They mentioned in Saturday's course review that last year, some of the buoys somehow got moved out of position, so the course was quite a bit shorter than it was supposed to be. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened this time around.. cause if that swim time for me was for a full 1/2 mile, I'm amazed. In the pool I do appx. 1:55 per 100 yards. I won't complain, though! The start was bad. First of all, they were still doing the "warmup" of the wave when all of a sudden I heard people behind me saying "...3..2..1...WOO!" So our wave didn't go for like 10 seconds while the angels realized they missed our start :) Second, I ended up in the middle of the wave when I should have been more towards the front.. I got caught behind a mass of slower folks that I couldn't pass or get around, and couldn't get into a rhythm till after I had rounded the first buoy. Third, on the 2nd leg, I swallowed some water and had to slow down quite a bit to cough/puke it out. The 2nd half of the swim I had a good rhythm, good breathing, good sighting, and felt like I made up for some lost time.

Start at the front and more to the side of the swim wave.

Seemed like a long run from the water to transition, but as this was my first tri, I don't know what a "normal" run would be. I swam in tri shorts and a bra top, and put a shirt on for the bike (I used a Camelbak instead of water bottles and didn't want the chafing! Hey, I had to go with what I was comfortable with.) Unfortunately, the shirt got majorly stuck going over my head/shoulders and it took me a good 30 seconds to figure out what was what (yes, I put it on BEFORE I put on my helmet...:) And I certainly wasn't in the mood to run my bike out.

I bought a tri suit yesterday at the expo. I'll wear that next time. Plus, I need to run more.

I was worried about the WORST HILL EVER, but since I had ridden the course a couple weeks ago and made it up without stopping, I felt mostly confident. A LOT of people walked up the hill, so I was thrilled that I made it up again. Granted, I was in my lowest granny gear, but I didn't have to get off my bike! Woo! I felt pretty good about the course in general.. I passed more people than passed me.

Not much I could have done differently. Considering I hadn't ridden a bike for at least 10 years before I started training, I was happy to have done as well as I did. I need to work on getting my speed up, though.

I didn't run. I wanted to, but it just didn't happen. And, getting off the bike, I had the LEAST graceful dismount ever. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but for some reason I tried to bring my leg over the bike in *front* of me instead of behind like usual. My foot got caught on the top tube. I almost fell over, and I'm actually surprised I didn't. It had been sprinkling a little on most of my bike; it started raining harder as I was transitioning.

Run, run, run.

I walked at least 1/3 of the run, if not more. My calf had kinda cramped on one part of the bike and that was bothering me... plus I had some, er, intestinal discomfort that was okay when I was walking and was worse when I was running. So I'm actually amazed my time was that low. (An 11:11 pace is pretty decent as far as I'm concerned!) I managed to run most of the last mile.. it helped that I started running with someone who was right about at my pace, it made me not want to stop running as long as she was still running. Plus, she was pregnant (written on the back of her legs was "Baby on Board!" :D ) so my competitive nature wouldn't let me stop to walk at that point. And of course, once I got back to the crowds, I didn't want to be walking.

It wasn't so much "not enough B-R bricks" that did me in, just a matter of not being very good at running in general. Gonna try to get a couple sessions with someone who can coach me over the winter.

Water, a few tears, and hanging around with my family for a while.


I need to train more on the bike and especially the run.


I will totally do the Danskin again. I thought it was a wondeful supportive environment, exactly what I needed for my first tri. And I think I've convinced my best friend to do it with my next year, too... :D
Class rank (25-29): 144/172 Over 2000 racers, but only 1604 ranked due to the recreational category.