My swim sucked. And I mean sucked hard. I feel I'm a good swimmer. I'm pretty efficient and fast.... IN THE POOL.

I panicked. I freaked out. I've tested out my wetsuit and knew there was no way I was going to drown, but I've seen Titanic and for some reason Open water freaks me out. I get clausterphobic. You hear all those people talke about getting kicked and getting swam over and having issues with that. That doesn't bother me. Its the GREEN. I feel like I'm in a green envelope and going to be sufficated. And every time I took a breath of air and saw the light it didn't help.

So... I did backstroke for the first 500M, while deciding whether or not to continue. I love racing mind you. My brain just doesn't cope with the GREEN. Maybe I almost drown as a child. I don't know. Once my heart rate settled. I flipped back over to my stomach to do freestyle. I took it nice and easy at first not trying to pass anyone, just trying to stay calm. The next 500M I passed a few people, and the last 500M I brought it home. I was calmer, confident and brought it in. I took a breath every 3 stroke and sighted every six. I still raised my head too much which dropped my feet a bit, but I wouldn't necessarily change it not until I get more confident in open water.

I think there is something about the adrenaline flowing from the excitement of the race that mixes in with my fear of open water swimming and completely freaks me out. I've got to get a handle on it or I am never going to be competitive. My goal was 22-24 minutes in the water. I easily passed people when I calmed down. Maybe I can find a group in Dallas that does open water swims once a week. You live you learn.

There was a 400-600M run from the water to T1. I ran barefoot until I got to the grass. Where I then put on my flipflops because of the trillions of burrs in the grass. Flipflops are not meant to run in and get slick when wet so lets just say I could walk faster in my running shoes.

Have different shoes to run from lake to the transition area. I'd say it was average beyond that. Didn't have too many problems with the wetsuit, or getting my gear on. The run to transition took a lot of time.

I'm built for long gradual hills. Its the short steep ones that kill me. I don't know if its lack of training of them in the flatlands of Dallas or my physiology. Luckily there were only two. And after playing with my gears on the first loop the second loop was better. I am extremely happy about my time on the bike it was three minutes faster than my goal range. YEAH!!!

Gatorade/water mix in aero bar water bottle, and 1 PB gel straw-ban w/caffeine. Could have used a little more water. Thank God fore the aero bottle. With the hills it would have been a hard reach for my short arms.

Work on my hills.

Grabbed a last drink of water from my bike put on my shoes and off I went. Took one Power Bar gel w/ me.

Nothing.

I drank enough, but not enough electrolytes. Luckily it was only 6.2 miles. Drank 1/2 the cup poured the rest over my neck. The course was hilly. The between miles 2 and 3 and again at 5-6 is an insane hill that seemed to last forever. I broke my no walking rule, and gave myself 20 steps of walking before I got going again. People on the course were awesome cheering each other on. Again I was VERY HAPPY with my run. I no longer think about going fast when I'm running. I think about keeping my legs moving, and for some reason it makes me go fast. I think its because of my change in pace from overstriding to shorter faster steps. And when I think keep moving what I'm really telling my body is it doesn't matter how fast you go as long is you cadence is 90+. Because sometimes my body revolts when I tell it to go faster and just laughs at me. So I am kind of tricking myself. May be one day I'll be in the 7:00 range, but for now I feel fast.

And I have to give credit to my cheering squad. They did awesome Christie and Scott had finished the Olympic and came to cheer me on. My brother Andy my Dad Walker and Abbie were there also. Its probably why my 9:13 first mile went down to make my average sub 9:00. I love having good friends. Plus they were right at the top of that dreadful hill where I needed motivation the most.

Mix gatorade with water. Its just by that point the gatorade seemed so thick. Ill get over it though.

Uuugh does eating count.


My panic in the swim.


This was the innagural race so I don't want to rate it poorly, but my wave was 1.5 hours late due to a lack of life guards, so only so many people could be in the water at one time. The 2 sprint waves had to be out of the water before the Olympic could get in. The bike course was well marked and had plenty of volunteers and the state troopers did a fabulous job with the traffic. The run course was well marked and had water/gatorade at each station. The volunteers were awesome. But at mile two they ran out of water and only had gatorade. Probably a good thing because I needed it and wouldn't have taken it, so I thought that was petty. There was no aid station on the bike, but I had plenty on my bike. I think this race has some serious potential. I went to my first Tri-specific bike store and loved the experience to get my registration packet. There was a double endless pool in the store that you could try your wetsuit on in before you bought it. Is that cool or what. They are going to add a half iron distance to this venue in the next couple of years and that should be a lot of fun. I think they did an awesome job with what they had and kept a really good attitude about it through out.