I had volunteered at the last tri the parks, so I expected the shock of how far 600 meters looks in the lake. This course was laid out a little differently though, so I couldn't really see the finish from where we started - which was probably a good think. I was surprised to see how LITTLE you could see in the water. I didn't get in an open water swim before this race, which was bad, so this was an unwelcome surprise. I didn't realize how much of a difference this makes though!

I was in the third wave and I talked to a few people around me before the start. I started in the back left of the wave, so I wouldn't get trampled and walked forward a little before starting to swim. As soon as I started swimming - I freaked out. I couldn't breathe at all. For some reason, I kept trying to breathe UNDER water!! It was a very scary experience and after struggling with it for a while, I finally flipped over and started doing the backstroke (which I haven't done since middle school, as far as i can remember). I stopped every once in a while to turn around and make sure I was going in the right direction. I tried several times to get back into freestyle again, but I kept having the same problem. I had hoped to finish this leg in 15 minutes and the results 20:18 (including the hill up to T1) so it's not too bad, considering.

I definately need to get LOTS of practice in open water. I was so proud of the progress I had made in the pool (I started out not being able to do 50 yards and made it up to 600 straight), but it did me no good in the lake. I'm going to try to get in the lake about 1x per week from now to my next tri, so I can figure out what my issues with the lake are.

I was tired and frustrated at this point, so it wasn't a very fast transition. The container that I filled with water to rinse off my feet had leaked out, so it took a few extra seconds to get all the sand and dirt off before puttin on my socks and shoes.

Get a better container for rinsing off feet - one that doesn't leak. Practice drying off a little, quickly.

I was glad for the Y shaped course, since I was able to see people as they came from the other direction - and it helped me plan for the hills. I never realized how much slower a mountain bike was until I was pedalling fast down a hill, as a guy on a road bike coasted by me with no pedalling. What the heck! :)

Overall, I did better on this leg. Decent time, for me, I think. It was a little disheartening to come back to T2 with a huge group of people at mile 2 on the run.

Get a better bike. More time on the bike.

This was a pretty smooth transition, except that I forgot to try on my race belt before the race, so I had to fumble with it before getting it fit decently, I ended up tying it on a bit, instead of just clipping it.

Set-up race belt, so I just have to clip it on.

I stretched my quads for a second after grabbing water just outside of T2. I ran most of the way, except the first trail section and one other time. I'm comfortable as a runner (my previous sport), so this was my comfort zone. Not fast, but comfortable.

More speedwork to get my times down.

Light stretching and powerade. Walked around and talked to other competitors, watched my dad finish the race (his pedal fell off his Wal-mart bike at mile 4, but he finished!)


Swimming issues, not enough speedwork prior to the race. Lots of hours at work for 3 weeks during training altered my training plans, too.


I don't have other tris to compare this too, but I thought it was a well organized, supported race (based on running races). I'm not sure what everyone else expects from a race, but I thought it was a good event! :)