My focus for this leg was "find the bubbles" and I did. Tried drafting on a couple of different swimmers before finding one at the right pace. I stayed right on her feet and let her do all the work, until after the turn-around when she apparently tired & slowed down. I passed her & was on my own, but had a lot of strength left.
The rope & buoys were on my right so I just breathed to the right the whole time except when I was looking around for swimmers to follow. It made sighting easy, and the right's my stronger side.
The bottom of the lake at the entrance/exit is covered with grapefruit-sized rocks, very awkward to step on. When finishing I continued swimming until the water was knee deep, which avoided that problem.
My time was 42nd %ile of all women, a PR in that regard.

Get faster; Scott is going to help me with that.

When setting up, I recognized the bike racks as the ones I had knocked over in a different race last year because the horizontal bar is lower than my saddle; so I hung my bike from the back of the seat instead of the nose. This worked perfectly; and now that I think of it, saves one motion in unracking/racking the bike. I think I'll try it that way in my future races.
Remembered to put helmet on before stripping wetsuit legs.
Time was 5th among all women (!!) which is 94th %ile. I'm fast in T1.

Nothing. All good.

My focus word for this leg was "control," meaning to be mindlful of power and cadence. (And also control of the bike on the steep descent.)
Target power was 124-138 W (85-95%); target cadednce 85-95.
I doubt there were 200 continuous yards that weren't either uphill, downhill, or approaching one or the other. It was really a challenge keeping either power or cadence on target and I can't say I was successful, although when the going wasn't too extreme it gave me some numbers to try to go to, and generally kept me from pushing too hard.
I passed a lot of riders, all of them younger than me. I was imagining making them feel bad looking at my age written on my leg, and then sucking up their lost energy to add to my own. That's mean, I know.
The downhill wasn't as scary as my friends had made out; there was plenty of room at the bottom to brake before the turn. I hit my highest speed ever--46.7 mph--and learned that my helmet adjustment is direly out of whack. I had to keep clapping it down on my head.
The one thing I neglected to do before the race was scope out some roadmarks where I wanted to get my feet out of the shoes. It was hard to tell as I approached the end as there were a lot of volunteers & other people near the road. I didn't want to be caught short at the dismount line so I took them out way early. I must have ridden a half mile on top of the shoes, but I don't think it mattered any.
My time placed me in the 63rd percentile of all women.

Get help adjusing my helmet.
Identify the point on the route where I want to get my feet out of my shoes. I usually do this, but with all the monkeying around with my gizmos during my warm-up, I forgot.
I'm going to put a climbing cassette on my bike & see how that affects my hill climbing.
Just get stronger.

All good. I was 16th among all women, or 81st percentile.

Nothing.

I didn't feel too bad off the bike and I was just hell bent to finish in less than 30 minutes. I ran more by RPE than HR, with the understanding I was going to run my little heart out the last 3/4 mile (accelerating 1/4 mile earlier than in previous races.)
My focus word was "courage," only with the French pronunciation (rhymes with "garage.") That's what the little children in Burundi, where my daughter lives, used to yell at her when she ran hills; so it's kind of our buzzword. When I was running downhill and across the road other runners were struggling up the hill, I wanted to yell "courage!" to them, but I thought that would be a little too weird; so I just yelled it silently at myself instead. I had a whole raft of mental tricks and tried them all.
My time put me in the 56th percentile of all women, the first time I have ever been in the top half for the run.

Exactly nothing.

Walked quite a bit while I drank my Recoverite & ate half a Recovery bar. Then I wandered down to check my results & pick up lunch. I meant to stretch, but the awards were starting; so alas, I skipped it again. I should just do it while they're doing the Intermediate awards.


I'm looking forward to improving my swim skills and improving my ftp on the bike, as well as continuing to become a faster runner.


This is a really small race, only 72 Intermediate and 160 Sprint participants, plus relays & Aquabike. It has a small, local feeling. The scenery is beautiful.
There is one especially challenging long, steep hill, and all the way up, chalked on the pavement, are words of encouragement such as: "You're halfway there," "This is why your friends don't do Caz," and "Go, Go, Go" written about a hundred times. It's a very nice touch.
The sandwiches, salad, & fruit after the race were not fancy but good.
I enjoyed the race. I'd do it again.