My swim was just so-so. I was off course a fair amount. I even had to push off of a pylon and actually smacked a buoy. The water was warmer out further, which was annoying in the wetsuit, and the water was very choppy out there as well. The buoys were hard to see on the return. I caught a few people to draft off as they passed, but not until the first big right-handed turn. I was disapointed with my time, but I do think the course was a little long based on other people's times.

Find more open-water swim practice.

Bagging everything up took extra time. Almost forgot to pack the towel. I seemed to be a little slow, but I didn't want anything left behind. Forgot to have the watch look for the HR strap in transition, so I had to do it on the bike.

Practice more with the wetsuit removal. Get that darned watch set in transition! I have messed this up twice now.

I was timid on the new tri bicycle with the extreme aero position and new shifting. The wind was a stong headwind, going uphill at the start. I was going 10-11 mph, so that didn't help my confidence at all. There were more hills than I expected, and the wind had me intimidated. It was getting better for me when we changed directions some, but then I encounted other setbacks. I witnessed a horrible auto-bike accident where a girl was thown from the bike and very injured. I was also heading downhill into a busy intersection, and the police almost didn't get the cars stopped. I had to brake to stay safe. The roads in this section also had more cracks, irregular pavement, and manhole covers to watch out for. All of these made me more cautious, slow down some, and be less aggressive. I even had about 3 big downhills where the speed in my new aero position made me nervous. I am embarrassed to say I braked!! I was also too nervous to reach for my lower water bottles. At least I can say, I learned a lot on the new bike, and it arrived safely in transition with no scratches.

Max speed was 30mph. It could have been much higher on those big downhills!

More practice on the bike. I just wasn't confident enough with the new positioning and gearing. In short, I was a weanie!

Ran in with the bike, found the spot easily because of Moses, the flower. Changed my shoes, ditched the helmet, and took a swig of Accelerade from the bike since I didn't do it while I rode. Grabbed the race belt and hat and ran for the exit.

Have more confidence to drink on the bike so I didn't need to do it in T2.

The run started stupendous! I found a pacing buddy, and we were going at 9:25 minutes, comfortably!!! We were chatting the whole way. Unfortunately, my knee started hurting around mile 2.5, but I was able to run on it until about mile 3.8 where it seized up. I then had to walk-run the rest, but David had come back to "run" with me for the remainder. I sent my pacing buddy on to have a terrific run without me.

lap dist pace HR cad stride
L1 1.05 09:20 173 85 3ft 4in
L2 1.00 09:27 175 84 3ft 4in
L3 1.00 09:05 177 83 3ft 6in
L4 1.00 10:34 177 77 3ft 3in
L5 1.00 13:06 162 70 2ft 10in
L6 1.00 14:14 152 67 2ft 9in
L7 0.42 12:20 159 75 2ft 9in

Build even more mileage, in combination with biking to build my knee up even more. I am also getting my knee checked out and probably an MRI to rule out any increasing damage.

Immediately went to the medical tent for ice on the knee. They wrapped it on, and it made a big difference. We also checked out all the booths, and I got an extensive massage in the Accelerade booth.


More open water swim practice, more time on the new bike, more mileage on the poor knee.


Logistics went far smoother than I expected. Incredible number of volunteers and traffic controllers on the bike course. Fantastic post- race activities. It was also interesting to have so many pros present, but I really never saw them.