I swam this segment about a minute faster than I expected, which was nice. Got kicked once by someone who passed me in the middle of the lane rather than tapping my foot and waiting until the end of the lane (which is what they instructed us to do). Felt a little panicky early on, mostly because I'd been kicked and just wasn't prepared for that in a pool race, or at least not for it the way it happened but eventually I settled back in.

Go last no matter how slow the person who wants to go last claims he is. Also, I should have used my inhaler before the race started. I think it would have helped with my breathing a bit.

Ack. This was slow, mostly because I don't walk well barefoot on asphalt. It took me longer than it should have to pick my way over to my bike, and then the bottom of my feet were covered in small gravel that I needed to remove so I could put a bandaid on the healing blister on the bottom of my big toe (from a race two weeks ago). That all just took much time. Other than that, everything went smoothly.

If I knew it would work, I'd leave flip flops near the pool so I could put them on to run to transition. Also, hopefully next time I don't have the blister issue!

The course was really hilly and I wasn't prepared for the amount of climbing we did. Also, I have a hybrid (or as one spectator cheered, "yay for another mom bike!") and it's not ideal for a tri for all the obvious reasons. I think it definitely helped that I'd done so many rides towing one or two kids in the trailer, because at least I was used to hauling heavy loads and that translated into more endurance uphill.

So, the good news was that I made it up the hills without getting off to walk like I saw others doing, but the not-as-good news is that it wasn't a very fast ride.

Also, a couple of miles into the bike leg, I realized I needed to use my inhaler and that would probably help ease my breathing. Sure enough, it did.

Obviously, use my inhaler before the race. Having a road bike would help too (as would winning the lottery or being gifted a road bike...). Also, I realized for the first time that so much of one's ranking depends on the bike portion, so I'd probably concentrate a little more on that by doing longer rides and a lot more hill climbing. I had wanted to do more and longer rides in training, but due to kids and time constraints and all, it didn't happen.

The transition area was on an incline, so my bike didn't quite want to stay put once it was in. Also, I should have run with my bike, but my legs were a bit fried from the last long uphill stretch back to transition. Finally, I'd worn my running shoes for the bike part ('cause I only have flat pedals) but one of my feet was going numb so I needed to stop and relace that shoe before going.

Run with the bike into transition.

The first mile was hard because my legs were still tired from the last long climb on the bike back to transition, and then we were headed sharply uphill again. Almost everyone was walking at that point, but I'd just done a hilly half-marathon a couple of weeks early and knew I could push through, albeit more slowly than usual. During a short downhill stretch I was able to speed up, lengthen my stride and my legs relaxed. After that I was able to tackle the hills pretty well, and then I sped up on all the downhills as usual. I probably could have pushed harder at the end but I wasn't sure what the last hill climb would look like before the finish line and I was feeling a little under-fueled too.

I might run with a hydration pack instead of just a race belt. I probably could have used the gel I'd brought with me, but I wasn't going to eat it without water. Otherwise, nothing because the run was by far my strongest leg.

Stretched a little, drank a lot of water and ate breakfast. Then stood in line for a massage.


My slow hybrid bike, time constraints that didn't allow for more riding, and genetics.


This was its first year. Also, this was my first tri so I'm not sure how this compares to other tris. It was very organized and laid-back which I appreciated. There could have been a few more volunteers on the bike course (though they were asking for more so it's not their fault) and the (teenage) volunteers manning the drink station on the run were too busy with their phones and not quick enough in actually giving out water. Also, it would have been great to have a water station right by transition for before the race. I really liked the pool and the fact that there was a nice bathroom and water fountains right there while we were waiting for our wave.