Triceratops Sprint Tri notes to self:

1. Do a longer warm-up before the swim. It took half the swim leg to get my breathing right because I did not have a sweat going before the start.

2. Make sure you downshift low enough before climbing the steepest hill on the bike route. I bogged down on that hill and a group of six riders blew by me. I chased them down and passed them, but I could have gained additional seconds over them if I had been faster up the hill.

3. Don't underrate yourself. The elite wave cutoff time was 1:12:00. I almost asked to move out of the elites because I didn't think I'd hit the cutoff. Then I end up rolling in well under the limit in 1:11:18, only a few second slower the my fastest T-Rex series finish over the past three years.

4. Don't drink water on the run (or at least don't drink a second time). Had a sip at two water stations. The second one caused me to cramp. And I only took it just as a precaution, not because I felt I needed it. 4b. Remember to grab the bike water bottle containing HEED as I head out on the run. All I needed was a little sip of HEED, not straight water.

It was good to have Adam Haberkorn right in the mix with me on the bike (I pushed extra hard to get and stay ahead of him) and in the run (I could hear him breathing down my back the entire run).