That was a fun one.  PR on the swim, bike, and overall!  I've now been with Purple Patch's training plan for about 18 months and I keep seeing improved times.  I finished one hour faster than my first ever 70.3 two years ago, and 12 minutes better than previous best!  21mph avg. on the bike ain't truly fast, but it is a fantastic result for me - and one I never thought I'd reach.  

My experience for the race:  Absolutely no fog on the lake this year for the swim. Sunrise was beautiful. They reported the water temps as 74 at the start, but I think they were just trying to make everyone in wetsuits feel better about their decision. Water felt warmer than that to me. Way too many people in full suits. I raced in my tri suit and my 'floaty shorts' - Xterra neoprene shorts. Everyone seeded themselves way too far up. I started in 35-37, and passed people the entire swim. Not much bumping around at all, though. Starting us 3 at a time in waves worked really well.  I.  Am.  Not.  A.  Swimmer.  My Purple Patch swim workouts (and those horrible Tech Paddles) have helped TONS. I had enough energy left over to run the top part of that steep boat ramp!

Blazed through T1, totally forgetting sunscreen 😬. Took off on the bike. I hammered the ride. I never let up. I figured this was my B race, and a perfect opportunity to swim really hard and see how that impacted my ride. Killed the ride. I love those rolling hills. I passed people all day, and hit speeds on the flats over 26mph. My fueling was crap, though. I kept up with hydration well, but felt queasy all day. Managed just 200 calories over the whole ride. I was looking to see how the hard ride would impact my run. Ah, that's where I paid for it. 

Tough run. At least I remembered to put on a little sunscreen! I ran 8.5's to start, and felt pretty beat up right away. Eased into 9.5's and felt okay. I tried to take in Coke at every aid station, but it hit my stomach pretty hard. I managed it every other station. I clearly need to work on drinking from a cup while running. 😅 I ended up soaking myself with water and Coke all day! Turns out getting Coke in your eyes kinda stings. The day really warmed up around noon. Everyone's last 3-4 miles were slower. I was suffering just trying to keep up a jog, but passed dozens who'd slowed to a walk.  It is really empowering hearing Matt's voice in my head when I started hating the run.  "It's just missing calories". Knowing why I was feeling defeated allowed me to overcome it and finish out the race.  It was a tough one, but I kept running and passing people those last few miles.  

 
Swim = 37:32 (PR), Bike = 2:40:15 (PR), run = 2:09:23, Overall = 5:41:05 (PR). 548th place out of 1,975.