First ever race swim in a wetsuit. Like last year, I positioned myself toward the outside of the starting line, away from the buoys. There were still more people than I was happy with around me, but as soon as the gun went off I took off like I'd been shot out of a cannon and, I'm told by observers, left everyone in the dust. That's what it felt like, too. I had a really fast start - I was kicking fast and felt like a motorboat in the water. I kept the kick up for the first 200 or so meters in order to consolidate my position as I moved inward toward the buoys (overshooting the first one and ending up on the wrong side before I corrected), then settled back a bit. I had to stop quite a few times to clear my goggles - misty, humid days are not conducive to clear lenses. I swam at the head of the wave with two other ladies ahead of me for a bit, but once we rounded the turn buoy for the dogleg, traffic increased and I lost them in my efforts to dodge around people. This is a crowded swim course and I felt the washing machine effect more than usual (perhaps because of the wetsuit?). I also was really annoyed at the wetsuit from the beginning. Now that I've recognized that it's too big on me, I can feel it constantly when I'm swimming. It feels like I'm back at swim practice doing a t-shirt relay, except this t-shirt is actually helping me float. I think the wetsuit has the same effect on my arms, dragging me back a bit - it might be more effort to muscle it through the water, even though I'm gaining a bit of speed. The rest of the swim went well enough. I think I navigated better than last year. i did zig-zag a bit, but that was largely to dodge people.I was able to stay closer to the buoys than last year. I did start getting annoyed at the wetsuit on the way back - I think what I was feeling is what causes other people to panic and feel unable to breathe in them. Whether because my wetsuit is too loose or because I don't really panic in the water, I didn't have trouble working through it. When I turned for shore, I may have drifted a little wide (and also started banging into slow people from three waves in front of me), but I was able to correct and even pick up the pace a bit. i thought getting up out of the water in the wetsuit was a little shaky - like I had to stop and regain my balance - but Jeff's video of the swim finish makes it look much smoother than I remember.

I think I did a damn good job, considering this is only the second time I've swum in a wetsuit. I was willing to gamble on this race because Maine is my real goal this season. It worked out just fine. I'm not happy wearing it, but I can do it if I have to.

T1 is really long. I was up out of the water and across the mat easily, but then I had to jog all the way to my bike. I didn't want to strip my suit off right away because I already had my goggles in my hand (I meant to just take them off my eyes - I thought about this in advance - but instinct kicked in and I ripped them off) and didn't want to have to hold my watch, too, while undoing it. I was able to unzip myself a bit as I entered transition (and I walked from there), but I waited until I got to my bike to finish. I did get the suit stuck on my heels a bit - getting it off wasn't graceful. My transition wasn't very organized - my stuff was much more jumbled than usual because I was trying to protect it from the rain. I had hemmed and hawed earlier about whether to leave my sunglasses on my helmet, as usual, or keep them protected. I opted for protected, which was good because it started misting just before race start and rained lightly on and off after that. Most of my stuff was underneath a plastic bag, which I was thankful for. So while I was able to take care of things fairly easily, it could have been faster. I ran my bike out of the transition area, but stopped and walked it a bit on the trail over to the bike start (it's such a long transition!) before jogging again.

I need more practice with the wetsuit, obviously. Other than that, I did fine given the conditions.

This was a tough bike. It was misting when I got out of transition. I was able to mount and get up to speed quickly - more quickly than usual - and felt good at the start. I waited until I got out of the road and ate my Clif bar in the first few minutes. The roads were wet, so I tried to take turns very cautiously, but I was still able to ride fast in between. Much of the course felt fast, but there were some places (South Post Rd, Old Trenton Rd) where we were riding into headwinds. It also transitioned from mist to legit rain while I was on the first loop. There was less bike traffic out there while I was on the first loop so navigating wasn't too difficult. I was able to keep a decent pace, though I wanted to go faster and kept trying to push myself past what was comfortable. When I started the second loop, the sun began to peek out, though it went back and forth. There was no more rain at least. The second loop was much more crowded and I thought at one point I was getting hit with a drafting penalty (the official was hanging out right by me) when I was stuck in a position where it was hard to pass because the road was narrow going into and out of a corner. I was able to push all the way up to the finish. I wasn't able to match last year's time, which can be partly blamed on the conditions. I didn't feel like the rain slowed me down much (annoying as it was), but the wind certainly did. My splits show it.

