I had a much better swim this time. My unofficial time was somewhere around 15 minutes. There were a number of reasons (in order of importance): 1) the wetsuit 2) experience, I've done a race before and knew I could do it again 3) I did'nt go out too fast, kept a good pace 4) I just felt good starting, I had a "can-do, this is going to fun" attitude. 5) the water was incredibly shallow. There was no danger of drowning, so panic wasn't a factor for anyone

I started in the back again and focussed on drafting and navigation for the majority of the swim. I didn't start to think about technique until there was maybe 500 yards left. I actually found myself bottlenecked behind slower swimmers for the first half. Next time, I'll start in the middle of the pack, and focus on technique. With a better stroke and position, I know I could have done even better. This was a good indicator of why a good stroke needs to be made second nature. When I did start to think about it, I felt my speed increase and effort decrease.

Also, wear my shorts under my pants when I leave for the race. Changing into them in the men's room was a drag.

The suit stuck on my right heel, but came off easily. I thought I pinned the number to the shirt correctly at setup. Honest to god, I thought I did. But when I put my shirt on (after the S+D, which was a mistake) the shirt hung up on that shoulder. I thought it was hung on the GPS unit, but after I don't know how long, I realized a safety pin was pinned to the front and back of the shirt. It took forever to fix this (tiny safety pins, cold hands, time pressure) I put the shirt on again, and oila, the other pin on that side was also put through both sides of the shirt.

Got up to speed and my shoes into the clips ok. The gear could have been a little lower. I forgot to hook up the brake wire after putting the front tire on at the car, but was able to do it while riding with ease.

USE A &*()ING RACE BELT!!! Wear a shirt under my wetsuit. If using pins, take much more care. Put the shirt on once after pinning the number on to make sure it's ok.

I got passed a lot at first, but only by road and tri bikes, no other hybrids or mtn bikes. I did manage to pass a few people.Didn't feel like I fell back as much as last time, but the Sprint and Oly courses diverged so it's hard to tell. There were a few people that drove me nuts blocking because they weren't paying attention or just didn't care. I didn't see one obvious marshall the whole ride.
The adjustment to my seat height and saddle position was also effective. Staying "aero" for longer periods was easier.
I was able to keep a good for me pace by finding a way attractive Athena-ish rider who was going at a pace a bit above what I would have done on my own and woe unto those that tried to get between me and her rear
...wheel. I saw the effects of my bike on a couple of long downhills that I just couldn't develop speed on like everyone else. Max speed was 28.4 MPH. I'm getting curious to see just what kind of time difference a road bike would make.

Train with my bike set up in the position I'm going to race in. I dramatically changed the saddle height and distance a few days before the race. Look into what else I could do mechanically to get some more speed. Maybe rent a road bike if I don't have one by my next race. Find a faster Athena.

I use clips. T2 is not an issue. I took 3 extra seconds for some gatorade.

nothing

Faster than I expected! The weather was ideal. I made my last push with more to go in the course than I thought, but I was able to keep it up until the end. My pace wavered between 7 and 8.5 min/mile. Using the GPS is great because I'm not a great judge of pace. This was a big improvement over my last race. I'm curious as to what I could do in a straight up 5k.

Nothing. I'm happy with this.
I was in the top 40% for the run. Wow!

Walked around, drank a gatorade.


Swim: Poor positioning at the start. Lack of focus. Inconsistent training.
T1: sheer boneheadedness with the race number
Bike: The bike. Poor training habits regarding equipment.Inconsistent training.
T2: N/A
Run: Inconsistent training.


My wife Julie got there with our girls and my mom right after I finished. She didn't think I'd finish as soon as I did and felt really bad when she found out. On the bright side, between the atmosphere and seeing the people who were coming in and had just finished, she wants to do a tri next year. That made my day.
I'll be back for this race next year, maybe for the Oly.
*Edit* Got my times. I'm happy with them, except for the bike. I need to get a road bike and put in some serious time on it. It should be noted that the numbers here for overall standings do not include teams, while the YellowJacket website lists teams and individuals together.