Once we were finally underway I was able to begin to bust out right away and began swimming at a fairly high rate. I tried to stay controlled first but wanted to make sure I didn't get comfortable because I know I'll begin to settle in and become comfortable. Once that happens it seems like I have a really difficult time getting into the right intensity and stay there.
The water was pretty choppy, maybe more than I have ever swum in, but it was manageable. There had been a few boats out on the lake prior to the swim start and they had caused some pretty good waves to come in during the warm up. Now things were a little bit more calm but there was still a lot of waves that would swamp a person if they weren't prepared. Having been out during the WU period it helped prepare me for this and I didn't have any issues during the race.
The swim out to the first buoy was in pretty clear water for me. I swam a line more close to the buoys than the rest of the pack. Looking back I probably may have been able to get a little better swim time had I gotten into that pack and drafted. I actually saw this group form but not being real comfortable drafting I chose not to get into it, and that cost me a little bit at this race.
Sighting for the first leg of the swim was pretty easy for the most part. The chop would get in my line of sight several times but I could breath another stroke cycle and look back up and see where I needed to be easily enough. The pack was also swimming fairly straight for what I could tell so I stayed to their left.
About halfway out the the first turn i could tell my mistake of not having any baby shampoo in my goggles was going to cause an issue. I had asked several people in transition if they had any but I was out of luck. The fog got worse pretty slowly and I didn't get concerned until I was getting really close to the turn.
By the time I made the turn the field had split up but I was unable to tell just how fractured it had become. I picked up a guy swimming a similar pace to me and I thought I would use him for a while and see how things went. I wasn't behind him for long before I bailed. He seemed to be all over the place so I decided it wan't worth the added effort to stay behind him.
It was about this time my goggles had become so fogged over that I felt certain I would have a very difficult time sighting for the rest of the race. I decided I would roll to my back pull one of the goggles away from my eye and let water in to clear the fog. This was instantaneous relief and it only took a few seconds.
After the last turn things went well for most of the rest of the swim. I was able to use the sight line well on the way back to the beach and, as far as I could tell, I swam a fairly straight line. The only problem I had was the last couple of hundred yards. The marker buoys at this race were pretty visible from the beach prior to the race but at water level and with the choppiness of the water the smaller, yellow buoys were not visible from the back of the course. I had noted during the walk through that the line into the swim out wasn't straight but as I was swimming in I was unable to find the yellow marker. I don't recall what it was that made me notice that I was headed straight for the swim out, having a good line, but I was well inside the final marker buoy. So I swam out to the buoy to make sure I swam the entire course properly adding possibly 50 yards or a little more to my swim.
My only complaint would be about the markers in general. For this long a swim course and having a total of 4 markers it seems a little short of what is needed. The sprint course as marked with the yellow buoys and were about 200-250 yards from shore leaving, the olympic markers 800 yards or so further back. The issue wasn't the swim out, it was the swim back in. The markers for the oly were much larger and worked fine at the back of the course but the markers for the sprint were so small they could not be seen from the back.

I guess I would take a little more time sighting. I had drawn a good sight line and seemed to have swum a pretty straight line but the lack of visibility and distance the markers were apart compounded the sighting problems. Having another couple of markers in between the primary buoys would have solved the issue or having the yellow markers be the same size as the much larger orange oly markers.

With the really long run up to transition (about .15 mile) this time probably isn't horrible but it does seem a little long. I didn't do any practicing of transitions and last year my transitions, all 2 of them, were on long courses and I was less likely to have needed to be super quick.
I guess I'm reasonably happy with the transition.

Spend a little more time practicing, mentally, the transitions. That said I seemed fairly fluid with what I was doing. I don't recall stumbling with anything.

Most info is in the HR/data section about the problems.

