Did very well. I passed a lady at the beginning (but she had just recovered from Bronchitis, so I guess I don't get any bragging points there). I was passed at the end of lane 2 by the woman behind me, but she had a finish swim time of 5:45 so she must have passed a lot of people. I worked on keeping a bent elbow on the pull and I could really feel the difference. I was even able to speed up in lane 5. Had to slow back down in lane 6 because a guy passed me, that probably shouldn't have, but oh well. If you subtract the 12 seconds it takes to climb the ladder and run to the timing pad, my time was the same as my practice swim earlier this week. Can't ask for better than that.

Next time I will enter a different swim time. Maybe slightly faster. Too many people use 2:00 as a start time that don't swim that fast and it causes problems. It would be nice to complete a swim that is not impeded by other swimmers.

Leaving the pool into T1 felt good. Being wet was cooling. I debated on whether or not to put on my biking top. I decided to do it and that was tough over a wet suit. Chose to wear socks but no problems getting them on. Ran well with bike. New shoes are so much better to run in. Couldn't get my right foot to lock in! I have to loosen that, it happens too often!!!

Loosen right cleat!

Did very well. (Once I got the dumb shoe locked in!!!) Passed several people going out. Then I got in with a group that I stayed with, we just kept trading places. The hill on Buffalo was as tough as I expected it to be. The hardest part was when I went to down shift (again) and realized I didn't have any more gears to go into! It probably took about 4 minutes to get up that hill. I raced with a higher cadence and I liked that better. Especially on the hills. Much easier to work through the gears if I focus on keeping the same cadence. I felt really strong and am pleased. I think I averaged 17mph on the bike and if I can't draft, that is good for me.

Try to keep heels down more (but did better).

I didn't really run too far with the bike once in transition. That is when the abdominal muscle problems started.

Run with bike. Or leave shoes clamped to bike and run in socks.

THAT WAS TERRIBLE!!! Mainly because I didn't run much of it at all. When I got off the bike I could feel my diaphragm cramping up, and it was all the way across my abdomen. Then I could really feel where the stomach muscles were "moved" during my surgery. I felt hollow in side, like someone had removed all my abdominal muscles. Therefore running was extremely hard. I walked the first 3/4 of a mile trying to get my diaphragm from spasming. I was trying to decide if it was better to shuffle-step run until the spasms stopped, or just walk and then run. Obviously I chose to walk. At about mile 1 I started to run again, but very slowly. Again, no muscle strength. My legs were fine, just the tummy problems. It went like that for the whole course. At the water station I poured the water on myself, that helped. Then I ran through the hose. After that I was able to run the flats and walk/slow jog the hills. I did sprint across the finish line, but it was way too little too late. Oh well, I guess that was beyond my control and next time it will be better.

Not have surgery 1 month before the race!

walked, drank water, ate a bowl of fruit.


surgery!! And people in the pool.


Overall this was a fun race. It was challenging, but very doable. Next year I will do much better on the run and am excited to see my time go down. The weather was excellent, there were cops at every turn on the bike which was awesome, and the volunteers were good. I had a good time.