First ever pool swim. While time wasn't great - about what I expected - there was absolutely no swim leg anxiety. I'd been concerned that a pool swim might be a massive free for all but it didn't turn out that way at all. Watching the first couple hundred swimmers from the bleachers, it was actually quite boring, like watching a bunch of people swim laps. Because that's EXACTLY what it was. Instead of the normal open-water swim induced anxieties and fears adding to the challenges to be overcome, this had none of that. It was exactly like a swim day warm-up. While the "tri snob" in me pooh-poohs this event as not being a "real" tri, I can't deny how an easy and relaxed swim made the rest of the event feel easier.

Not much; swam the whole way through, breathing to both sides, breathing rate remained totally normal.

I didn't work on even trying to be fast or efficient in transitions. This was easy enough but not fast. Did take a little time to put on a bike fleece to cover the arms. Saw some people struggling to put on leggings and/or exercise pants to block the cold. Entertaining!

Will work on these later in season.

Decent bike leg, though slower than anticipated, probably due to wind and unexpected hills. But I made a concerted effort to back off whenever I felt any sting or pain rising in the legs.

Probably push a little harder going forward. But with no formally structured bike training prior to this (just generally easy riding a couple of times per week), I was OK with this.

Much longer than normal here because I 1) put on socks and 2) had to tie my shoes. The former was made difficult because my feet were wet, the latter because my fingers seemed to have lost all dexterity in the cold. As I was pulling on my socks, I watched a woman at my rack trying to tie her shoes and not having much success, almost as if she didn't know how. She eventually looked up at me and said, "Tough to tie your shoes when you can't feel your fingers." I understood exactly what she meant moments later when I had trouble making and holding loops!

Bungee laces!! Since I'd not done any sockless training in months, I didn't want to try it today, so I ran in my normal training shoes, which had to be tied. Frankly, I also didn't want to wreck those shoes with wet feet and no socks.

Considering overall lack of any structured training, quite pleased with this run, as I managed to run without any walking outside of the drink stations and I never felt particularly winded. Feet felt like blocks of ice but I soldiered on without much overall discomfort.

Not too much. Hopeful that focused training and lost weight will allow much improved runs later this season.

Drank a bottle of water and packed up. Cool thing here is I was actually able to take a shower in the pool's locker room and get really freshened up!


Lack of any structured training since I just decided to do the race a couple of weeks ago. Still feel pretty good about results.


Was not sure about a pool-based tri but I was pleasantly surprised and had a great time. Will definitely do it again. Should note that the reason the race wasn't on time was because it was still dark outside at the published start time of 7:30 since the clocks sprung forward the previous night for daylight savings time.