First mile swim for me in a race. I swore they said there were two waves of males but apparently not, so I was a few seconds getting in the water. Just took it very easy the entire time, I felt in control and felt great. The distance between the 1st and 2nd buoy was probably 1/2 mile with one intermediate smaller buoy, so I think I mis-sighted a bit there, but all in all I was right on buoys, not straying too far off course at all. I really tried to keep my effort minimal and ended up beating my predicted time by 5 minutes, so I'll take that all day. Turns out I had the 2nd fastest swim in the 30-34 AG, only behind the AG winner who was also the 2nd place OA.

Hell, race harder. I had a ton left in the tank and just kept it nice and even. Great to now for a sprint that I can really let it go if I want to.

Holy crap. Longest, gnarliest T1 ever. 1/4 to 1/2 mile trail run from the lake to the bikes. I brought old shoes with me to the lake and took my wetsuit off right after the swim. So glad I did. The run back was insane. Uphill, rocks, roots, puddles, it was nasty. I jogged it, some people ran, some people walked, whatever. Definitely the hardest and highest HR T1 ever though.

Brought a dirt bike.

Biggest thing I wanted to take away from this was pacing myself and taking in enough calories. I figure I'd be good for 18-19 MPH with a HR around 155-162 and I'd take in a little over 400 calories. The hills were tough, but I thought I handled them well. I didn't stand up once, just worked through all my gears and got up the hills and while I never pushed it, I was passing people who were grinding out of their seats. Felt good to see my biking pay off. Besides that I felt like I ate and drank well, maybe a bit more water but was pretty much out. I only looked at the mile splits and saw anything from 4:30 on the hills to 2:32 on the flats/downs. Felt strong the whole way, even at the last climb back to the T2. Hit what I wanted in terms of pace, HR, calories, so while I could have pushed it harder I stuck to my plan.

Nothing really. I did what I wanted to.

Lots of room in transition was great. I knew right where to go, wide lanes, clear on both sides of me. Ran the bike in, dropped the helmet off, racked, threw on my hat and shoes and grabbed a water bottle and went. I saw 37 on my watch and thought that was a pretty quick transition. Tied for 4th quickest transition of the day, behind two of the top 5 OA guys and 1 other person.

Can always get off the bike smoother but it all felt good.

Frigging hills. First mile was up, right out of the gate. I think I went 8:08 which might have taken more out of me than I thought. Then you go downhill, which really just kind of hurt. Then the sprint has their turnaround and the next 2-3 miles of the Oly were just hill after hill. It was brutal. I knew I was turning in 9 minute miles but there was nothing I could do. My knee started bothering me on the dowhills from all the slamming. Finished strong but there was no way I was going to get to my sub 50 like I wanted. Very tough run. I had 2-3 people pass me on the run which was ok since the Oly wasn't a straight up out and back, there was a 2-3 mile portion that people weren't coming back at you so for a while I thought I was alone out there haha.

I need to up my run mileage but I don't think anything would have helped this course. If I had to pick one thing I feel disappointed about it'd be the run.

Water, gatorade, some chicken and salad, then an iced coffee and donut on the way home. Lots of water too.


Hills. Really though, it was what I was going for. I wanted 2:50, I got 2:53 mainly because of the hills. Fine with me. Great learning experience. After looking at the official results I thought (know) I registered Clydesdale but somehow it put me in the 30-34 AG. I would have been 2nd place in the Clydes. Oh well. I'm fine knowing that I turned in (for me) a quality race.


Nothing they can do about the hills haha. Race was a little late starting, 5-10 minutes. Not much food after but the chicken was really good. No beer. Not much set up there but they have a massive area which is nice. Tough race but a good one. I'd do it again. The T1 from the swim is insane though. However the swim was beautiful. The water was borderline refreshing it was so clean and cool. Don't know what it was about the swim but I loved the lake.