A pool swim. I had to work the day before, so a friend picked up my race package, at which point we discovered that I had forgotten to send in my money after registering (oops), so she re-registered me and I ended up in the slowest swim heat because she didn't know my time (better than being in the fastest). I felt good in the water and could have gone significantly faster, but the person ahead of me refused to let me pass. I kept tapping her foot, she kept pushing off the wall the second she touched. My hands were six inches away from her feet the whole race. I think I used up more energy getting mad and frustrated than I did swimming.

Be more aggressive getting by the person in front of me. I couldn't slip past her at the wall because there were people behind me, too, but if it happens again I will hit her feet every time I stroke until she gets the message.

I wasn't rushing through the transition. It was my first triathlon; I was hurrying but not working to shave those seconds off. I think I needed the extra thirty seconds to gather myself for the bike, and that's fine with me this time. Grabbed half a Clif bar and ate it on the bike.

Nothing.

I thought the bike would be a weakness for me, but I felt quite good. Next time I think I'll be comfortable pushing a little harder, but I maintained an even, fairly strong pace throughout the bike and I'm happy with my performance there.

Push a little harder.

I didn't have to do anything but rack my bike and take off my jacket in T2. The only thing that might've slowed me down was fast-walking to the gate rather than running, but I wasn't sure (still am not sure) if running was allowed in T2, because it wasn't in T1. I did not want to be DQ'd.

My feet felt numb coming off the bike, and I finally decided to loosen my shoes. The feeling came back about halfway through. Up until then I was going steady, but not particularly strong, although no one passed me. The way back was a little better. The uphill wasn't as bad as I had expected, and at Kilometre 6 I started feeling very strong and wished that the run were a bit longer.

Check shoelaces coming off the bike! I'm wondering if my feet swelled a little bit on the ride. And, push a little harder. I'm fine on a straight run but I'm still working on finding my pace limit for bike/run bricks.

I knew I forgot something . . .


Lack of experience, mainly. Also lack of aggressiveness in swim. However, I think it was better to go a little conservative than a little too hard on my first triathlon. I'll leave the burn-and-die effort for my second.


It was very well organized and timely. The volunteers were awesome, very supportive, and the course was nice. The route was well marked and patrolled.