I started out breathing bilaterally for about 100 yds and sighting a pretty straight line, but got a bit out of breath, so had to go to my breathe every right stroke and of course started drifting right, had to sight every 4th stroke, which was going okay, but then I saw a woman up ahead and my first thought was to swim in her draft, however, I was a bit bothered by the wake from her kick, so I got just to her left and swam about 1/2 body length behind her taking care not to bump her. She was sighting every 6-8 strokes, I was watching her! We were going so straight and I looked up maybe 5 times total which really reduced my effort! At one point rounding the last buoy, she started speeding up and I said...noooooooo, I can't lose her so I sped up too and got right back into position, it was amazing! Next thing I knew, my hand scraped the bottom and I stood up...and immediately almost fell back in my legs were very wobbly. Race photos confirm that. Both pics of me I am falling back into the water. I thanked her and ran up the grass to T1. It was great not to be the only bike in T1!

Nothing! This was the perfect strategy for me.

Came up to see quite a few bikes racked, and hurried to get the wetsuit off, socks went on easily, helmet and sunglasses and I was off. I'm not sure of the time, but it was better than most of my previous T1's. Skipped the sunscreen, but had put a bunch on before the swim, so hope it stayed.

Get to the race site earlier so I wasn't so far from the mount line?

I like this bike course! It changes enough that I never get bored and my feet and bum never get numb. It did feel like we rode out with the wind and biked back into the wind, though and I do think it is more uphill on the way back. Kept my cadence at 80 as much as possible and it felt pretty easy. Sipped at my cytomax every 10 minutes or so. Ate some clif shots with water every 20 minutes. Stomach was feeling good. Never got passed on the bike. Someone TRIED to pass me, but I passed her on a hill coming back and only saw her come into transition as I was heading out for the run. We wished each other well!

Nothing. Well on second thought...I kept my Garmin in my fuel belt box and it was pretty easy to check speed/distance/cadence, but it was sort of a pain to get around to get to my shot blocks.

Pretty good for me, I think less than one minute and mostly because my rack was way in the back. I did have a bit of a watch fiasco, because I had to take off my polar watch to get my Garmin on, and the band just stuck a bit, but overall, pretty quick. Couldn't sport that 2 watches on one wrist look!

Tie my shoelaces properly so I don't have to stop on the run to re-tie them. Figure out the watch thing.

I started out with an 8 min mile and realized that was a bit faster than I could sustain. My stomach felt fine, which I attribute to my good hydration on the bike. I decided against the gu at the beginning of the run, which I usually take, to see how that would be and took a gu with me. Took 2 sips of water at the 2 mile and 4 mile point and decided against the gu, since I was feeling strong. I passed a bunch of people and never got passed. Kept my shoulders down and my breathing even.

Nothing! I was very happy with the run, because in the past, I have had cramping issues after the bike. I did not go as hard as I think I could have because of the upcoming HIM.

Walked a bit to keep the blood flowing and stretched out my quads and calves. Had some pasta and salad.


Held back a little as this was more of a training day for me. Still BOP on the swim even though it was awesome for me...maybe swim lessons???


This is a great course and it's a lot of fun. The weather conditions were perfect! The only thing I wish TBF could do that everyone else seems to be able to do is to get race results up while we are there. They also don't use chips or timing mats, which I guess, keeps costs down, but then we have to wait a few days for results that don't usually include transition times. But, I would definitely do this race again. Splits are approximates based upon my watch time but seem pretty accurate with the Multi-sport function.