Decided to not do flip turns this year - last year was a disaster. In hindsight, maybe not the best plan? Time was 7 seconds slower than last year but in line with my swim times.

Passed 5 people

Flip turns I guess when I could.

Swim more (yeah I always say this)

Decided during the swim to throw the socks - which when I got them were soaking wet, but still valuable. Also add a bike fleece thing my wife bought me three years ago that I have never worn today.My T1 suffered by adding all the gear.

I had my glasses on for like 2 seconds by they were so foggy I threw them off.

out the socks on top of the shoes.

Here is the crazy thing. It is 30 degrees warmer 2 hours due south. It was one of those damp cool days we get

Slower by a minute than last year; again a weird situation were I passed everyone until almost mile 12 when two guys in my age group with later swim times came ripping by me. Demoralizing to say the least.

My legs were stinging from the cold about 5 miles in. Both hips started to lock up as well. Not sure if this was from the cold as well?

Felt like I was riding hard but with no one to race or chase it was a personal time trial in the cold - not my strong suit

Because of the weather and my schedule - I have been outside 5 times before this. So many great days where I was running and so many bike days that were nasty; my bike fitness felt very good heading into the race.

I compared this time to the race two years ago which was rainy and not quite as cold; still a bit slower. AG rank was good and overall rank was good to so I guess overall not too terrible.

I did not bike with shoes off which I traditionally do - see the cold and wet. In T2, took time to pull of the fleece coat thing, take off the socks which were really wet - and my feet would not get in my shoes well. Struggled here.

I thought I might leave the socks on but they were useless

Fasted 5k triathlon run ever - simply out it was my first ever sub 24 run and I felt great

Nothing

Grabbed some water and started checking results. JRC has like instant results which was awesome. Realized pretty quick I was out of the money in my AG and I started getting cold quick.

So literally no warm down. Headed back inside. JRC has a great feature where with a QR code you get your results. Started looking at my splits and scratching my head.

Long shower, packed up and headed home. My stuff in the transition area was completed totally wet - everything was just soaked thanks to the puddle.


Like I said this one had me stumped. I felt great going in - rested and fast. I had run the Tar Heel 10 miler the weekend before but felt recovered by Wednesday. Did a 30 minute of so quick temp bike/run Saturday and felt really quick especially the bike (spin bike).

The weather certainly made a difference. The guy who won the age group last year was 1:44 slower this year and I was 1:28 slower so that feels like to like. My transitions were truly bad.

The cold was definitely the factor - got in my into mind pre-race as much I tried to block it out.
I hate riding in the cold but had no choice today.

Refuse to let myself get too down - the fact that I closed on the AG winner from last year (he finished 3rd this year - a bunch of newly minted 45 year olds in the AG showed uo)



One of my favorites - in my backyard as I swim at the pool and its my gym. This was my first triathlon ever and I make this a priority to come back plus Jones Racing is simply top notch. Can not say enough good about them.

The lack of volunteers this year was troubling.A couple important bike turns were unmanned this year which could have been missed.