My biggest mental preparation was the swim. Had mantras/coping strategies rehearsed many times. Water visibility was limited, but it was comfortable. A lot of collisions, but I was resolute to keep my line. Tried drafting a bit but did not find any good ones. Was very pleased with my performance. Tri-shorts only helped with breathing more easily. Stayed in only tri-shorts the whole race.

Nothing except perhaps to push the pace a little and go straighter at the first buoy rather than at an angle. With confidence will come some more aggressiveness.

Great running mount, which I had practiced. Had pan to wash sandy feet off. I reset bike computer beforehand but somehow got re-set during the race so I lost my data.

Pick an end spot so I can have more room for my stuff. Try Yankz! or some other system to shave some time off. Socks onto wet feet always a little delay.

Boy! I had the bike tuned up 2 days before race. Inflated tires to max PSI at set-up. After hill, looked down, and back tire looked a little low. Another rider confirmed this at my request. I decided to stick it out. At about the half way mark (guessing), I decided to take a pit stop to use my inflater to top off the tire. Felt like it was slowing me down. Stopped in the grass and inadvertently landed in a red ant pile. They were all over my ankles. Bit me up. Doused with water and swatted off. Gave some air to tire and continued. In the frenzy over the ants, dropped perfectly good spare tube in the grass. A little later, thinking I had a flat, I stopped again. Took back tire off but then it felt fine, so I just topped it off and kept going. UP to that point, I had been passing road bikes and staying around 18 - 19 MPH. Did get up to 30mph on the downhill! That was a thrill. Legs very tired from the bike. Extremely disappointed, but I did not quit. Just kept going. Great running dismount. If I had continued the way I was going, I would have placed 4th or 5th in my AG instead of 8th.

Get a road bike. Don't stop in the ant piles! I did get into aero tuck (so to speak) a few times and gained 1.5 mph.

Fueled about 2 miles out from T2. Toe clips with running shoes in them. Pedaled pulling up SOME but not as much as I had planned. Quick, fast flying dismount, which I practiced. Did a quick spine stretch. Not pelvis level like I practiced. drank a little water and then headed out.

Not much.

Hot, with some shady parts. Sidewalk. Seemed much longer than it was. Just went on forever. Legs tired. Some feeling a little winded. Briefly considered walking but then pushed that thought away. Tried to pick up the pace the 2nd half. Did a little bitt. Expected to feel fresher off the bike, given all my brick training. Had very little to give in terms of a kick at the end. Very few people to pass, but did catch up to and pass a couple in the last mile. No markers, and it was a straight road.

Faster cadence. Better mental focus. Better preparation re: landmarks at the mile markers. With stopwatch, would have let me know my pace. I'm sure I could have picked it up more if I had a focus like that.

Eat, drink, socialize.


Bike fiasco. I was definitely faster than my first triathlon. Speedometer was between high 17's and 19 mph. If I had ended average 18/18.5 MPH, I would have been much higher in the rankings.


They did not have the swim course set up when we got there. Claimed they could not set it up the night before because of currents. Swim start was delayed 30 minutes. Got very antsy to start. They let women start before men, which was atypical. The swim course was totally different in configuration and direction than advertised and than was explained to me by the staff in an email 2 days beforehand. There were no mile markers for the bike or run. There was no orientation to the swim/bike/run in/out (although that may have been covered at a pre-race information session, which I missed).