The swim was very nice, the warm water was really enjoyable

Probably start a bit slower and try to breath on both sides for a longer time as I think I go faster that way.

The track was extremely nice, but pretty tough. There were a bunch of super steep sections where I had to dismount and push my MTB. I suffered a bit because I didn't have any MTB training this year as my I'm training for my big race, the Vineman 70.3 Ironman. I really really loved the bike section though.

Add more MTB specific training, of course :)

It felt more like Marines bootcamp than a run as we had to run in a creek bed knee deep (and sometimes hip deep) in the wather for something like 1000/1500 ft. After this, there was a supersteep 1 mile climb on a rugged single track. I had to walk certain sections because they were too steep to run. Overall it felt much better than the MTB section because I had a lot more trail run training in my legs. I overtook most of the guys (and then some) who passed me on the MTB section :)

Lack of specific MTB training


Overall it was a very nice race except for some hiccups in the organization (it was the inaugural Del Valle Xterra, so it was to be expected). The course was mostly well marked, except in some critical sections. Probably a bit more volunteers would have helped.