Start was busy but not too crazy & I got into a rhythym pretty quickly. Had to dodge a few breaststrokers every now & then & also pop up to sight, but it was ok. Around the buoy went ok and then I kept finding feet & thinking I'd try to draft off them only to find I was swimming at a faster pace than them which confused me since we should have all been around the same pace by then, right? My lack of time in the water over the last couple of weeks started to show as I started to tire a little towards the end but I just pushed on & eventually I was at the beach. Felt faster than it actually was but that's probably just because I haven't been in the water much lately.

Be a better swimmer.

Wobbled a little putting on my socks but otherwise it was fine. Started with the shoes clipped into the pedals and jumped on & that went fine.

Nothing. 3rd fastest overall is just fine with me.

Legs felt a little tired to start but I just went out & tried to put up a good time. My HR was pretty high for most of the 1st 2/3 & I started to have some stomach aches not too far in. Pushed hard, but not as hard as I could have especially on a couple of the hills: there seemed to be a magic point where when I pushed harder than that my stomach would start to hurt so I stayed just below that point. I was only passed by one guy & I passed him back when he didn't gear down before a u-turn. Coming up the last hill I let up a little to try & get my breathing & stomach somewhat in control before the run. Considering the hills and that there was a u-turn every 2 miles I was pleasantly surprised with my speed.

Not much, I had a pretty good leg. Maybe not have the yoghurt for breakfast or drink so much lake water during the swim to try & avoid the stomach problems. I sipped on accelerade before the start & I may avoid protein before hard hard efforts from now on since I don't think its really neeeded.

Went smoothly, no problems.

Nuttin'.

Jelly legs to start - they were pretty spent but I was expecting that after all the miles I've put in over the last couple of weeks. I felt like I was crawling along but eventually the jelly feeling went away. It was pretty lonely on the way out & I started to wonder where I was standings wise. Eventually I passed a few guys on their way back in who looked around the same age so I let those standings thoughts go. Around the 1st mile I started to get a little side stitch so I walked the aid station & got some water. Hit the turnaround with tired legs but I was pushing them ok. Then at mile 2 the sidestitch came back & forced me to walk a few times, including when I passed Cathy. Once I could see the finish line across the lake I figured I'd push thru the SS and get this thing done. There was someone a ways behind me but not very close and I started to feel better once I hit the pavement again.

Not really sure. If I'd know what place I was in I might not have been so lackadaisical about walking, but there wasn't much I could do about it anyway. No one passed me because of it though so it didn't really matter. I should try & experiment one of these times - I wonder if taking it easier by maybe a minute on the bike would save my legs enough to be two faster on the run?

There was a guy I passed on the bike (he ended up being 2nd in our AG)- he hung with me though and then left me in the dust at the start of the run. He thanked me for pushing the pace & then told me I probably placed which kind of dumbfounded me. Chatted with Christian a bit & ran into Mark (my coach) who was announcing. Then met up with Cathy again & compared notes.


Marathon training & no taper.


Well its obviously not nearly as competative a field as the Boulder races but it still felt awesome to place & it was kind of bizarre to have people cheering because you are in the front and not have a ton of people already milling around at the finish. Would have liked to have a mile marker for mile #1 (or did I just miss it?) So after I finished I was hanging out watching & the leading woman from the HIM came up to one of the officials trying to figure out which way to go. Turns out she turned around at the 5k turnaround which wasn't marked very well so she ended up running 16 miles and came in 2nd to Amanda Lovatto.