OK, the good folks at Blue Water Triathlon really need to take a look at their online and on-sight maps. They showed a swim more downstream than across the river. This came as a pretty big shock to me as I was expecting to stay within 50' or so of the banks. I managed, but was not happy about it when I figured it out the day before.
I know I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold, but I have this to say: 74 degrees, my ass!!! I'd practiced a couple of OWS at Lake Mead in Vegas where the water temp was 70 and could hardly breathe because the cold took my breath away for the first 10 minutes. I finally figured out it was the cold and not fear of drowning on my last practice session, and knew I just needed time to get acclimated to the water. But, hey Blue Water is going to be a lot warmer, right? I think they need to check the calibration on the thermometer they used, cause it was COLD!!!!!
The start went okay as I tried to let most people go in front of me. Imagine my surprise when I know had to pass a bunch of them as they were slower than even I was. Yes! I am a racer!
After I got across the river and made the turn, the sun was in such a position that I couldn't sight at all. I picked out some people in front of me and just hoped they were going in the right direction. At this point, Reason decided it needed a little break and it left Instinct in charge for a while. I literally ran into the second buoy. After that, I did okay, if by okay you understand it to mean damn near got lost trying to find the channel I'm supposed to go in.
Eventually, Reason returned and asked my now waterlogged brain why we weren't just following the coast which was visible on every other breath (i.e. to the right of me). I dismissed Reason for the rest of the race for being a smart-ass and decided I would just power through this.

Anti-fogging spray for my goggles (or just spit in them) and more practice in OWS.
I think I could have gone faster but was just concentrating on staying in a good comfortable rhythm.

I've seen monkey s%&^ fights at the zoo that had more organization and dignity than my first attempt at transition. I had to sit down to get the wetsuit off, was dizzy, almost knocked over the entire rows bikes, dripped water on everything including my iPod, and generally flailed about for the better part of two and a half minutes.

Practice jumping on bike and riding without socks so I can skip that step in transition. Also, general practice at getting out of the wetsuit quickly. Graceful can figure itself out

Rough doesn't begin to describe this. I've had pinch flats before, but I never thought it would be a foregone conclusion regardless of tire pressure. I seriously wished I'd had a mountain bike.
After a big hill into the RV park, you had to go over 5 speed bumps!!! Speed bumps, are you kidding me? Some folks were proficient enough to do little bunny hops at speed over them. I was not, and it absolutely killed my momentum. Then the road along the river really needed to be repaved, but was nothing compared to the train-track-like feeling I got going up the hill to the highway.
The good news was, I did pretty well on this course. I only got passed by one person and I'm pretty sure he wasn't in my age group. I went fairly had on all sections and was able to pass a bunch of folks. I tried to say encouraging things, but because I hadn't been drinking enough, I'm pretty sure the only thing that came out was undistinguishable grunts which could be interpreted as anything from great physical exertion to pass the person in question to a request for soup.
Somewhere around the second lap, the wind really kicked up and played havoc with me. How can you have the wind in your face on three of four legs of a rectangular course?!?!?! And a direct cross wind on the other leg?!?!?!

More time on bike and some hill work

Well, at least I didn't break anything falling off the bike at the mount line.

Thank God for Yanks laces

I've got to learn to take my feet out of my shoes and do that side saddle dismount thing.

Wow, do I suck. No, seriously this is my worst discipline. I'm starting a run-focused program tomorrow.
First part of course was tough as it was uphill and into the wind. It took a while to get my legs under me, and the hill / wind weren't helping. Took 10 minutes for first mile and then negative splits from there. Passed a couple of people, but got passed by one dude in my age group. Just couldn't keep up with him. Probably could have pushed harder.

More time on speed work during training so I can get my times down.

Does collapsing on the grass in the fetal position and muttering about wanting my mommy count as a warm-down?

I walked for a little and got some water and fruit from the volunteers. Then I packed up transition and watched / cheered other folks until my heart rate was under control.


Ten pounds too heavy and 18 years of smoking (which I quit a month and a half ago!)


I definitely am going back and would recommend this to anyone. What a great time!!