The ride out of transition was pretty good in general. I was on the hammer pretty quickly. I was initially passed by three people within the first .25 miles but I was back in front of two of them before hitting the first turn, about 1.5 miles into the bike.
The road through this first mile or so fairly rough and I was expecting it to be so. After I had passed one of the other riders I had gotten to the right side of the road and began fumbling with my watch causing me to become distracted and not seeing a really bad section of road ahead. I began hitting some really hard bumps and I launched my nutrition bottle off the back. Clearly I was unhappy with what happened but unwilling to stop, I kept going and continued to screw with my watch.
This first (almost) half of the loop of the bike course was spent trying to find the sweet spot of effort and dealing with changing my watch. During this time I had caught the other rider I had been passed by in the beginning of the bike. He had looked over his shoulder and saw me coming and ramped his effort. I was able to stay close to him for a while longer until a little bit of an uphill. I had carried a little more speed off the downhill behind us and I took this time to attempt a pass. As I came up alongside him he looked over and began to dial his effort higher. Knowing once you begin to pass you're supposed to finish the pass I didn't want any questions as to legalities, I mashed the power and finished the pass and got over. He kept the hammer down hard and repassed me within another .25 mile. I let him go hoping he would blow himself up and suffer through the rest of the race.
As this was going on we were nearing the end of the first loop and runners from the sprint race were showing up now on their out and back course. This created a slight bit of congestion because the road conditions were BAD on the right side. So riders were taking the middle of the lane (we were catching the tail of the sprint riders). Passing at over 25 MPH on these downhill sections with all the traffic was a little tense at times. I honestly didn't care much for it but I was also unwilling to slow down.
As I ended the first loop I had been able to settle into a discomfort level that I was unable to get out of for the rest of the race. Zach had given me a NP target of 260 watts and I was way off that mark. I watch the NP move around quite a bit from 230-242 or so several times before finally settling in around 230 +/- a couple of watts. This was a hard effort but not close to as hard as I should have been seeing. From this perspective I am disappointed in my effort. That comfort zone I settled into, despite being hard, wasn't easy to get out of and I probably cost myself placement as well here.
After coming through the first loop the second loop seemed to go much faster. Now all of the other olympic athletes were on course and passing was very routine. There weren't long stretches of road where I wasn't passing someone. this was fine with me for a couple of reasons; I was able to stay off the right bumpy side of the road and it provides a nice mental boost when you go blazing by other riders.
As this second loop continued I could see the other rider who before traded positions with me. He was in front of me about 500 yards or so. I had really put him out of my mind after the end of the first loop but I seemed to be gaining ground on him again. The passing of all the other oly athletes continued and he never saw me coming. As we approached the town of New Burlington I was getting seriously close to him. In town there is a hard right turn and it was here that he looked over his shoulder and saw me AGAIN. I think he thought he had dropped me and was able to relax....Not so fast young Michael! There I was again like a pesky gnat swarming your face, I wasn't going away! After he turned to look, saw me and realized it was the old guy that passed him once he mashed the gas again, only this time I didn't let so easily. I stayed close this time and was on his heels for the rest of the back half of the ride. He never got more that 150-200 yards in front of me. Apparently he rides the uphills a little less aggressively than I and that's where I was able to play yoyo a little bit with him. I try to keep a somewhat level effort and he seemed to relax a little on the uphills. I never caught him on the bike but hoped I could get him on the run......

Ride harder! Possibly not screw with my watch and ride PE.
Besides not having power data my HR monitor was not working correctly either. This is a ridiculous cycle I keep going through every time I add a new piece of gear. Someday....

Pretty good here. The only issue I had was a the run into the transition area. As I was running in my shoes got caught on the ground and spun my pedals around, throwing my chain (which I didn't notice until I was loading my bike) and bouncing my bike all over for several feet. I'm sure it slowed my T a couple of seconds.....splitting hairs.

Nothing. This was pretty decent.

