The pool was much warmer than what I trained in so that put me off a bit. I was disappointed that after the first 200m I had to switch to breast stroke. I don't know if it was the temperature difference, the nerves, or whatever else but I just couldn't keep up the freestyle.

Hop into the pool before the start to see what it's like and get a few warmup laps. Don't slack off on my swim training.

I felt very fast in T1, dropped off the goggles on my mat, threw on the glasses and helmet, grabbed the bike and I was out of there.

Practice a running mount on the bike.

The bike felt great! That was after getting used to the chill from still being wet. I passed quite a few people and was able to stay in the saddle on the "hills". Living in Austin and riding around here I was expecting something a bit bigger when the course description said hills so that helped me out a bunch.

Just work on upping the MPH other than that felt great on the bike.

I felt a bit slow getting the running shoes on but no real problems...well other than the fact that I ran towards the wrong end of transition to start the run and had to turn around and run to the other end. Looking at the results I would have moved up 2 or 3 places overall without that little mistake.

Make sure I know where the exits are for transition, work on moving dismount on the bike.

Starting off on the run I started to get a cramp in my right calf so I did my best to adjust my stride to try and stretch it out since I didn't want to stop to stretch. I ran a training 5k the week before in just over 26 minutes so I felt real great running this one in almost the same time after swimming and biking. Picked up the pace for the last mile and was able to finish pretty strong.

Stretch my calfs a bit more towards the end of the bike.

I started to feel a bit sick to the stomach right after I stopped moving across the finish line so I was a bit annoyed when I had to stop to give back the chip. After that I spent a few minutes just walking around to try and warm down. Also felt like I strained my right quad a bit and was doing my best to stretch it out as much as I could along with some overall stretching.


Silly mistake in T2 and the swim.


I had a great time, the wait to get in a pool seemed a bit long with with that many people and being indoors it wasn't bad. This was my first tri and it definitely got me hooked. I know what I can improve on and will hopefully do this again next year and see if I can't knock a few minutes if not more off my time.