I had a great experience in San Juan and will definitely go back to finish the race I started this year. Wearing my TRI 4 HIM gear, I felt really comfortable in the swim and  swam 28 mins which is only a few seconds slower than my first race last season. The main difference is that last June I was wearing a wetsuit and this March I was wearing my new Xterra speed suit (as it was a non wetsuit race). I was not in the main pack, as usual, but it was my faster non wetsuit swim ever! Getting onto the bike I had a few guys to ride with, as I was feeling good at a comfortable HR below threshold. Anytime i tried to break away from the group they eventually wheeled me back in, so i decided that pushing a few extra watts was not going to gain me any time, and would probably hurt my run. Then it happened.  I have been using a new nutritional product this season, and unfortunately I miss judged how much i needed to fuel me for the entire race.  Generation UCAN is a phenomenal new product, and i have seen some extremely positive results in my workouts, but I had not tested it at a race effort for as long as a half ironman triathlon. That being said, my miscalculation lead to a bonked and I lost 4-5 minutes in the last 10-12miles of the bike and was playing catch up on calories the rest of the race.  The run course was awesome, or so it was the next day when I walked it with a clearer mind and with my girlfriend Kate. I finished the race, but not in the best time .The whole course is truly a spectical of all the the IM races.  The swim in the lagoon, a bike route that takes you on a highway then past the ocean and through native forrest in Puerto Rico. The run starts and finishes in a park near a beach and winds its way by the ocean, past 500 year old forts and along the old city wall by the bay. 

Every event I learn something new or at least realize that i can probably improve in some facet of the the race. Quite honestly, i was really confident about the race and the race distance. Last season I used races as my long days and going into this event i had plenty of 4,000 yrd pool workouts, in addition to a 55 mile bike/15 mile run brick. Next time i will be more adapted to GenUCAN and plan to fuel properly to finish IM Galveston 70.3 with the strength and speed i lacked in San Juan.  All in all it was  great trip and a wonderful first race of the season.