My finish time is to the left here. This is a seven minute improvement over 2013. I am extremely happy with this result given my significantly reduced training time. So let's take a look at what I did so I can remember for 2015.
First things first: Nutrition.
Heather was kind enough to volunteer for this event and even better she was director of the VIP area. This mean VIP tent, VIP catering, VIP bathroom and VIP parking. What this also meant was arriving at 4am to set-up the VIP area. My race went off at 8:15am, thus I arrived four hour prior to my race. This presented some pre-race nutrition issues and I did fumble the ball a little with this. My nutrition strategy of to minimize my nutrition. I bet I did less than a third nutrition than what I did in previous races.
Breakfast: 330am. Three English Muffins with jelly. Red Bull on drive to race (Sugar Free).
Pre-Race 7:30amish. Banana. Also drank bottle of Accelerade and definitely some water.
15 minutes to race: Gel. I can't remember if I had a salt tab or not. I'm thinking not.
Bike: BTA bottle with half scoop of Accerlerade. Also had two salt tabs: one at halfway and one right before T2. No gel
Run: Salt tab the first mile. No gels. Took some Pepsi and gatorade at stations. Also had salt tab at halfway point.
This is where I fumbled. By the time I was on the run, I was starved. I should have had a Cliff Bar around 7am. I also should have taken a salt-tab an hour before race.
Transition Set-Up.
I'm adding this part because I took this too casual. I should have set-up sooner than I did. Main reason for waiting was that it was raining. I should always pack a garbage bag to shield my equipment if it's raining. I took it for granted that I knew how I wanted my transition set-up.
Swim
Going along the same lines as transition, I should have been in the water much much sooner than I was. Given the single file line, the minute I hit the water, the race started. There were still people on land when they started. The RD should have held off until everyone was in. If I would have gotten in sooner I could have stretched out and did a quick warm-up. Because I didn't do these things, I believe my swim suffered. My time was three minutes slower. I suffered leg cramps around the half-way point, thus lost my kick. This is poor nutrition and the lack of a warm-up. My own fault. When I stood up, I had to stand there for a few seconds because my hamstrings cramped up bad. I also had to take it slow to T1 (although I did eventually get up to speed).Bike
Bike actually went awesome. I decided to ignore my computer and go by feel. I wanted to go slower to save my legs for the run. The previous weeks practice ride I set a goal of 20mph average. I finished that ride well over 20mph and my legs hurt. This was my reasoning for going by feel. Push hard but not too hard. I ended up just under 23mph average, which is a few minutes faster than 2013. Despite this, I felt great coming off the bike.Run
This is were I made up a lot of time. Almost 8 minutes faster and was under and hour. I felt great heading out and the course seemed 'shorter', although it was the same length. Last year the course seemed like it went on forever, however this year, it seemed to go by quick. My goal pace was 9:30, which is a minute faster than last year. Running is not my strength so I thought this was a reasonable pace. I finished at 9:22 and really nailed the last mile (close to 7:00). I actually could have pushed slightly harder, but didn't want to blow up. Again, very happy with how this went.
Improvements to make over next year (other than fitness): Transition faster. Better pre-race nutrition. Get in water sooner. Manage run pace better.
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