Waterfront at Pu'uloa Sprint Triathlon (Swim)

The start was two waves, All age groups men followed by Women and Relays.  I expected a running start and that is what I trained for but it ending up being a one loop water start.  I did  my standard run up and down the beach to get my heart rate up to my target of 140 and entered the water.

 For those of you who have never done a triathlon or an open water swim the start will be hard to explain but here goes.  Matt my triathlon bro coached me on the start to keep a hand out in front of me and look for blue water before getting into my stroke.  Advice well taken.  It was a bit crazy and not something I had not trained for.   I swam over people, got kicked a few time and had people swim over me.

  If my hand has not been there for protection I would have lost my goggles within the first minute. I'm  pretty comfortable in the water but it took me some time to find blue water so I could get into my stroke. My time suffered as a result of this so I will need to work on a better plan for next time.
  At turn one I went wide and picked a few places as everyone was stuck next to the buoy and at last found some blue water and started to settle in for the swim. Turn two was pretty much the same with a number of people bunched up around the buoy  Once I rounded turn two I was stroking for the final buoy and the beach. My exit worked as planned and I was able to ride a wave all the way into 6 inchs of water and stand up.  Looked at my HRM and gee I was at 160 which is 20 bpm above my training rate of 140.  I'm telling myself got to get this down or your going to flame out at the end. Swim time was 11:58.  T1 was 1.27 and went pretty much as planned.  I can see areas that will help me shave this down.  I rinsed my feet to get the sand off with water from a bottle. Others had a dip bucket and the tops guys just skipped this all together.  Below is the bike and the transition set up.  No it's not the tricked out Trek with zip wheels. .