You guessed it, my swim was really, really bad but that is what I expected. That's what happens when you don't swim for 2 months. I swear there was a dude next to me that was breast stroking and managing to stayed in front of me. All I wanted to do the entire swim was get out of the water. There was a little chop out there that caused me to swallow a bunch of salt water (but not as bad as last year).



Train.

I continue to be slow in transition. I always take my time which settles the HR before the bike. However, for the 1st time in a race this is where a little competitiveness entered my mind. Prior to the race I noticed that 2 guys racked next to me were in my AG. Both come out of the water behind me but left before me out of T1. I made at commitment at that point to try and reel them in on the bike.

Decent bike leg given my current fitness. Hit it hard but didn't burn any matches. I did make it a point to keep Heather Bucher in site when she passed me on the bike. I did reel her in by the end. Grant it she did double the distance but she was a world class athlete who competed on the ITU circuit and has qualified for Kona and won lots of races. She is one heckofa athlete. I also was trying reel in the 2 fellows in my AG that left T1 before me. One I caught and passed early in the bike leg, the other I didn't catch until the last 1/2 mile of the bike.

Train

I did pretty good in T2. However, the dude next to me in my AG passed me again out of T2 and built a pretty good gap. Forgot to grab my Garmin off the bike.

Grab my Garmin.

I wasn't feeling it initially during the run. Just tried to settle into a nice Steady pace. The fellow in my AG got away from me so I didn't see him initially during the run. As it turned out he had built a pretty decent gap. However, I noticed that I was slowly reeling him in. By the time we got to the turn around point there was maybe a 50 meter gap. So I increased my pace a bit and closed the gap quickly. By the time we hit the 1 mile to go sign I was right behind him. At that point I decided to stay right behind him, matching his pace until I could make a move. aT the last water station with about 1/2 mile to go I passed and pushed the pace. As it turned out it was the differnce between getting 3rd place and getting the last medal for the AG.

Again, results are pretty bad but I didn't think they would be good. I'm just not in any type of race shape. Got it done but that's the worst performance in a year.

Managed to get 3rd place in my AG. Just goes to show you, often it not about how good you are, it's about who shows up!!!



Train.

Training.


The Sarasota Storm Tri club does a great job with this race. It's just a small local event but they do a fantastic job.