The run started, as all triathlon runs do, flipping miserable. My legs felt like lead and my HR felt like it was squirting blood out of my ears for the first half mile. After that it was pretty much the same for the rest of the race! But I suppose there are some other details I'll want to remember for later.
As the run began I was about 100 yards behind Michael Kloosterman (the guy on the bike) and I hoped to catch him. I was also hoping to set a PR for this race and a good run would almost certainly ensure that. High hopes going in....
As I paced what I thought might be a good pace for me through this run I checked my watch sporadically throughout the first mile or two. I had seen the pace with about a half mile into the run at around 6:54 or so. This would have made a really solid run for this course. But I wondered if I was gong to be able to actually hold that kind of pace. This course rolls pretty well and I knew it would get harder as I ran the next several miles.
The heat that others complained about following the race didn't seem to have an effect on me that I could notice. According to Garmin's weather it was 75 degrees and 69% humidity during the run, hardly the heat I expect to race in later this year. Honestly I didn't feel like it was hot at all.
The first couple of miles really seemed to drag on. I was uncomfortable at the paces I was running and I kept telling myself I would get through the hard part of the run that seems to come in the first mile and settle in. That time never seemed to come this day. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the entire race.
Just short of 3 miles into the run I was passed by a runner that I had no hope of hanging on to. He ended up placing 3rd OA and ran a 41:30, much better than even I was hoping to run. As he passed me I wondered if I was slowing down because of fatigue or if he was just running that fast. I checked my watch....he was running that fast!
As I neared the turn around all I could think about was the fact I had only the last half to go. I wanted to remain as strong as possible but I seemed to feel my strength fading. I did have my flask of EFS on me but I didn't think I was going to be able to use it. When I thought of taking a shot a rush of nausea hit me and I skipped it. I had hit a shot of it as I ran out of T2 but I hadn't hit anything since. )I was also short of calories from the prescribed intake after I lost the bottle on the bike.)
The middle section of this course has the most rolling hills on it. I remember one of the hills from the Muncie 70.3 as the hill where an aG lady passed me just before we began the hills and I passed her back at the top. She mentioned to me later that she had been using me as her pace runner and she was hoping to pass me and leave me...I apparently had a little more in me than she did. (She actually qualified for Worlds at Muncie and she's a KQ'er as well.) I thought of that race and few minutes as I approached the hill.
On the other side of that hills is a decline after turning a corner before turning flat for a few hundred yards. then it turns uphill and you can see it coming. It really sucks because it's late in the race at this point (just short of 4 miles) and climbing hills pretty much sucks to think about. I kept trudging along waiting to see if I could survive.
The final turn brought some relief. This part of the course has one sharper climb very close to the finish but it's much more downhill then uphill through the last mile and a half, and it's a gradual downhill so it's a little better for pacing and for my knee.
The last 1.25 is where the stitches began. They came on slow and and had me grimacing in the beginning. I always want to slow down to let the pain subside and this race was no different. I kept working through the pain trying to convince myself it wasn't that bad and that it I could do anything for "XX" far. By the time I reached the last .25 I was unable to take deep breaths because the pain had become bad enough to make me groan audibly when trying.
It was here that I was passed for the final time. I had noticed this athlete on the way back from the turn. I really thought I could have beat him when we passed on the course. Looking at the finishing times I think I could have it I had dug deeper. We were only separated by a paltry 19 seconds. As he passed me I hoped to keep him close and pull ahead closer to the finish but the pain on my side wouldn't have it.
Then the last hill climb was in front of me. I recall a guy at the side of the road telling me I was almost there and I sarcastically thought "yea I know buddy" because my stitches hurt so bad at this point.
Then the finish was in sight. But part of this race that I hate (along with Muncie 70.3) is the last 100 yards or so. It is through grass and stone that makes footing a little uncertain. For most people it's probably not a big deal, for me it can be a risk if there is a significant misstep.
I finished fine and walked around and gasped for air for a few moments before wondering off and getting a beer, which I had never done before during post race activities. I had wanted too in Boston but after the events there we headed out of town pretty quickly.

Probably may have tried to push the pace a little harder. In all honesty it probably wouldn't have been a much better run if I had run what I felt capable of right now. I have lost a little bit of my run speed and strength. I was really shooting for a 43:00 but it became very apparent pretty quickly that wasn't happening.

Panted and gasped for air, held my side to alleviate side stitches and walked around.


Sheer fitness is about it.


The big complaint is noted in the swim section. I really feel they could have had a few more buoys marking the swim course.

Results: https://app.lap.io/event/2015-05-muncie-may/results?category=AMOT%25