Seeded myself in the usual back and outside position but it seemed like a lot of guys stayed behind me that shouldn't have. Roughest tri start to date. Some boat led it off and left a huge chop for us and for a wave of 60 guys, there was a lot of tight swimming for awhile. My shoulders initially felt good and I swam freestyle for most of the first out. The same guy ran into me three times; the third time he took the hint.
Was passed by the first woman just after the last buoy heading in. Swam until my fingers touched and jogged from the water, heading back to the swim start for lap #2. Felt about the same for second lap and just maintained. Last place in my AG here.

Swimming just plain sucks for me. My shoulders don't allow me to swim freestyle for much more than 100 yards and I have to switch to breast stroke. Sooner or later, I will convert to duathlon.
The constant chop from boats was very frustrating and I swallowed more air and water than I normally do.

Wetsuit off fast but had to take some time to put on socks as I blistered on the run in my last Oly. Not too bad though and I was still 4th in my AG here.

Nothing.

Had high hopes here. Started off in a comfortably hard pace and passed a lot of people. Was only passed by two people all day. Stayed aero as much as I could but I'm still uncomfortable on this bike. The first 10 miles were relatively uphill and I was only averaging around 17.5 mph. Made the turn east and tried to make up time and saw my average climb to 19.4 mph by the 15 mile mark. Figured I had it made to get over 20 mph now but the course was a series of rollers the rest of the way in and my legs were starting to feel a bit drained. My right knee started to bug me the last four miles or so and I was getting hot. The wind seemed weird and I felt like I didn't get any relief the whole race.
Nutrition: Gu @ 00:25 and 00:55 minutes. One bottle Cytomax.

Maybe start out a little easier and build from there. My crappy swimming puts a lot of pressure on me to ride and run well.
Nutrition was not right as the run will show.

For whatever reason, I have T2 nailed. 2nd overall of all competitors and I'm consistently in the top 5 in every race.

Bike next to me was racked into my space and cost me a few seconds.

Well here's where the wheels completely fell off. Ran out of T2 and by the time I got to the course start, I felt like I had a cement block in my stomach. I instantly knew this was going to be trouble. I had something similar to this a few years ago but it wasn't nearly as bad and I was still able to run through it. Not this time. Within a half mile I was walking and belching/farting, etc., anything to get the bomb out of my stomach. In the first mile I walked three times. I saw Tom (who flatted in T1) around 1.25 miles and when he asked me how I felt, I responded with a terrific 5 second fart. He said, "oh."
Walk/ran my way through the first lap and Tom ran back in with me. Was seriously contemplating bagging the race with the thought of running another lap with my stomach and the heat. Came through the turnaround and my family was cheering me on and my daughter handed me a cup of water. Stopped and talked with them a bit and then my kids ran with me for a few hundred yards, which lifted my spirits. Finally at about four miles, my stomach settled down. At the last turnaround, I doused myself with more water and tried to salvage the run. Finished the last few miles at around 7:00/mile pace. Allie ran the last bit of the race with me in her flip flops and I grabbed her hand as we finished.

I don't even know where to start. For those that know me, they know I can run and to take that out of the equation of a tri...SIGH
This was so humbling for me and I have a lot of new respect for people suffering during the run as I was blistering off 6:40 miles.

I wasn't sweating and my mouth was like sandpaper. Grabbed two cold towels at the finish, filled my jersey with ice, and started dousing myself. Sat down for a bit and then headed to the reservoir where the chilly water was amazing.


(1) Nutrition. This 2:00 start screwed me up. Normally I have a Clif bar and banana in my stomach about two hours before a race and that works very well for me. Today I added a huge pancake breakfast, thinking five hours would be ok. Took in two Gu on the bike as at Loveland Oly, I felt a little flat around four miles in the run. I think I took my first Gu too soon as well.
(2) Bike. Still not used to the aero setup and I wonder if taking nutrition in this folded over position hurt me.
(3) Heat. It was close to 90 degrees during the run and was already 85 at the start of the swim.
(4) Rest. Friday night I got two hours of sleep at work and then I spent most of the day Saturday on my feet working around the house.

Oh well. Definitely a learning race for me and at least I got to finish it unlike my friend Tom who flatted in T1 after coming out of the water 7th. Try to redeem myself in a 10k in a few weeks and then it's time for some serious rest and recovery.
In the end, my run was 10 minutes slower than at Loveland. It would have put me very close to 3rd in my AG and moved me up about 12 spots overall. And while Loveland was a strong race for me, today I just felt flat.


This is a new race organization and they are doing everything right! THREE aid stations on the ride, two on the run. Lots of volunteers. Cold towels, water at the finish. Great swag bag including a great shirt and matching bike socks. Vendor area looked great and they even had a bounce house for the kids.