The water temperature at race time was 89.5 Fahrenheit. Not even the kiddie pool at the YMCA is that hot. Of the three events, I was most concerned about the swim seeing as I had put in one swim workout during the 2 1/2 weeks leading up to the race. I was in the second wave and jumped out to a fast start to try and put myself in a good position. After passing the first buoy the pack thinned out and I was able to swim straight to each of the remaining buoys without worrying about other swimmers. I was the first one out of the water in my age group at 11:44.During my T1, when I put my jersey on it got rolled up on my back. It took close to 20 seconds to get it unrolled, something I could've and should've done while I was on the bike. The bike course was just as promised - rolling hills. The whole thing was one hill after another, but none of the hills were anything close to what I train on in Auburn. I stayed on my big ring the whole time and was able to put in a respectable 48:31 bike split.
T2 was much faster than T1, but in the future I will look into getting some tri shoes with the sock lining because putting on socks before the run is not a viable option (not to mention getting a one piece tri jersey to avoid the T1 debacle). I took the run out slow, not wanting to take it out too fast and have to walk across the finish line. I hit the aid station at mile 1 at 7:40. I maintained the same pace all the way to the turn-around and back to the same aid station. I upped my pace every quarter mile or so over the last mile and still had plenty in the tank when I crossed the finish line. I need to do a much better job pacing.
With 1/4 miles to go, I was passed by a big black dude wearing Nike Frees (very nice shoes). I paced him until the last 20 meters of the run at which point I sprinted past him and ended up getting 26th place overall.It was quite an enjoyable experience. Jeremy and Andrew did the Olympic distance and both did very well. Hopefully as I get better, I'll be able to compete against them in the near future. Here is the final breakdown.
Swim - 600 yards (11:44)
T1 - 1:16
Bike - 15 miles (48:31)
T2 - 0:54
Run - 3.11 miles (23:43)
