Sooooo...first open water wetsuit swim. I felt pretty invincible. The swim always scares me, but I didn't feel it this morning. I practiced in the pool with the suit all week. I had no panic moments, or constriction issues. I got as adjusted as I could and bobbed down a bit to get that going under feeling over with.
I'm not a good swimmer, barely average. My goals for this swim were to be more confident holding a line and to sight better than my last open water sprint. I certainly did that...a little too well. I swam into one of the buoys. Swimming an inside "line"(I use the term loosely here) when you're not one of the out front swimmers is a little like learning to drive a manual transmission car while in a washing machine, lots of stopping and going and stuttering and swerving and churning and bubbles. But I did have my trusty wetsuit to take the brunt of the elbows and feet.
Anyway, as I tried to be more aggressive than last year, I found myself kicked and bumped much more often. I took this as a good sign that I was where I needed to be instead of way outside. The first turn I did have to come back to the buoy a bit, but the others I was "spot on". It was hard to keep my head down and arms/legs moving, especially in the first few minutes with so much bumping, but I think I did a decent job overall.
As I got to the exit, I reminded myself to relax and let them help me out. Last year's races left me with bruises from trying to scramble up. Getting to the steps in a larger group this time, I had to pause a second to get a hand. Then I realized the lady in front of me was hanging on to the railing with both hands and not getting a pull out. So I graciously put my hand on her backside and shoved her up the steps. She was quite thankful for the help, and I could finally get out.


Practice swimming more
Don't worry about bumping into people so much

Wetsuit strippers...new experience. Will know for next time 1) don't keep running when I feel someone grab my suit and 2) lie down immediately. I'm just glad the first didn't cause the second this first go around.
Considering how long of a run it is from steps to bike, getting feet dried and into socks and shoes, plus helmet/sunglasses, I'm not unhappy with this time.



Don't make strippers chase me

As other races have shown, bike is my strength. I was so happy to get to riding after the swim. Unfortunately, my start was delayed at the mount line by people having issues clipping in. I didn't squeeze by them because I didn't want to cause a tip-over.
Once I was on the course, I fell into my rhythm pretty quickly. There was a lady in a pink t-shirt that I caught up to and rode near for a couple of miles. She made me chuckle as she yelled and cheered for everyone going the other way. Two or three aero bar/helmet tri club women blew past me, but for the most part I just picked people off little by little.
When I got to the first bridge crossing, Jason was there to yell, "Go get 'em!" at me because there were two women right in front of me. One of the ladies I played leap frog with for most of the course. She had passed me and yelled "Nice shirt!" because we both were wearing SOAS. We had a decent ride going, but she was very cautious in the turns and I slowed down near her several times when I needed to carry speed. At one turn about a mile before the second bridge crossing, I got around her enough at a corner so I could take off down the hill. I stuck a Gu in my mouth to take when I got to the top of the hill about 5min before transition.
Across the bridge I saw Jason again and then took the last few corners into dismount. I unclipped easily and ran past several people going into transition.

Maybe a little more water. It was really warming up. I had a drink every 10min or so. I find it hard to regulate when I've just gotten out of the swim.

Ran in and racked bike. Helmet and glasses off. Shoe change. Number belt on. Visor on.

Grab a quick drink

It was so slow coming off the bike. My legs weren't happy to run. Grabbed a quick drink at first station. Kept chugging along. Got passed....a lot. Passed a few. Going along I saw that all the return runners were above me. This meant, of course, that the turn around went up a hill. Blech! I also found out that there were 3-4 hills on the way back. My knees were really feeling them. At the second station I poured some water down my neck and the third station had ice.
At the last few hundred yards I saw Jason again. He gave me a little Ra Ra! to get moving and I caught and passed two women in the chute. It was little consolation for the overall cruddy run, though.
I did find that the visor was a great addition to my gear. I won't wear only sunglasses again.

Bricks. Do them.
Hydrate more the day before. I tried, but throat was so unhappy.

Took the water and electrolyte drink from finish line. Then I walked around to find Jason. Since I did the Sprint instead of Super Sprint like last year, the finish area was pretty crowded by the time I got there. I cooled down in front of misting fan for a minute while we talked about what to do til I could get Silver out of transition. We decided to take my bag back to the truck and walk to Starbucks instead of waiting in line for mimosas. The massage area was full and had waiting list, so a nice walk for coffee sounded good to me. "Coffee" ended up being a venti Java Chip frap. 80+ degrees post race made hot coffee not so appealing.


Not feeling good with sore throat and less hydration. Need to get some bricks in to get my legs thinking about coming off bike. I just didn't :/


I think they've done a good job getting this race together and marketing to women. It sold out this year. Jason mentioned how interesting it was to watch all the women of different shapes and sizes go by not broken up by male racers. I think it's a good starter race and they have quite a few race options with the addition of the Oly this year.