Headfirst Performance Half-Iron - Aquabike

I had a hard time getting settled during the first 1/4 of the swim, so bad in fact that after the first couple minutes I was questioning whether or not I should even be in there at all. After I got over the head games and decided that even a bad swim would be better than no swim I calmed myself and kept moving forward. The water was on the cold side and I couldn't get myself to keep my head in the water. After making the turn back on the first lap I was comfortable getting my head in the water and the rest of the swim was fairly easy. All in all I was pleased with my swim, but I need to get to the point where I can start out feeling good and not have to go through the crazy mental stuff in the beginning.

Nothing, but I do need much more open water swim experience before Steelhead.

This event was purely intended as a training day for me. I had no intentions on "racing". I didn't waste any time in the T1, but I was not in a hurry either.

This ride started with a long hill straight out of the transition which set the tone for the rest of the ride. I was dedicated to being smart about this ride. I kept a close eye on my heart rate and didn't attack any of the hills early on. At roughly 1/3 of way into the ride my computer was showing an average of 18.2 and I was very comfortable with my pace up to that point. I was expecting a roughly 3 hour ride. With an hour and half behind me I check my mileage and I had roughly 30 miles down and had increased my average speed to 18.6. I realized at that point that I could open things up a bit. I still kept my HR in check, but I was more aggresive with the hills and spent a lot more time in the big chain ring. This was my longest ride to date on my tri bike and the last 10-15 miles were killing my neck. When all was said and done I was very pleased with this ride, especially given the tough course.

More time training on my tri bike

The race did not start on time, but that was due to extremely heavy fog on the lake. The course was beautiful but fairly challenging. I stuck around to the overall winner of the triathlon finish. He commented that it was the toughest course he had ever race. He beat the 2nd place guy by over 20 minutes!