The water was really rough and I had not practiced in that at all. I went hard in the beginning to be one of the first to the first kayak. The kayaker had to go rescue someone though so there was some confusion on where to go. Lots of people needed rescued and DNF the swim. The water was icy and treacherous in my opinion, and I'm a pretty experienced swimmer.
My sighting was really bad. I was aiming for this triangular buoy, and realized after awhile that I was basically in the middle of the swim course, and had to go against the waves again to get back to the next buoy.

Sight better, or stick to someone in front of me. I kind of went out on my own and probably ended up swimming an extra 100 or so.

This was my first time using a wetsuit, and I didn't practice with it at all. Definitely got my feet stuck, so could've been a little faster. I was also kind of dead after that swim, so I walked with the bike for some before it was time to mount.

A little back story with the wetsuit. I went to pick my packet up Friday and found out the water temps had dropped 5 degrees since the day before. Two more degrees and it would be wetsuit required. I had to scramble to find someone with one, which I did and I'm forever grateful to her. It really was a huge advantage to have it in those conditions. I told my mom it'd make a great Christmas present :-) Then I will get to practice with it more!

I felt really good on the bike. One girl did pass me, but otherwise only a few men did. I was usually able to hang on to someone who passed me for a couple minutes before they got away from me.

Train more! I only went out once before the race. I need to practice in different conditions too. It was so wet and I was really scared on any turns. Luckily there weren't that many.

My feet were soaked and my toes were totally numb, so I took a little time to dry them off and change my socks.

Nothing, that extra time probably helped my run.

I did not feel good at all, but kept looking down at my watch and it was showing a really good pace. My legs were pretty dead though. Because it was an out and back, I could tell I was in 4th place, so I was trying to catch the girl in front of me but she was too far ahead. Spent a lot of time trying not to run into people going the other direction. There definitely wasn't adequate space for the runners being that it was an out and back.

Nothing. Even though I didn't feel great, I knew I was running pretty much as hard as I could at that time. I will definitely train a little more next time, and do some bricks to get used to that dead leg feeling.

I didn't do much, and felt it later for sure. I was focused on getting warm, as I was still soaked and it was chilly out.


Lack of training on the bike (and definitely could've trained on the swim better), and not sighting well on the swim.


Overall I felt great about this race. I gave myself two months to train and think I did a good job focusing on the run portion and the swim, although in the future I will definitely start a little earlier. Other than the small running area, I though the race was very well organized and everyone was very friendly and helpful. The ladies I met while warming up/waiting to start and after the finish were all very nice and I look forward to seeing them at future races.

I also want to note that the overall rank I put above includes the men. I got 4th overall for the women, but they didn't give rankings specific for men and women for the swim, bike and run.

This was my first triathlon in two years and I am re-hooked. Excited to have a full season in 2017!