This was a very, very civilized way to swim the swim leg. In my last two mini-tris, I was fighting for breath during my first length. I think warming up helped with the nerves.

Practice more getting out of the pool. That always slows me down.

This was a fairly easy T1 because I didn't have a bunch of layers to put on. I swam in tri shorts and a top so I just had to put my socks and shoes on as opposed to shirt, jacket, shorts, and long pants.

Try to put my gloves on a little faster.

The bike is my weakest leg. I went out hard because I wanted to catch my SIL (and training partner). I never caught her but I was close a few times. I let my heart rate get too high trying to keep up with her.

Slow down a little. It was a flat course so I never had any time to just coast down a hill and catch my breath.

Easy T2 since I biked with my tennis shoes.

Nothing.

This is where I crashed and burned. The run is usually no problem for me since I was a runner long before trying my hand at tris. Because my heart rate was so high from the bike, I just couldn't run continuously. I had to break into a walk many, many times during this short run. Thank goodness I had my water bottle with me; I had to use it to douse my head at about the two mile mark.

Start with a little more energy.

Walked around, caught my breath, visited with family.


The freakin' bike.


After bonking on the run, why did I rate this a good race? I placed second in my age group! Can you believe it?! Doesn't really say much for the depth of the field. I'll take it though. Also, I passed SIL on the run (she ended up walking distance--guess she went out a little too hard on the bike as well).