2 event - .75 mile swim and approximately 1 hour later 1.5 mile swim

First swim had 80 people in my wave and they were fast.  the start was crowded and i was pummeled by several other swimmers, both male and female going into the first turn buoy about 300 yards from the start.

Kicked, scratched but undeterred I kept swimming and made it to the turn.  I tried to go inside of the big group, but more people, with every breath I could see that the outside area was no better.  Typically in triathlons, the pace of most of the swimmers slows after 500 yards and I can get clean water, but these swimmers are fast and hold their pace well. I kept swimming and lined up the next 2 buoys quite well and made the turn for home.,  Got some clean water and finished in 17:14.

As it turned out that was good enough for 3rd place in my age group.  the 2nd palace guy was 5 seconds in front of me and the first place guy was 24 second ahead.

A better line and not so many people were probably the difference between 1st and 3rd. 

Now to get ready for the 2nd swim in less than 1 hour.

Group was smaller, maybe 50.  Many of the people that did the 1st swim were back for a 2nd go round.

I started a little bit to the back for fear of getting pummeled again, and the it wasn't as bad.  I drafted behind someone, but the stroke was erratic and the pace was fast, then slow then fast, so I went around this swimmer.  When drafting behind someone, the effort is maybe 20-30% less than if you are swimming alone.  So I looked for another set of feet that I could get behind.  I saw a group 10-15 yards ahead of me, so I picked up my pace until I caught them.  A female swimmer had latched onto my draft and swam up to the group with me.  Good for her!  She then proceeded to pass me, swim through the group and keep going.  I tried to catch her draft but she was too strong.

I continued my race and caught some people and had some people pass me.  Towards the end of the swim, I had a male and female swimmer pass me.  The male swimmer cut me off on the last 90 degree turn to the point that I stopped completely for fear of T-Boning him. I wasn't going to let this guy beat me to the finish so I sprinted up to him in the last 25 yards and when we got to the point that we had to stand up and sprint to the timing mat, I beat him by a step.  Maybe 1 second, but for results, I finished ahead of him. 

Placed 3rd again with the second place guy 7 seconds ahead.  the first place swimmer, Kerry O'Brien from Walnut Creek Masters where he is also the coach finished over 3 minutes ahead of me.  He is a great swimmer!

Another really fun day. Lake Del Valle is a beautiful reservoir in Livermore.

Calaveras time trial is a 10 mile road race purely against the clock. The course is an out and back on a 2 lane country road with small rolling hills, but the entire first 5 miles is slightly uphill.  the last mile is actually up a steeper pitch, about 7% grade to the turn around.

After the turn, it is downhill and typically you can negative split the ride.  negatively spliting means that the 2nd half of your ride is raster than the first.

My time was 27:14 which placed me 25th in my category. 

Afterwards, i met up with Jeff Durban, Mike Staz and Terry ?.  We rode down Niles
Canyon road and up over palomares Canyon and then back through Dublin, Pleasanton to our cars at the Time Trial Site.  Put in 48 miles on that eatra loop. with some nice climbing and decending.  Felt really good keeping up with Jeff, Mike and Terry.  they are all really strong riders.  I think Mike and jeff placed really well in their respective divisions.  Terry road with Mike from Livermore in the morning.

.75 mile swim - 18 mile bike - 5 mile run

Being in the older age group I was in wave 11 of 12.  Leaving so late, this meant that the swim and bike course would be clooged with participants.  The wave after us was the relays which meant that really fast swimmers might catch us as we passed people in the waves in front of us.

the event started about 20 minutes late and it was already warm when we arrived at the venue.  I debated wearing the wetsuit but figured that it would hurt that much.

When the gun went off i sprinted out from my group of about 50.  I started passing swimmers from the group in fornt of us within minutes but didn't have much problem getting around them.  I didn't see anyone from my group ahead or next to me and felt that i was sighting the course preety well.

got out of the water in under 17 minutes and headed for the bike.  getting my wetsuit off in transition has always been a challenge but I was fairly quick and out of the transition area before Steve Chavez, the eventual winner got into the area.  Our bikes were right next to each other!

On the bike I was passing alot of people.  the course is  rolling with not real steep climbs until the last 2 miles with one short steep climb of about a quarter mile.  Steve and one other guy in my age group passed me in the first 5 miles and then no one until the steep short climb when 1 onther guy came by. the last mile on the bike was fast and 2 more guys in my age group passed me, so now I'm in 6th place.

Transition 2 went well and I'm on the run.  I passed one guy in my age group and continued to pick off other racers.  My pace was 7:15 -7:20 per mile and felt comfortable and managable.  I would sight a runner ahead of me and focus on picking them off.  I did this throughout the run and ended up holding my pace and was really happy with the result.

5th in my age group and 72 overall out of 866.  

My legs still haven't recovered completely from Boston so I skipped Wildflower and stayed local for a nice quick 10K run in Danville.  I lined up at the front for the start.  the race was smaller than years past since it was raining lightly and also , I think becuase of the swine flu which was on everyones lips the week prior to this race and on the front page of every newspaper, radio talk show and the lead story on the T.V..  I ran a respectable 44:05 which translates into 7:12 per mile which I am happy with and looking forward to getting my running legs back over the next few weeks.