All summer long I've struggled with swimming. My goal was 12 minutes and to keep my trouble HR below 160. I barely missed the 12 minute mark, but I hit my target HR, so I'm not unhappy.

This start was perfect for me. It was really informal. Just lined up wherever you felt like. Volunteers held signs with estimated times, so you could line up where you felt you'd perform the best. They let 4 people start every 5 to 10 seconds. Went very quick. Best of all, this pool is so big that with 4 people, you didn't really run into too many problems of people swimming over you.

My biggest problem was navigation. I think I could have trimmed 2 or maybe even 3 minutes off my time if I hadn't veered way out of the first and last lanes. I also swam way past the first bouy before rounding.

Really practice my navigation this winter. I like this pool a lot and would buy a membership if Naperville wasn't a good 30 minute drive from my house.

The varied start times meant that I wasn't navigating transition with everyone in the same rack as me, which made it easier. I'm happy with this. When I first started triathlons, I couldn't do this transition in under 8 minutes. I'm now half this.

I really want to practice putting my shoes on standing up. I don't do this, and I think this is a way that I could save a lot of time.

No idea what happened here. I thought I was having a decent ride, but when I looked at my watch, I was a bit surprised. My bike computer was way off, as it told me I was doing between 16-17. That is still much lower than I should be, so I'm not sure what went wrong.

I had lots of mental distractions that caused me to lose focus.
1) I improperly tied down my aero drink bottle, so it made a really bad rattle noise that really destroyed my concentration
2) The numbers we were provided were twist tied onto the cross tube and were cheap. The road was littered with them. Mine tore and was flapping in the wind against my inner leg the whole time. I ripped it off and held it for the last 2 miles, knowing that I'd probably get pushback trying to take it out of transition without a number.
3) There were some rough spots on the road. I hit one pothole that was hiding and the gatorade from my aero bottle sprayed all over my handlebars, computer, and the aero arm rests. The stickiness really distracted me quite a bit.
4) My bike computer rolled over to 1000 miles while on the ride, taking away the 10,000th place right of the decimal. I can't even begin to describe how much this distracted me. I'm used to looking down and seeing this number constantly roll with the 100th space rolling at a more visible pace. I liken this experience to putting a new piece of gear on the bike - if it changes the biking experience into something unfamiliar, it probably isn't a good idea for a race day.

Try my hardest not to let mental distractions cause me to take my mind off the race. I figure I raced at a 20% slower pace than what I was prepared to do because I was not focused. I know that it isn't about the bike, but the person on it, but I had a faster pace on a heavy mountain bike on this course last year. I'm twice the cyclist I was, plus on a much more appropriate road bike. I should not have had results like this. I attribute it 100% to my inability to stay focused.

Be more alert of imperfections in the road. Tie down the aero bottle better! Don't put gatorade in it!

Quick, painless. My spot was right by the run out. Nice :)

I forgot my race belt. Oops. I even took it out of my running hat and threw it aside.

I was pushing for 30 minutes. Considering I've sat on my ass and drank a lot of beer in the past month, I should be happy with what I got.

I don't know. I'm not a fast person. I will never ever do a 5k in 25 minutes. I understand my weaknesses. Part of this sport is pushing yourself to do better, but I think that given my heart and ankle problems, I need to concentrate on what I can do rather than what I can't.

That being said, running within 2 weeks before a race probably wouldn't have hurt me :)

Drank a bottle of water, ate a browned ass banana, and walked around until my heart rate fell back below 120.


Not preparing, emotionally not being there until the event started.


I enjoyed this race and am glad I forced myself to go. I really wanted to finish this one in between 1:30-1:45, and I only missed by 43 seconds. If I had actually gotten off my rear and prepared, I'm sure I could have come in much better.

Things I liked:
- Marked areas in Transition
- Short swim course in a poor-swimmer friendly venue
- The start when you feel like it casuality (so much of my life is structured with schedules. When I do something for enjoyment, like this race, it makes it more fun for me when there is no pressure of a start time)

Things I didn't like:
- 30 minutes in line to get into transition? Why have 1006 volunteers body marking and only 2 handing out chips? Why not hand out chips after people come out of transition? Big bottle neck
- Lame goodie bag. A sample of "Butt Paste" WTF is that? And no, it is not for saddle sore. It is for diaper rash. There was also a bottle (ho hum, joins the stack of them), some vitamin C tabs, and an AARP pen. Wow. At least the T-Shirt was nice.
- Please, please, PLEASE race organizers! Please do not let people into transition until after everyone is done with the bike course. I hate this! Since I am slower and younger, I am usually in one of the last waves and one of the last ones off the bike course. Nothing is worse than having to navigate around someone who is packing up their shit to leave and is exhausted from completing their race. I know if you're the first ones done, it sucks to have to sit around and wait for the slow pokes like me. But come on, race organizers! Give me the same opportunity to finish a race without having to dodge people who aren't paying attention!

I was planning on doing Zion next week and the Fleet Feet Super Spint in 2 weeks, but given my poor physical condition and my bad attitude as of late, I'm going to call it a season and start preparing for a snowshoe marathon I'm competing in this winter. I can't wait for next summer. Hopefully my health problems will be better this winter so I can prepare in a more organized fashion.