- Distance: 750 Meter Swim, 14.5 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
- Time: 1 hr 31 min 37 sec overall; 15:46 Swim, 2:30 T1, 47:49 Bike, 0:58 T2, 24:36 Run
- Place: 29 out of 39 in age group, 172 out of 286 men, 207 out of 411 overall
- Weather: Mostly cloudy, 10-15 mph winds, air temps in the low 60's, water temp of 71 degrees
I realized an hour before the start of the race that I never came up with any time goals for each part. I remembered that my best time in this race was 1 hour and 33 minutes and wanted to at least beat that time, but I thought I would see if I could break the 1:30 mark.
One of the pre-race announcements said the water temp was 71 degrees, so I was surprised and happy it would be a few degrees warmer than forecast. After I got my wetsuit on I made my way down to the water. I still wanted to do a warm-up swim to eliminate the shock factor of the cold water. The winds were gradually increasing as it got closer to my start time. I knew it would be a factor on the bike, but never really considered how choppy the water would be because of it. As I started the swim I was glad I did the warm-up because there was very little shock from the temperature. For the first minute or two I felt
pretty comfortable, but as I got further out into the lake the winds were really making me get sloshed from side to side. It was more annoying than anything else because I felt like my form was unbalanced, I couldn't get into a rhythm, and periodically I would get a mouth full of water when I turned my head to breathe. Once I made the turn to head back to shore I finally felt like I was in a rhythm and moving at a good pace. When I exited the water I looked at my watch and saw that my swim time was a lot better than some of my previous races. I guess the extra laps at
the pool were starting to pay off. I had no problems getting my wetsuit off in transition and was able to start the bike segment with ease. The first hill right outside of the transition area was slow, but I was soon headed down the road and out of the marina. The first four or five miles were a slight incline that appeared flat, and the wind was behind my back so that helped to push me along. Once I made the turn onto the back side of the course the winds decided they were through helping. Miles 5 to 10 were headwinds, but luckily that was the part of the course that had more downhill sections. Around mile 11 was the long gradual uphill. Reaching the top of that, I made a left turn and headed back toward the marina on the last stretch of wind-aided road. When I reached the transition area I made quick time of racking my bike and
starting on the run. My legs felt a little stiff as they usually do right after the bike segment, but having to run up that same hill right outside of transition didn't help me get going any faster. I reached the first mile mark, took a quick look at my watch, and saw an 8:00 mile pace. I would have liked it to have been a little faster but factoring in the hill probably made the difference. The run course had more small rolling hills than I remember, and by the second mile mark I was still running just less than an 8:00 mile pace. At that point I knew that breaking the 1 hour 30 minute overall time was going to fall just a little bit short. As I neared the finish line I increased my pace and was able to sprint by several people before the line. After comparing this year's times to my best time in this race be
fore, I was a little surprised. Overall I beat my best time in this race by two minutes, but for the individual events I was really only happy with the swim time. My swim time saw a three and a half minute improvement which really encourages me to keep up the laps at the pool. The bike time was almost identical to my previous best. I was a little disappointed with this because I thought I had done more training on the bike leading up to this race than I had in the past. I guess the winds played a part in the time though. My run time was over a minute slower that my previous time in this race which can only be explained by my limited amount of run training due to the calf problems I had the last couple of months. It was good to get back into the triathlon season and I'm looking forward to training harder in the next several weeks so I can see a big improvement in my times for the next race.
One of the pre-race announcements said the water temp was 71 degrees, so I was surprised and happy it would be a few degrees warmer than forecast. After I got my wetsuit on I made my way down to the water. I still wanted to do a warm-up swim to eliminate the shock factor of the cold water. The winds were gradually increasing as it got closer to my start time. I knew it would be a factor on the bike, but never really considered how choppy the water would be because of it. As I started the swim I was glad I did the warm-up because there was very little shock from the temperature. For the first minute or two I felt 
pretty comfortable, but as I got further out into the lake the winds were really making me get sloshed from side to side. It was more annoying than anything else because I felt like my form was unbalanced, I couldn't get into a rhythm, and periodically I would get a mouth full of water when I turned my head to breathe. Once I made the turn to head back to shore I finally felt like I was in a rhythm and moving at a good pace. When I exited the water I looked at my watch and saw that my swim time was a lot better than some of my previous races. I guess the extra laps at
the pool were starting to pay off. I had no problems getting my wetsuit off in transition and was able to start the bike segment with ease. The first hill right outside of the transition area was slow, but I was soon headed down the road and out of the marina. The first four or five miles were a slight incline that appeared flat, and the wind was behind my back so that helped to push me along. Once I made the turn onto the back side of the course the winds decided they were through helping. Miles 5 to 10 were headwinds, but luckily that was the part of the course that had more downhill sections. Around mile 11 was the long gradual uphill. Reaching the top of that, I made a left turn and headed back toward the marina on the last stretch of wind-aided road. When I reached the transition area I made quick time of racking my bike and 
starting on the run. My legs felt a little stiff as they usually do right after the bike segment, but having to run up that same hill right outside of transition didn't help me get going any faster. I reached the first mile mark, took a quick look at my watch, and saw an 8:00 mile pace. I would have liked it to have been a little faster but factoring in the hill probably made the difference. The run course had more small rolling hills than I remember, and by the second mile mark I was still running just less than an 8:00 mile pace. At that point I knew that breaking the 1 hour 30 minute overall time was going to fall just a little bit short. As I neared the finish line I increased my pace and was able to sprint by several people before the line. After comparing this year's times to my best time in this race be
fore, I was a little surprised. Overall I beat my best time in this race by two minutes, but for the individual events I was really only happy with the swim time. My swim time saw a three and a half minute improvement which really encourages me to keep up the laps at the pool. The bike time was almost identical to my previous best. I was a little disappointed with this because I thought I had done more training on the bike leading up to this race than I had in the past. I guess the winds played a part in the time though. My run time was over a minute slower that my previous time in this race which can only be explained by my limited amount of run training due to the calf problems I had the last couple of months. It was good to get back into the triathlon season and I'm looking forward to training harder in the next several weeks so I can see a big improvement in my times for the next race.
Awesome race! Don't worry about that bike or run. You have MANY hot miles this summer to work on those. If you're making headway with the swimming take it and run. It's the hardest to improve in and 10% is BIG TIME improvement. You're on your way pal!
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