I felt I was swimming hard and kept a steady pace, but the time was slow. I don't know if I was sluggish from the cold meds, or it was just the current or course was long. No chance to draft. The elite wave was small, 18 guys and 8 women, and no one seemed to be doing my pace. On the second lap I felt like I wasted a lot of time swimming around the back of the next wave, who had started10 minutes after the elite. Many were doing breaststroke and swimming very close to the course rope, so I had no choice but to swing wide to avoid them.

Go out faster so I could draft off someone. One of the women I usually beat or finish close to in sprints was 50 seconds ahead of me, so I suspect she caught a good draft and I didn't. With the conditions today, drafting would have helped a lot, especially for someone my size!

OK, about average for the top women. Could have been a bit faster but I felt a bit dizzy as usually, and my arms had cramped so a bit shaky.

Start running with race belt, etc. I think I stood to it put it on.

Um....Can I say running while stoned? I never really felt good--legs tight, hamstring a bit sore. Probably due to not really running all week. Breathing felt great, though, much better than past month in Vietnam (have really been struggling with asthma related to allergies and field burning). I had used my inhaler in the AM before heading to the race so maybe this helped. I didn't feel like I was going fast, actually felt like just lying down and going to sleep much of the way, plus my stomach hurt, but that was actually my over 40 PB. Every year, I run it here, sick or not. Really felt like I was running on autopilot.The woman who won passed me at about 3K and realized I had no hope, but no one else ever came along and the wheels never really fell off. Suspected I'd have been about a minute faster if I hadn't been sick. With about 2K to go I felt a bit better and tried to pick up the pace, Never had the presence of mind to check my splits so no idea what I was actually doing. Running solo much of the time, occasionally with a guy or a bike escort (I led from about 1 to 3 km). Kind of mellow race, more like a hard solo tempo run.

Not get sick the week before a race. Not race when stoned. I probably could have pushed the pace a bit harder earlier in the race, had I had someone to pace off of or chase, and had the presence of mind to do so.

Walked around, got stuff out of transition. Shopping--bought myself a proper transition bag at expo as present to self. Went back in ocean for about 15 minutes of leisurely swimming. Just felt like swimming. Did an IM in the ocean, just for the heck of it, watched some kids' races while paddling around. Then walked most of way back to hotel (about 2.5 miles) until I got to a place where I could catch a bus as getting extremely hot.


Being sick the week before. My sinuses drip and it keeps me up at night and the throat irritation can trigger asthma attacks, so I have no choice but to take decongestants. Had this issue since childhood. Every med I've tried upsets my stomach and makes me groggy. I took the kids' dose and still I think it affected my race a bit.

Also not drafting on the swim. Usually with elite there are guys I can draft. Maybe the guys in a swim/run race are stronger swimmers than in a tri, or I didn't start aggressively enough. I was by myself much of the time, until I hit the back of the next wave in the second lap. I was 13/26 in the elite wave (second for women) so I must have just gotten into a gap.


Very well-organized, in particular the two-lap swim course and later start seems to have solved the difficulties with the swim at last year's biathlon. Miss the old biathlon though--they had generous prize money' and vouchers even for masters. All I won for my troubles today was a pair of bike glasses (though I could use them).

Note: I don't know where else to put this, but the "ranks" here are just for the elite wave, OA means men plus women, AG means women's elite. There were actually a lot more than 18 women and 8 men, they just weren't in the "elite" wave. My time was faster than any of the AG women, including 40+ AG athletes, who did the standard course. As results were done separately, I can't do my AG and overall rank compared to those in the standard race for each leg.

Also, the format for this report is incorrect. There was already a listing for the race when I enter it several hours later (I guess one of the Singapore members) and it shows the race as run/swim/run. It's not, just swim-run, like an Oly with no bike leg.