The first 200 yards or so I did front crawl and the rest was spent alternating between back stroke and breast stroke. I finished in 20 min which is the time i expected.

Next year I have to be able to swim a mile or mile and a half straight. I should be able to front crawl the entire half mile.

My arms were exhausted after the swim but I was so happy to be on time and out of the water. I found my friend Ken sitting next to his bike and found out he cramped up on the swim and only did one lap. I put my socks and sneakers on even though my feet were all muddy, drank some water, had a gel packet and rode off.

Have a bucket of water next to your shoes to wash your feet off in.

This was my first time on a mtb course and I had no idea the trails would be so narrow and the turns would be so sharp. I felt like I was going in slow motion as the rest of the field passed me on my brothers old k-mart special mtb with the front time low on air. I felt like this part of the race would never end and I became pretty frustrated bordering on quitting. I took a little break and told myself just to take it easy and be happy with finishing. I built up my speed and my 2nd lap was much faster than the first, I even passed a few people at the end.

Get a faster, custom fit bike and ride lots and lots of trails.

Caught my breath a little, my arms and legs were jello. Ditched the helmet and had some water and a gel packet.

nothing

The first mile I could not run and some of the hills were so steep I had trouble walking up them. My legs were burning. I had never been so exhausted in my life. By about the 1.5 mile mark I started to get my legs back after slowly jogging and I worked up a pretty good pace. Then with about a mile left they throw in a 20 yard water run which weighs my feet down another 5 lbs. I passed 4 or 5 people by the end.

Do lots and lots of bricks and make sure I can do at least 6 or 7 miles at once.

whatever


I think if I had a better bike I could have done much better. At least thats the story I'm telling myself for next year.


Awesome Race. I plan to break 2 hours next year.