I was so looking forward to the swim because I knew it was going to help warm me up. I jumped into the pool and sure enough it felt very warm but was a little painful on the frozen/numb extremities. Within the first 2 strokes my left calf went into full cramp mode as I expected. Thank goodness I have cramped plenty of times in training so was able to cope and just kept going and before the first lap was over the cramp had subsided. I remember being told that my arms would feel like lead and not believing it because I would only be using my legs in the first part of the race. However, not only did my arms feel like lead, my whole body felt like lead. My form felt atrocious as I could feel my legs dragging and felt as though I had no pull strength. I muddled through, passing 4-5 folks and finished in 8:20. That is a little slow for me but considering the circumstances not too shabby

Be more prepared for swimming tired.

reverse tri so T1 was run to bike.

Not put on extra socks but weather conditions demanded it.

The bike was every bit as hard as I imagined it would be. I drove the course the day before and knew it was going to be a challenge. I started off strong and was feeling good for the first few miles but then I hit a very rainy stretch. By the time I hit the halfway point of the course I was soaking wet. My calves and feet were very cold but the rest of me was ok aside from being wet. Lots and lots of climbing, again not what I would call moderately hilly. Unfortunately my Garmin froze on me just before T1, I'm guessing because of the rain, so I had no feedback as to how I was doing. I just continued to push and was riding right on the ragged edge. My left calf was on the verge of cramping and my right hammy was in the same shape. I spent most of the climbs in my lowest gear, spinning my way up all the hills. I'm guessing I got passed by about 15 folks and passed only 3-5 myself. I finished the 16.5 mile course in 1:07 something which is about 15 miles per hour. I'm not happy with the time but considering all the climbing I think I did the best I could. It was a loop course and I'm guessing there was way more climbing than descent but don't have my Garmin to verify.

TRAIN MORE!

reverse so T2 = bike to swim. T2 was pretty tough, fingers and feet were numb making it tough to move and remove clothing. Due to the weather I had 3 layers on top to remove and I wore my running tights which were a bit difficult to take off but was out of there in about 2 minutes.


Not wear so much clothing but weather dictated it.

The run went pretty much as planned. Since this was a 'C' race I didn't want to go out too hard knowing the bike was going to be my biggest challenge. My prerace strategy was to shoot for around 27 minutes and I finished in 27 and change. The course is described as moderately hilly and I think that was an understatement. The first half of the course was all climb culminating in a steep trail climb. The next mile or so was mostly down hill trail and the finish was about a .5 mile climb to transition.

Should have pushed the pace harder but since this was my first tri I wasn't sure how hard to go.

slight stretching


bike and run training