Only the second time I had ever done an open water swim. Nervous because of numerous people and it was 1/4 mile straight out...ie, couldn't touch the bottom. My only other open water swim was done parallel to the shore where I could always touch if need be. This was an eye opening experience. I never got into any kind of rhythm...mainly just trying not to drown. Much different than pool swimming

Train more in open water.

Much of what I expected. Put socks and bike shoes on ... a little slow. My Sidi shoes with the ratchet system are just not very good for tris.

Work on organization and practice transistions.

Felt good on the bike..even after recovering from my horrendous "swim."

Not much...wish I could've passed some people in a timely manner, but conditions didn't allow it.

Not much to change here. Not sure I could do anything much faster

Didn't think my time was this bad... Not sure of reasons for this. Have to look at other peoples time and compare. Felt like course might have been longer than 5k, or I could've just been tired. Felt good though.

Do more bricks and run more.

Have to practice open water swimming more and need to work on doing some bike/run bricks. Also, need to just get in better swimming/running shape. Focus on fundamentals over "winter" (it's Florida...we really don't have winter), but won't be able to practice open water swimming until next spring.


The swim was well marked, but didn't see amny lifeguards. The bike course was terrible -- it was dangerous with the small bike lanes, debris (trash, cones, storm drains, etc.) and traffic. Didn't care for the run course much either. Too many changes in surface.