Halfmax National Championship - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I had initially thought this was a terrible swim. My navigation was way off...I could not see the buoys, for one, but figure much was my own meandering around the lake. I was slightly panicked at the start, so had to resort to slow, easy strokes while frantically searching for the first buoy, which took freakin' forever. After that, it was better, but still a lot of pop-ups to see where the heck I was. But, upon comparing times to other, much faster swimmers, I decided I wasn't too far off of where I should be. Made me think the course might have been long. Overall woman winner thought so...others say their Garmin had it pretty close. Doesn't matter, but I need to stop stressing about the swim, I think.

Just swim and get over it.

Long run across red clay to transition. Wetsuit peelers were awesome. They even had a guy in the water helping you pull your wetsuit off your shoulders. That was cool.

I spent some time pulling it all together and cleaning my feet a little more than normal, so time was pretty pedestrian. Maybe I'll start practicing transitions.

I started alright and was holding a nice pace while keeping my heart rate down. But around 2 hours in, I was tired. Not riding more than a couple of time in the month preceding (and no longer than 75 minutes) really affected me. Plus, my aero bars were ever-so-slightly off, I think. As I was "mourning" my race day and how it appeared to be going, I told myself that not every race is a good one...even when it's planned to be "the" race...and I reminded myself that, overall, in the last couple of years, I have had some very good races and significant improvement. Then, I cried. It was a little odd, but felt a bit cathartic, and I quit trying so hard and just pedaled easy to the end, getting ready for the run.

Ride my bike.

I put my bike on my running shoes, so had to wrest them free. I felt as if I was in and out a little faster than that, but again, I didn't really rush.

Practice so I can be smoother and faster.

It was hot and sunny, but I was so glad to be running. I felt great...smooth and in control. I was passing people constantly and almost caught up to a teammate who had a significant lead on me.

Nothing. If I can just get my swim and bike more consistent and faster, I think I can be a lot more competitive.

In the end, this was my 2nd fastest overall time at the HIM distance, and I qualified for Team USA for World's next year. I won't be going, but I just like saying that I quaified.