I started this one closer to the middle of the pack because I'm feeling more confident about my swimming. As a result I got to swim in the middle of a frantic swarm nearly half way, got kicked in the head, got my goggles knocked off my face. I think I'll be starting back on the outside edge of the pack in the future. I don't think it slowed me down all that much but it was no fun.

No problem getting changed and onto bike.

A few problems on the bike. As I mentioned in my blog, I got this new Jetstream aerobar water bottle that didn't exactly fit my setup. The bottle in turn seemed to drag on one of my aerobars and it got fairly loose by the end of the bike leg. At the top of the hill my chain came off and I had to slow down quite a bit to get it back on.

Check my bike better beforehand. I thought everything was in good working order and rode with the new bottle last night, but it obviously wasn't enough time to work out all the kinks.

I've tried getting my feet out on the bike a few times and felt like I lost more time than I gained. This time I just ran to the rack in my bike shoes, kicked them off there and put on my running shoes. I guess we'll see what the times turn out to be.

Not my greatest run ever. I forgot to bring something to tie my hair back so it was blowing all over. Kept up with the crowd, passed a few people, mostly it was only men who passed me. Just didn't feel all that strong.

Hair control. Probably a better running warmup before the race.

Walked around, drank and ate, stretched, got a massage, stretched some more.


The week without training probably didn't help a whole lot, and I wasn't taking this race very seriously so I tried out some things I don't usually do. And then there were the bike issues.


I remember being freaked out last year by the amount of traffic on the course, especially inside the park where the roads are very narrow. It didn't bother me this year, maybe because I was ready for it. Besides the traffic it's a really well organized race and fun to get to race so close to home. I plan to be there again next year!

Now that I have the splits back I can say definitively that I was slower at absolutely EVERYTHING this year (oh, except my first transition, which was 20 seconds faster) in spite of training way harder. Yet I ranked higher in every event than last year. WHAT is up with that??!! My bike is still my strongest, my swim still my weakest, my run still annoyingly mediocre. Was the field weaker? Were the conditions tougher? It would really be good for morale to see some actual quantitative improvement.