Griskus Olympic: 2010 NE Championship

This was my first real race of the season. I was excited to finally get things going. I knew that I was a bit rusty as I usually start my racing season in late March. My training had been going pretty well going into the race. My swim and run training were the best ever. However, my bike was off quite a bit. I knew that the majority of this lower fitness was due to the lack of racing. So I was eager to get out and get things started.
I was slotted in the 2nd wave of the day. I knew there would be a few really fast younger guys that I would need to chase all day, ouch. My swim wave went off and I got right out to the front of my wave. At least I thought I did. About 200 yards into the swim, I looked over to the right and saw one body pulling away about 20 meters over. I tried to bridge across to him, but I just could not close the gap. I ended up swimming the remainder of the course by myself. I felt fine and the swim was pretty uneventful.
I was quickly through T1 and out onto the bike. I knew I had some ground to make up on the younger, faster swimmers. I tried to put in a solid effort for the first 10 miles. I felt pretty good and I got the legs rolling. Once we hit the hills, my lack of racing and lower power became very evident. I was trying to mash a bigger gear, big mistake. I spent the rest of the ride trying to find a rythm.
I was really looking forward to getting out onto the run. As I rolled into T2, I heard that the lead person had a little over 3 minutes on me. This meant that the net difference was less then a minute as the first wave had gone off 3 minutes before my wave. I found out that I had managed to catch the other racers. However, with a wave start, you never know where you stand until you cross the finish line. So, you just go as hard as you can.
I got onto the run course and found my stride right away. I had two people on my shoulder, which helped to push the pace up a bit. I was able to gain a bit of space just before the 1 mile marker. Then I just tried to focus on the runner in front of me. I kept a good cadence throughout the run and I was the 2nd body across the finish line and first overall.