The first half went fairly well. Had problems sighting though. Halfway through I started having lots of trouble breathing and catching my breath.

More OWS practice in the wetsuit. I think the tightness of the wetsuit contributed to my breathing problems. Practice sighting. Try to be more comfortable swimming near others. Finish the swim with something left for the rest of the race.

300 yards uphill to transition after blowing up on the swim wasn't fun. I wasn't dizzy, but my muscles didn't want to do anything. Walked it and watched people run by. Once I got there, changing gear went really well. My shoes were not clipped in; not confident enough with them yet for that.

Practice more getting my feet in my shoes that are already clipped in.

The swim really killed me, but I tried to push on. The one big hill did me in. Halfway up, I had to stop, so I sat in the ditch feeling very ill and contemplated life for a while. Eventually I made the decision to keep trying and finish the race. So I took it really easy the rest of the way.

Have a better swim. Hill training.

It went pretty smoothly. Walked the bike in and jogged out. Socks and running shoes went on really well.

Run the bike in.

At this point, just wanting to finish, the run was more of a run/nature hike. I walked most of the uphills and jogged the downhills.

Have a better swim. More consistent run training and adding hills in training. Not choke on the water after pouring it on my head.

Stretching and water.


The swim absolutely killed me. I never really recovered from it.


This was my first triathlon. It was a small, local race that I decided to do for the experience before a bigger race later this summer. While my performance was not anywhere near what I had expected or am capable of, I'm really happy that I did at least finish. I even achieved my stated goal of not being DFL, just barely.