I finished the race and reached my goal of doing it in under 2 hours.
Here are my split times:
Swim.........00:21:21.050.....(4:16 min/100yd)
T1...........00:07:24.730
Bike.........00:49:27.670.....(15.2 MPH)
T2...........00:01:25.630
Run..........00:29:00.000.....(9:21 min/mi.)
Total........01:48:39.08
I'm very happy with this result overall.... and I'm very sore today thanks to it.
Swim: The water was pretty cold, but my new wetsuit worked nicely to keep me warm, and the flotation was great. I started off OK, trying not to get clonked on the head and just making my way through. I alternated between freestyle (mostly arms) and my backstroke (mostly legs) quite a bit. Seemed like I almost went faster doing my backstroke. I had a hard time seeing the buoys and did not take a very straight path to any of them. On the 2rd leg of the triangle course, the sun was directly behind us.... this made it difficult to keep straight while doing my backstroke since I couldn't see. Also, at some point early (second leg), I took off my goggles since they were fogging / watering up... and after that I couldn't get them cleared up and back on. Once I got close enough, I just walked into the beach and through the timer gate. 21 minutes beat my goal of 25, so I'm happy with it at this point... need to work on stamina and shoulder strength so I'll be able to freestyle a whole swim leg.
T1: This was a mean transition. To get from the end of the swim to the actual transition area we had to run/walk up this long steep boat ramp. I brought my Tevas down to the ramp so I could wear them running up... but the hill was just rough. I jogged a bit but walked most of the way. Eventually made it to the real transition area, got my wetsuit off and threw on my socks and shoes.... I wolfed down a banana before taking off on the bike.
Bike: The bike course was pretty fun. The start was fairly level for a while, then gradually getting more uphill. After 4 miles there was a huge hill for 2 miles. This part was slow going, but I got myself into a low gear and just kept on moving. All along the bike up to this point I was getting passed by a lot of people (both olympic-course racers and sprint racers too). After the climb there was a slight downhill for a while, then a little up again before the really nice and steep downhill. This was my favorite part. I was flying down it in almost top gear, my eyes were watering from the wind (I should probably get some sunglasses). After the fast downhill we had a flat little detour (looks like it took us into Utah) before getting back to transition.
T2: Second transition was much easier. I just had to put my bike on the rack (which was a little tricky since there was not much room), and throw on my running hat. I ate a package of Hammer Gel that the race had supplied, and washed it down with some water from the bike (didn't drink much while on the bike).
Run: Took off running at a pretty slow pace. After a few minutes I was feeling OK, so started to increase my stride, but this was probably a bad idea. After a bit of that I got tired and had to walk a bit. I started right away counting my steps so I could make sure to keep making good progress. I would walk 100 steps then jog 100. Then I would walk 100 and then jog 150. Did this the whole way out and back. Once I got close enough to the finish I just ran the rest of the way, which was easier with all the people around and cheering.
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