I probably started out a little too strong for the first 200m. Around 200 or 300m mark, a girl kept on hitting me on the left side. Finally, I stopped swimming, treaded water as she continued to lean right and then swam on and passed her on her left.

When exiting the water, my foot just happened to find a random spot in the lake were there was a dip in the sand. Plop! I fell right down as I was trying to take off the top half of the wetsuit. Oops.

Time was 30:59. Approx 4 min faster than last fall! :D

I hung back, like I usually do for the start of the swim. However, I was really passing people for the first 50m. I should probably start more towards the front line now, I guess.

Because of the aforementioned cold weather, I had originally planned to wear super thin socks in my bike shoes. However, upon stripping off the wetsuit, it didn't feel too particularly cold - probably r/t adrenaline or something. I don't feel like I had too much of an issue getting the wetsuit off - it was more that because it was my first time with a wetsuit I didn't have the transition to bike stuff down. In other words, I guess maybe I should have had my tri shorts on under the wetsuit? 'Cause it was a pistol to put those on! Also the compression sock were really hard to get on, too. Ended up going with just a t-shirt, which the drag on the bike was annoying, but the extra warmth was good.

Put my race belt on my bike or something! I didn't realize until I was down the row and was looking at athletes ahead of my that I forgot my race belt. I had the clothing layered in order of putting them on and the race belt was under a jacket that I thought I was going to wear. Had to double back to get it. :(

Did my best to actually go all out on the bike portion. The course loops twice and on the second loop I lost my water bottle! :( Thanks be to God that no one hit it as it was rolling down a hill. It ended up crossing over to the other side of the road and landing in the gravel. Not sure how much time I lost picking it up.

No matter how out of it/tired I am, I'm gunna make sure that water bottle is back in place before letting go!

Took my time with T2, which, in retrospect, I'm not too happy with. But, since it was the first tri of the season, I think I was being overly cautious. Changed into running shoes quickly and wasted a few extra seconds just to make sure that I had everything before leaving for the run.

Could have been waaay more fluid. Next time, just dump everything into my hat and sort it out as I'm running out of transition.

I really like the run course - except for the grass parts. Lol. Around mile 3, I passed a girl who was cheering me on like I was heading for the finish line (there was a sprint being held at the same time), but I told her I still had one lap to go - to which she responded "Me, too!". Since the loop was a sort-of lollipop shape, I was able to exchange more words of encouragement with her went I passed the turn around and saw her as I was heading back on the "stick part of the lollipop".

Started to die before I saw her around mile 3 actually. When I was heading around the same spot on the second loop, I saw a guy way ahead of me who was going at a pace that I felt I could pass (with one mile to go). Ended up catching up to him just past the sharp downhill. I kinda slowed my pace a little bit to entice him to finish strong with me. But, for the last 300 I really busted it out. The guy stayed with me and I just barely edged him out (by like a half a second or just a second) at the end).

Just plain work on running more. Nutrition was fine for the run and I'm happy that I had energy to finish strong at the end. Got tired around one point that probably messed up my average ppm, but overall I'm really happy with the run.

STRETCHED. Lol. Felt very good. Chatted with a fellow racer who was watching over someone's dog (very cute! I think it was a maltese??). Snacked on a bit of post-race food and waited around for my results to be posted.


First time with a wetsuit in T1.
Forgot my race belt in T1 and had to double back.
Lost my water bottle on the bike course.
Took my time in T2.


A check at the results showed that I was 4th in my AG ... out of 4 people. :( Apparently I was 2nd in my AG for the swim.... aaaand it went downhill from there. :P