This swim was brutal for me. I haven't swam in waves before, and the waves were probably 3' and coming in from the side for most of the race. Ended up doing a lot of breaststroke because I didn't feel like I was making any forward progress with freestyle.

Apparently I need to learn how to swim in open water.

I was already more than a little pissed off at this point. I was very disappointed with my swim and let that bleed over into the rest of my race.

Try and get my emotions leveled out.

The roads were bad. Broken up country back-roads. I understand why they used these, as they were able to shut them down completely, and none of the other roads in the area looked all that much better. They did do a good job of marking potholes and rough patches so that they weren't just big surprises.

I couldn't really do much differently. More T.I.T.S would have been helpful, but with the way my body felt after the swim I don't know that pushing harder would have been the world's greatest idea.

2nd in my AG with this trans. Rode pretty hard all the way to the dismount line, some guy crashed right behind me right as I was getting off.

Not much.

My legs were cramping up pretty badly by mile 2. Had to stop at aid stations to massage the muscles in my right shin to be able to move my move my foot properly. Apparently should have done the same with my left as it ended up with no feeling except for a pins and needles/running on a wooden foot feeling.

Run more. Run different courses so my body doesn't get used to one thing. Possibly find some different running shoes, as I'm not 100% sure I need to be in a stability shoe.

Downed a water and stumbled over to get a banana. Drank more water and walked around for a few minutes. Got a good massage for my legs, and then stretched a bit.


Lack of training. Poor form swimming. Not being used to real OWS. Poor focus/bad attitude after my swim. Had a cold going into the race, which didn't help matters at all.


A very well organized race. Great swim venue, swim was a bit challenging for me, but if it wasn't challenging this wouldn't be fun. Actual race events started on time, but awards ceremony was delayed for an hour or two. Really, for their first race at this venue it went off very well. I will return again for this race next year, with more training hopefully the swim will go more than a little bit better.

A big thanks to Crowny2 and his wife for the hospitality and carpooling to the race. Even if time zones are a little bit tough to figure out.