Just finished my first tri

                                               Swim         t1        Bike          T2          run

188  1:43:41   7/9    CLYDE   230   14:45    2:12  128   50:53    0:43  233   35:10

I knew the swim was going to be hard, even during training I had a hard time breathing and turning my head w/out sucking in a gallon of water, and during the race, it happened and made me gag.  water went up my nose even w/ a nose clip.  When I was a kid I used to swim w/ a dive mask to help w/ the water up the nose so now Im looking in to the speedo raven mask that has the face skirt w/ nose thinking that would be a better option than nose clip (less painful).  Im also thinking about training with a snorkel and possibly using it during my next race (I have read the recent snorkel thread and I am prepared to get laughed at I guess)  But if a snorkel can help my time and its legal - why not use it? Like using a wet suit in 77 degree water.

My bike time I thought would be a little better than MOP, so I'm not too disappointed w/ that.  I just figured my time would be a few minutes faster though, but since I've only had my bike for 4 days before the race, Im OK w/ it.  The run was pretty much in the range I had given myself, between 33 and 36 minutes.  I wanted to use the 3 run / 1 walk Galloway method, but it was more of a 2/1, or a 1.5/45 depending on how I felt.  Considering I have only run in 4 races in my life and they were over 20 years ago, Im happy.  Also, my first 3 mile run 4 weeks ago was 45 minutes and my best time last week was 32:30, Im OK w/ my run time.

So for my first race, I feel pretty OK.  I want to continue because of the benefits I have gained, and know I can improve, its just frustrating to struggle in the swim as much as I did.  And I know the only way to get better is to swim more and possibly look into coaching