Overall, I was very happy with this swim...my best swim to date.

Start was rather unorganized, some stayed on the beach, some wading in the water. Directions were to go straight out to the first buoy, about 30m out, around it to the right, then keep the remaining buoys to your left, swimming counterclockwise. Perhaps 15 of us went around that buoy, nearly everyone just headed immediately to the right, skipping that initial buoy. Was a mass start of about 300 (Half and Full distances started together) in a very small area, so it was VERY crowded for at least 1/2 of the first loop. I was hit on the head, back, legs many times....I mostly kept going. One time I felt someone essentially "climbing" over me, so I backed off to let the person go. I drafted better than most other races, sighting was marginal....sometimes good, other times I was way off.

I just need to swim more and get lessons.

10th overall / 1st in AG

I've been keeping my shoes clipped in on the bike to speed my T1....usually, this works well for me....Everything went really well until I attempted to get my foot into the first shoe. We were on a slight incline after the mount line, I lost momentum, couldn't get my foot in cleanly, and had to stop. Got going again for attempt #2....this time, worse results....also losing momentum as I tried to get my foot in, this time I pushed too hard and my shoe unclipped and fell to the ground! Crap! I had to stop, get off my bike, run back about 10 feet to get my shoe. I just put it on, clipped it in as I mounted and road to the top of the little hill before attempting to get my other shoe on. Finally got my other foot in and then was off! I think I lost a solid minute with all that messing around.

More practice on getting my feet into my shoes while riding....WAIT to put feet into shoes until I'm on a flat or slight downhill. Had I just rode up the little rise from the mount line with my feet on top of my shoes, I had a nice little flat and downhill that would have made getting into my shoes rather easy. Poor decision making.

I was a little frazzled about the issues I'd just had trying to get my feet into my shoes. I knew I'd lost a little time there and wanted to settle in to a good pace. I was feeling great...happy to have the swim behind me and was really happy with my swim time. I felt like I was moving well on the bike but I didn't think I was working to hard. I started passing people with some frequency and continued to feel good.

I was shocked by the number of people drafting, working in packs...it was a disgrace! I yelled at one group of about 7 or 8 guys, as I passed them on the first outbound section...."come on guys, stop drafting....get real will ya!" Something like that. At the first turnaround, I told the guys working at the turn to be on the lookout for the draft pack...don't know if they did anything or not.

I did not see any officials on the course...they NEEDED THEM! I was just shocked....a few groups were literally wheel to wheel...men and women. Disgusting! You people are CHEATING!!!!

2nd loop was a bit different as I could feel the wind, pretty strong in places. I felt like I was working much harder and was going slower! I must have put too much into the first lap...and this would come back to get me on the run!

MUST pace better....I keep thinking that I'm going easy for the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the bike, but I obviously need to go easier than I think.

I had a great bike split, but my run suffered. If I'd given up 5 minutes on the bike, would I have made up 10-15 on the run? I'll have to adjust to see.

25th overall / 5th in AG

Good T2. Took a moment longer than needed to insure I'd not forgotten anything. Overall happy with my transitions.

Nothing

3 to 4 weeks ago I ran a stand alone 1/2 Marathon in 1:22...similarly flat course but a bit cooler weather. I was shooting for a 1:30ish time today; disappointed that I was 25 minutes off that goal (call it 17 minutes off when the extra mile is considered). I started out feeling pretty good...was happy to get off the bike as I was ready to get off the saddle...if you know what I mean!

After the first few miles, I really started to slow....just low level of energy. I don't think I had my nutrition dialed in well enough, perhaps should have had a bit more fluids but I think the main culprit was too much effort on the bike that cost me on the run.

My training was well short of my what was in my plan...between work and family obligations, for the 13 weeks leading up to the race I ended up doing an average of just 6.3 hours per week of training with only about 16 mile/week of running)

1. Better align my expectations with my preparation
2. Back off on the bike...aim for a negative split
3. Spend more time planning my nutrition
4. Embrace the sufferfest more than I did today!

Light stretching and laying on the grass post race. Drove home that afternoon and slept quite well Saturday night! Long walk with my wife and dog Sunday....easy 30 minute recovery run on Monday morning.


Preparation, nutrition, too much on the bike


Add officials to the bike course, get us off of the sidewalk for the run and get the run distance correct and this would have been A+....

HITS has a good formula going...if they fix these things they will be among the best.