This was my first race of the year: 0.75mi swim, 16 mi bike, 5 mi run

Prerace: Didn't get any sleep but still felt awake and ready in the morning. Must be the nervous energy keeping me wired. Slammed a "meal replacement drink", banana and peanut butter toast for breakfast and headed out to the course. It was raining on the drive to the race but it stopped just as I arrived at the course. What good fortune! Two porta-potty breaks while setting up my transition area.

0.75 mi swim

10 minutes before the start I hopped in the water to take a few practice strokes. This year I chose to wear my bike shorts under the wetsuit to save some time in T1. Unfortunately I could not hold my bladder and had to let it go. As I pondered the absorptive qualities of the pad in my bike shorts, a friend tells me how he just wet himself and i quickly fess up too and so does another friend and all is well. Finally the gun goes off and I try start with nice slow rythym breathing every third stroke. After about 100 yards, I find myself short of breath and decide to breathe every two strokes. I breathe to the left side the whole way because for some reason this is more comfortable for me and the swim wraps around a peninsula on the left so it's easier to spot the shore. This seems to work and before I know it I've rounded the peninsula and make it out of the water. Final swim time 22 minutes.

16 mi bike

The transistion to the bike was a struggle and seemed to take forever, but finally I made it onto the course. My wet bike shorts were a little uncomfortable at first, but eventually they dried out. The bike leg is a scenic course with rolling hills that winds around a couple of lakes. Very fun track with some fast downhill stretches. This was my first race using aerobars and properly inflated tires and I felt much faster. Final bike time 48 minutes.

5 mi run

T2 was much smoother than T1. I decided to run in bike shorts to speed transition and swapped bike shirt to a more comfortable running shirt. I experienced no problems at all running in the bike shorts. The sun came out on the run and I felt a sideache around mile 1. Picked up a Gu at mile 1 aid station and sucked it down. Drank water at mile 2 aid station to wash down the Gu. The sideache went away at 2.5 mile turn around. The return trip was slightly downhill and felt fast. The final thirty yards or so is through a crowd of cheering people. I heard a fellow triathlete on my heels so I sprinted to the finish and beat him by a second. He shook my hand and pointed out that he was two age groups older than me so he actually beat me by 5 minutes and 59 seconds. Final run time 38 minutes.

I wanted to break 2 hours total and ended up at about 1 hr 53 minutes, right in the middle of the pack for my age group. Can't wait for my next race!