Well today was the San Jose Triathlon. It went well. I beat my time from last year by 4 minutes, mostly on the strength of a bike that was 4 minutes faster than last year. I lost about 2 minutes from last year on the run, but I made up for it in the swim and in transition. I switched to going sockless so that saves a few seconds.

I think I figured out what the key for me in the swim. I need to just relax. The swim felt easy, because I wasn't pushing myself and I was relaxed. Several other triathlons I've tried to go out strong and my stroke gets bad. It also helped that the waves of swimmers were small and the water was open, so it wasn't very crowded, and I didn't get hit or kicked hardly at all. Getting hit a lot really makes you swim nervously and that affects my stroke a lot I think.

I felt like I was riding really well. Very few people passed me while I was on the bike. Probably less than 10. A couple of those people just blew by me at an amazing speed. I averaged close to 22mph. The bike course rode better this year than last. The wind was very light, while last year it was moderate. While I was on the bike, there was a guy in a car sitting there stuck in traffic, who gave me the finger for no reason other than the fact that I was one of many triathletes that caused him to be delayed. Whatever. I had a bit of a right calf cramp, but it didn't develop into anything debilitating.

The run was a bit unfortunate. It wasn't terrible, but I survived it. The first mile I felt awful. I thought I was going to barf, but after another mile I got over it and it wasn't too bad, but not a particularly impressive time for me. I wish I had the natural running ability that some people do.

I don't have the official results handy, but I'll post them tomorrow.

I really love this event, it's probably my favorite. It's a super fast course and the start, finish and transition areas are laid out nicely.