The time for this includes running from the shore up to my bike. I'm glad I enjoy swimming, because all those 5:30 am master's sessions really paid off. It's hard to tell in all the chaos but I felt like I was well within the first 1/3 or 1/4 of the pack coming out of the swim. My boyfriend and his parents seemed to think I did really well on the swim.

I started towards the northern outside edge and that worked well, I didn't get ran over or have to swim over lots of people but I pulled out in a comfortable pace zone without too much trouble. I was excited and had to make an effort to calm down breathing, and take it nice and easy.

Towards the end I got close to the dive rescue boat, and every time I took a breath I felt like all I was getting was boat fumes, ugh! I ended up breaststroking a fair amount in the last half of the swim to get enough air.

Less breaststroke, more freestyle. This is something to practice in my open water swims, developing a steady freestyle pace that I can maintain for the majority of the time, with only short breaststroke breaks for sighting. Also I don't do enough long sets in the pool; even though this was probably the equivalent of only 400m or 500m in the pool what with the current, I rarely practiced over 200m.

The boat fumes thing, I think that's kind of me being a baby and getting this psychological thing where I feel like I'm not getting any oxygen. I was the same way sometimes in the pool when the bubble was up and the chlorine fumes were strong. Just need to deal.

There was no split timing for this race, and my plan of hitting the lap button on my watch at each transition broke down quickly, so this time is an estimate.

I was REALLY slow in this transition, which was made clear to me later. "There were a lot of people that came in after you on the swim that left way before you!" Thanks, honey. I dried off my feet and put on socks and running shoes, unlike others who just jumped right into cycling shoes, and I took the time to put on gloves because I was more comfortable with them on in the off-road section.

I was pretty dizzy and sat down to put on shoes, but I think generally I just didn't move fast enough.

I only did one swim to bike brick where I practiced this transition, and it wasn't set up like I set up for the race. So I would practice transitions more.

Get cycling shoes and clipless pedals (that would probably help on the bike too), skip the gloves and get better grips if necessary, don't bother drying off feet (I don't know about that one, seems uncomfortable), get a full length triathlon top and a race number belt instead of throwing on a bike jersey over a bra top.

Just need to find a balance between hustling and staying calm.

I like this course, it's a lot of fun with just enough off-road to make it interesting and challenging in a way that's very different from (I imagine) a road bike race, but not 12 straight miles of some insane Xterra style mountain biking.

I started out a little jittery and kept up an easy high cadence for the first few minutes until my heart rate slowed and I calmed down. Picked up the pace and managed fairly good speed on the way out to Chamna. I was fast enough that I didn't see any of the fastest people leaving the dirt road section, but slow enough that I didn't see anyone entering it as I was leaving, so I guess that makes me MOP.

I'd practiced the course several times so I was comfortable with it and enjoyed it. I was lucky that the person in front of me was going just about the right pace for me, because there's not much opportunity for passing through the single track.

I actually passed a few people going through the bark, although there was a sketchy moment when I was passing someone through a patch of loose bark and swerved, then someone comes up passing me on my left, so I'm jerking around a little trying to avoid folks on either side of me. I didn't knock anyone over and I yelled "sorry!" but I felt bad for being a swervy scary biker, sorry people!

I was so happy to see the smallish hill on the bark trail (ugh! riding through barks sucks!) because I knew that meant I was just about done and back to paved roads. Passed a few people and put the hammer down intermittently on the way back. Eased up for the final stretch and tried to loosen up legs for the run.


I feel very happy about my bike performance here. Base training and more speedwork could surely help, but I felt well-prepared, worked hard and enjoyed the course.

I do think I could have pushed harder. On the bike and throughout, it would help me to learn my limits and not be afraid to come closer to them.

Total guess on the time! I have no idea how long this really took, but all I did was rack the bike (amazed I found my same spot) and yank off the gloves and helmet, picking up my sunglasses when they fell off. I think I did okay.

More general hustle. Get better at racking the bike quickly, don't drop sunglasses.

I stopped and re-tied my shoes shortly after leaving the transition area, if I tie them tight enough for the run from the start, my toes go numb on the bike. So that is less than ideal but I was able to catch several of the people who passed me while I was stopped.

I was worried about the run, because I haven't been doing any long or fast runs lately. But I did pretty well and felt good. Sped up after the turnaround and kept reminding myself that what I was feeling was discomfort, not pain. At one point I looked down at my watch and laughed, because I had decided I would be stoked with a time of 1:40 and it was clear at that point that I was going to finish at or around 1:30.

Build a stronger base. I could be a lot faster. Work on pacing, I was saving too much for the end.

Use speed laces. I got some but only took them on a couple runs before the race and never got the tension quite right/comfortable, so I switched back to normal laces for the race.

Stand up straight for the camera at the end slouchy!!

Jogged a little, walked to restroom, stretched. Alternated drinking cytomax and water.


The fact that it was my first race, so I was still figuring out a lot of pacing and transition issues. The amount of training I did to prepare was perfectly adequate, but more training and more focus on speedwork would help me be faster.

I did also have more the mindset of having fun, which I think was fine for my first race, but having a more competitive mindset and being more focused on the race would help me be faster.

Overall: I had an absolute blast, did well relative to my present abilities, but still identified enough areas for improvement that I left the race itching to do another one and see if I can do even better. Sounds like the perfect first race to me!


This is a great inexpensive local race with a nice downstream swim, a fun bike course, and a nice flat run course. The race was well-organized, with a well marked course and plenty of volunteers, including Columbia Basin Dive Rescue out in the river for the swim which is nice to have. There was only one drink station, that you could hit twice on the run, but I think that was plenty.

Speaking as a first-timer, this is a great race for a beginner, and would also be good for someone who wanted to do a fun, low-key mountain bike tri for a change of pace.