Lined up next to Eric. Didn't get comfortable until after 2nd buoy. Fastest time so far. Swimming with the current helped a lot. I felt like I sighted really well this time. I had some other swimmers intersecting with me so I either had to fall back or speed up to avoid them. Not too bad, but I felt that I navigated well. After the 2nd bouy, it was smooth swimming at a very fast clip all the way in. The exit was crowded, rocky, and unstable and amazingly I got there right behind Eric. He was pulled up by the volunteers and I was next. Started running with no shoes to T1. I didn't miss the shoes at all. Running barefoot not a problem.

Try lining up a little behind the really fast guys and see if they can pull me a bit. I can't keep up but if I can get a free ride to the first bouy, why not.

Took like 5 minutes to get to T1. Quarter mile over the pedestrian bridge. Ran with suit half way off. Felt fine. Race cap, goggles in suit sleeve. Lost my ear plugs though. Got to my bike, and was quick on the removal of the suit and putting on sunglasses and helmet. Got my bike and make my way out pretty quick. Glad I practiced with feet on the shoes because I was able to get into my shoes very quickly once on the bike. Only thing that bothered me was that the shoe straps would not stay put. Need to figure that out. It was loose and banging on the bike almost the whole ride.

Went hard like I would during our Saturday rides. Felt good although right hamstring felt a little crampy toward the end. Low back got tired after first loop. Need to spend more time in aero during training. Had to be driving very defensively. One guy almost took me out when he swung out to the right in prep for a left turn. He must not have see me on his right. I slowed and swerved a bit to avoid him. Lots of riders in the left side of the lane even though they were not passing. Had to yell "on your left" a lot. Took a wrong right turn at one point. Lucky I heard the volunteer call me back and I turned around. Good avg cadence and my norm power was around 182. Not bad for current fitness level.

Got out of shoes a few blocks before T2. Stopped got off and jogged to rack. Went to rack bike and knocked a neighbor bike off the rack so I lost some time catching his bike and putting on the rack. I lost my balance a bit during that so I had to regain my footing and then get back to putting on my shoes. Went sockless, grabbed bib, hat, garmin and off I went..

Move the neighbor bike over so I don't knock it over I guess.

Garmin went dead almost immediately... I must've left it on since the beginning of the race. I do need to get a new battery since it does not last more than 2.5 hours while "on".

Re think how I go sockless. I started to get hot spots on the balls of my feet. Ended up with minor blisters, none that broke, but they were a little bothersome. Maybe train sockless a bit before the race.

Pace was ok given I have not been doing any threshold or speed work.

Train sockless a bit more.

Walked around for 10 minutes or so.


Training.