run race and I really enjoyed the international competition. It was fun to sit outside bike check and check out all the exotic frames that we don't have here and see the different tri clubs from all over. Only complaint about the race would be about the bike course being short. But even if the bike course had been correct I still would've PR'd (by around 2 minutes instead of the 12' 'officially', even with a 45' swim!) so I can't complain too much. And it was fun having Kelly there even if I could only hear her half the time :).