I think I did what I could do today. It's still my second or third best bike pace ever. Even though I was hoping for better, this was a good leg, especially given the conditions.

T2 was a bit slow because, as I said with T1, I wasn't very organized. When I ran in (through plenty of mud - my bike and shoes are gross right now), I was super-relieved to find my running shoes still under the plastic bag. Because of the rain, I'd had pools of water in my bike shoes through much of the course, and I wasn't looking forward to equally soggy running shoes. Fortunately I dodged that bullet. Because all of my stuff was secured for dryness rather than arrayed for speed, this took longer than usual, but I did remember everything I needed. I took an extra swig of water from my bike bottle and remembered both my run bottle and my shot bloks (in my flipbelt) before I headed out.

Again, conditions dictated some of the inefficiencies here. I was at least satisfied that I didn't make any major mistakes like last year.

The sun came out a bit for the run. It was never really hot, but it was warm and humid and mostly overcast. The big issue was dehydration again. I was able to get out of transition and start running pretty well. I didn't want to run right at the start, but then the first mile passed by quickly (10:32). After that, I hit a bit of a wall. I saw the 2-mile banner on the other side of the path and checked on my progress . . . 1.3 miles. I started walking right then. I felt demoralized because it felt like I'd come much further than that. I was able to pick it back up and start running again, but that marked the beginning of me falling apart. By the time I'd reached two miles, I was also getting dehydration chills and goosebumps, so I was really concerned about my race. I'd had some of my sports drink and a few shot bloks and when I got to the second aid station, I took some plain water to mix it up. I think this helped - I'd had too many electrolytes and it was making me a little sick. When I got back to the path around transition, I was able to pick it up a bit as I looked for Jeff. He caught up to me right around 3 miles and I told him I didn't feel well (though I kept running as I did so). Afterward he said that he didn't think I looked very good. I started walking again right around the halfway mark because I was starting to feel just a little nauseated from forcing down fluids.From that point on, I was run-walking (not doing set intervals, but just whatever I could handle). I took a cup of water at every other aid station and kept drinking my sports drink and eating shot bloks in between. Whenever I had too much at once (usually the water stations, I felt nauseated and had to walk again. Around mile 5, I actually started feeling a bit better and was able to run more consistently. Once I got into the finisher's chute and saw the club tent, I know I perked up (Jeff later said I looked better at that point). Since I knew my time wasn't great, I made a point to enjoy the finisher's chute and take a little leap over the finish line so at least I'd have a good picture.

Run better. I think it was nutrition.I did not feel taxed cardio-wise on the run - something else was dragging me down. Having Jeff tell me that he thought I didn't look good at mile 3 was helpful - it shows that it wasn't just in my head. I didn't psyche myself out, but was really going through something. I just need to figure out how to stop this wretched cycle.

Walked around and hung out at the tent.


Something about my nutrition is still a problem. During the bike I had one bottle of sports drink and half a bottle of water, plus a Clif bar. During the run, I had a bottle of sports drink and a sleeve of shot bloks plus cups of water at at least three stations. I don't understand why that isn't enough. It wasn't nearly as bad as last year - I didn't have to pee after the race until I got home, but then my pee was just medium yellow, not dark or brownish - but it still stopped me this time from performing well. Talking to a few people afterwards and looking at my race report (and noticing how I start feeling better after eating salty pretzels), salt may be the issue. I'm going to order some BASE salts and see what that does for me in the next few weeks.


CGI runs excellent races. The atmosphere was so much fun from beginning to end. They are exceptionally well-organized and keep everything fun and lively. The course was great, too. I usually shy away from events that cost three figures, but this one was totally worth it. It will make it onto my summer calendar every year from now on.