I'm not sure why, but this swim was really hard. I think it was due to a combination of factors. I had never swam in a full sleeve suit (more than just my first get it on and get in the water) and I think my tapering had been tapering a bit much.
I had swam farther than the distance - in the pool - and had been doing it for a while.
However - I was stoked because I wasn't LAST out of the water!! There were probably at least 10 swimmers behind me!!

Figure out better training strategies.

The temperature was in the 50's - so I knew I'd want sleeves for the bike, but knew I'd want short sleeves for the run. I had the great idea of putting on a jacket. Which would've worked great - exactly this jacket was a double layered jacket and trying to put that on my wet body was quite difficult. I might cut out a minute to a minute and a half in T1 if it weren't for that.
Other than the jacket, I had everything laid out and got everything else on and off pretty quickly!

Not try to get on that jacket...

This was the 3rd time that I had ridden this course. The good news is that this was my fastest time doing this! But it was also probably the hardest.
I've spent way more time on my road bike than I probably ever have consistently - and am getting a lot more comfortable being on the "skinny tires". I've hit (over) 30 mph going down hill a few times!!! That's crazy for me!

More training. Work on strengthening the legs - not just getting time in the saddle...(although both are important.)
Lose more weight! The lower my weight - the less I have to pull up those hills!
Not drink quite as much all at once, but more often. I wouldn't drink and then my mouth would be so dry, then I would drink too much. I need to take enough to wet my mouth and that' it.
Overall I'd say it was in between average and below average - for me it was great improvement over 2 months ago!

This was a disaster. DT and I had made a bet. My goal was to be off the bike in less time than he took to finish. Well that didn't happen. And my step-daughter yells at me as I'm coming in from the bike "I think you lost the bet." I just lost it at that point. I showed improvement on the bike, but I was still slow. I felt like I had enough time on the bike and I didn't. I was so mad at her for saying that and so mad at myself for not doing enough before. Then I went to put my bike on the rack and I had been on the end - but there was no room. All the other bikes were racked and there was barely enough space for me to put my bike on. I found a spot...grrr..
I was also having stomache issues. My tri shorts were too tight - I knew this but didn't want to spend another $70-$80 to TRY to find a pair of shorts that fit me. Well on the bike there was constant pressure and I was belching a lot.

Train more! Lose weight! Train more!
Wear ear plugs for my step-daughters snarky comments while she is standing on the side lines - not even able to do any of the swimming, biking or running for longer than 5 minutes...
Make sure to have better fitting shorts - hence the lose weight...

DT was nice enough to join me. Of course I was crying and angry for the first quarter mile due to my step-daughters comment and my disappointment with my performance so far. AND on top of that, my too tight shorts were really bothering me. I felt like I was going to vomit the first 1/2 mile. DT finally suggested I roll the shorts down a bit - they are pretty high up - and so they aren't around my stomache. That actually ended up helping...
After that I was a lot more calm and a lot more ready to wog.

See comments of T2

I SERIOUSLY had to pee. I crossed the line, bent over and took of my chip. Grabbed the finishers line and headed straight to the porta potty - which was about 20 feet from the finish line. Ahhhh! I felt better!!


Overall I was very disappointed in myself. I guess I didn't really know what to expect, but I was "expecting" that I would be a bit faster. There were a few things that didn't help - mostly the shorts being too tight.
However sad I was about my performance - I compared this race to the one in June. Almost exactly 2 months before. (June 30th - Sept. 1st).
June 30th: 0.25 mi swim, 14 mi bike, 5K
Sept. 1st: 0.32 mi swim, 12.2 mi bike, 5K
So the swim was shorter in the first race but it had a longer bike. HOWEVER - my bike pace was almost 1.5 mph faster on a more difficult course. My swim was slower, but my run was a bit faster. Which was a bit surprising considering I wanted to puke the first 1/2 mile of yesterday's run.
I didn't win the bet. But Dave did awesome (again) He finished in 1:05:39, just 15 seconds slower than last year's race - but I'm wondering if the swim was in fact a bit longer than last year's...My time to off the bike was 1:14:50 So I will be doing the laundry the next 2 weeks.