The course is almost completely flat with only a slight hill (more like an incline) at the start and end of each lap. We were very exposed to the winds coming off the water and out near the turnaround we had a headwind coming in at a 45 degree angle.

I just tried to run at a comfortable hard pace that wouldn't take too much out of my legs. First KM was a bit fast at 4:20 but from there I hit 4:32-4:35 for every split and felt great.

http://www.strava.com/activities/178339123


Nothing, I think this was the right effort.

Pretty straight forward, ran to my bike, run shoes off, helmet on, get out.

Nothing really, only one other racer had a time that was more than a second or two faster and that was the OA winner (that ran 34 mins for the 10k).

This was seriously the craziest, windiest race I've ever done. The race route ran right along the ocean going West - East with a North wind that was supposedly 30-45 km/hr but I'm certain it was more than that due to the ocean. The course was a double out and back 10k each way. Starting out the wind was from the left and it felt like I had to lean about 20-30 degrees to the left to stay upright. Lots of people were sitting up and I was catching and passing people fairly quickly. About 5k in we went across a bridge and the wind there was even worse and the road conditions on it weren't great either. The first time across was pretty sketchy and for the other 3 times across I sat up and just pedaled easily across - it was probably about 100m long. After crossing the bridge there were a few sections in the trees that had a bit of shelter from the wind but at the same time it made things swirly and gusty.

Target power was 250-260w and I was able to do that for the most part with the exception of crossing the bridge and in a few places where I had to back off a bit to 230ish when things got too squirrely. When I could feel the wind twisting my aero helmet on my head, I had to focus on being upright a bit more. :)

One thing that made things difficult was that I spent 15 mins leaning left and then after turning around, it took a minute or two to adjust to the lean to the right and then have to repeat that at each turnaround. By the end of the bike, both of my arms were quite tired and even one of my hips was sore from the adjustments.

After getting to the first turn around and seeing what the gaps were to some people I made it a goal of who I would try to catch. I thought I could get Pete, Scott and Brandon and maybe Mike (who was wearing a camelback?). I caught Pete at the second turn around and Scott just before the finish - in both cases I made up huge ground in one particularly open section of road. I think this is where my decision to keep the wheel cover and deep front really helped. I didn't catch Brandon but got within about a minute of him. Mike was really out of reach given that he ran a 36 min 10k.

We also had rain on and off during the ride, never anything too hard but I was glad I didn't have my glasses on or they would have gotten wet and streaky.

http://www.strava.com/activities/178335783


I dunno, it was just survival out there and trying to still pedal hard. I was happy with how it went.

I hit the dismount line a bit hot (wet brakes) and the rear wheel jumped about 2 feet off the ground when a shoe hit the ground but I managed to hang onto it and not lose a shoe. From there things went fairly smoothly. I had to put on dry socks which took a few seconds. I also started running the wrong way to exit which cost another few seconds. All in all I probably could have done this 10 seconds faster.

Know how to get out of transition.

I left T2 right behind Scott. I knew I wasn't going to be able to run with him but I sort of used him to pace a bit at the start. I felt pretty good right away, much better than I did for the two sprints I did a few weeks ago. Opening KM with the small hill was 4:28 and then 4:22, 4:26, 4:25 and 4:22. I tried to slowly build the effort as I went. As I neared the turnaround point I saw someone up ahead who looked like he was struggling with cramps. I set my sights on catching him and did so about 1km after the turn around. From there we started merging with the Sprint racers (who started an hour after us) and I decided to use some of them as targets to catch. That worked to keep me focused as I knew there was no one behind me that was close enough to catch me. I had a strong run to the finish that I was happy with.

While the run also had the strong cross winds and rain, it actually felt good and kept me from getting hot.

As a result of catching and passing the one person and the fact that no one passed me, I actually moved up one place in the OA standings after T2. That has never happened to me.... ever. I've only ever maintained position or lost places. So, yay me! :)

http://www.strava.com/activities/178339128

Wind and the fact that this was supposed to be a triathlon, not a duathlon.