Man oh man, I had no idea how insane these swim starts are! I guess it doesnt behoove you to lay back and be nice, the only way to get away from the thrashers is to swim over them? I still cant figure out how to improve this part, as I had to STOP SWIMMING cause a girl in front of me was doing the backstroke right away. Her kicking was causing all kinds of water flying in the air making it hard for a group of us to breathe.

Dont stand far right on beach, RUN into the water, swim as hard as I can to the first buoy to get away from the pack. Dont worry about everyone else so much.

Long transition area - run up the beach and then back down around to the bikes. My brain was so frazzled from the chaos of the swim I was worried I would forget something during transition. I stood there looking at my stuff and remembered "hey I am in a race, GO!" so I did.

practice transitions!

I loved the bike portion! I made up some time from my swim and was more surprised at how strong my legs felt. My used street bike was a champ and made such a difference allowing me to pass people going up hills. I think the bike ride was my favorite part of the whole triathlon. A friend gave me the advice of eating a gel pack 1/2 way through the bike, which I did and proceeded to get chocolate all over my leg and face. The part I managed to ingest worked wonders and gave me a major umph to get through the rest of the bike ride.

practice longer distances to acquire more strength and push myself more instead of worrying about conserving energy so much.

Oh yeah and wear something that has a pocket to hold the gel pack in instead of holding it in my hand!

What is this "riding with feet on top of shoes" thing? Must be for those who have clips. Overall I need to practice the descent into the transition area.

again, practicing my transitions at least twice before a race might actually help me! who knew!

Dont drink gatorade! cramps!

train longer and without the ipod, and try to work in a hill or two.

Long walk back to transition really helped. The shower blast at the finish line was just what I needed. ha ha.


Not smart-enough training, nerves and no real comprehension of how hard I could push myself at certain points. Now I know I can bike harder and run faster and not try to conserve too much.


What a great experience. Life changing actually. It was easier to give birth to my son honestly. It took a while to learn how to shut off the urge to quit and to keep pushing through it, but what a gift I have given myself in learning how great it feels to actually do so! woo hoo!