Lined up second row of the corral on the inside, the pack didn't dissipate much before the first turn and it was very tight, then started catching the wave ahead on the back stretch and had a lot of traffic all over the place on the last leg. Swam relaxed and comfortable the whole way, didn't go out too fast, just treated it as a nice warmup for the race to follow.

Swim faster, go out too hard then find some feet, swimming at a comfortable pace is just giving up time. Gave up 37s to an evenly paced race, about a minute on average to those who finished ahead of me.

Nothing spectacular here, transition spot was at the far "Run" end of the transition area right near the entrance from the swim so I had to hustle to get wetsuit partially stripped prior to arriving at bike. Managed to turn my Garmin off while switching sports, what the heck, amateur hour? immediately realized what I did and got it fired back up but was just into the bike before it started working again. The run out of transition with my bike took forever, 140m per my Garmin and you can watch speed drop as my feet hurt more and more.

Toughen up my feet a bit, although I think this was an abnormally long transition run or something because everyone was hurting. Only lost 1 second to an evenly paced effort here.

I rode conservatively, came out of transition as a couple of the faster long course guys were heading into their 2nd lap but they were gone quickly, then just rode my own race, traffic wasn't too bad, averaged just under 250W but felt like I could have held that for another lap of two, last year I think 250W was my low for an Olympic distance, my bike fitness is acceptable this year, comparable to last but a little lower, just didn't feel like going too hard this morning. I console myself during the ride that I'm just setting up a good run.

Go harder, a good sprint course pace usually involves throwing up just a little bit once or twice. Made up 15s to an evenly paced effort here.

Loooong run from the dismount to my bike and nicely cushioned running shoes. Feet hurt so bad again. Put on socks.

Not much, maybe commit to not wearing socks for short races but I didn't want sand and gravel in my shoes today. Gave up 10s to an evenly paced race.

Came out of T2 about 100m behind an Oly guy who I run about the same pace as, being in the sprint I figured I dang well better catch him, so set to work doing that, it was a nice pace setting opportunity and got him before the first hill, maybe 3/4 miles in. Iron Band was blasting "Beverly Hills" when we went by and that song stayed in my head the whole race as it had the perfect cadence. Mile 1 went by in 6:19. Next up was slowly reeling in a sprint guy from my heat but different age group and he finally broke on the shady hill near the end of the second mile. Mile 2 was also 6:19. Last mile there was another long course dude finishing up a well placed string of rabbits to chase throughout the run, last mile went by in 6:03.

Tweaked my left ankle in the offroad bit right at the finish line, just an old injury that never fully healed and gets aggravated a couple times a year, a few days and it should be fine again.

Swim and bike harder so I run slower and can't turn a big negative split. Gained 34 seconds to an evenly paced effort here, almost as much as I lost swimming. This was within 10s of my last open 5K so definitely din't use up enough of the tank swimming and biking.

Caught my breath, then had a beer or two and chatted while waiting around for awards. Got a sweet beer stein for 2nd in my age group.


Inadequate swim volume and an unwillingness to truly suffer. Really a very solid race, got a couple things I can address on the bike and the swim is no worse than the last couple years, better considering what I've been putting in to it. I think there has been an influx of fast young talent, 3 of the top 4 were under 19, that is nice to see.


Good to be back at the KC Tri, a well run event. I sprung for the VIP experience hoping my family would come out but the kid's sleeping schedule did not allow, also the extra VIP swag pretty much offsets the cost.