Too crowded, waves meant never clear place to swim, always getting hit, kicked, punched, or dunked. Stopped a lot to get out of a too crowded area. Water was so cold, I couldn't put my face in for the first 600m, had a lot of trouble adjusting to the crowds, rude behavior, wetsuit, did a fair amount of doggy paddling, ran into the rope bouy and knocked my goggles out of place, goggles fogged when I first hit the water. I did finally settle in and swam the last 500 very smoothly and easily.

extensive warmup and drills to become ready for the water temp and putting my face in and synchronizing my breathing.

No major problems here, except I was still quite unsteady from the swim, so I took the extra time to make sure I didn't forget anything. I had rolled my socks to be ready to slide on, but it didn't work and I lost time fixing my socks. 1/4 mile run to T area.

Apply More body glide pre race, to ensure easy bibjohn removal, especially around my ankles.

Swirling cross winds from the west made for a head wind effect the entire way. Out was a slight decline, speed was excellent, back was a slight incline, speed was atrocious.

Train more on flat fast 5 mile bursts to be more prepared for a sustained maximum effort over minimal distance. (Interval training)

T2 not marked well. I went all the way to the wrong end before I figured out I was supposed to go out the other end, so I wasted a precious 1 minute or so backtracking in a congested T2 area.

Use the pull on laces David got me to save time tying shoes.

Hot, hurting. My glute muscles failed again, resulting in the familiar abdominal cramps and butt, lower back and hip flexor pain. Foot bruised from rocks on the swim hurt the whole way.

Try to take in a little food.

walk to the transition area to reclaim bike. Walk to car.


My fear of the water and the other swimmers' lack of ability to recognize there is anyone else in the water. (It would seem the typical Korean swims like they drive. We even went to get a post-race massage, but two Koreans blatantly cut in front of us in line, and then the massage wait time went from 0-1.5 hours when the massage therapist came back and waited on the Koreans first. We explained we were first, but the Koreans refused to vacate the massage cot. Wow)


Swim start was poor, transition area was a bit far from the swim and run, but all else was good.