I thought that my hands and feet would be dead frozen, but b/c the rest of my body was surprisingly warm in the wetsuit, I felt absolutely fabulous. I should have pushed harder, I'm a better swimmer than what my time indicates. Hmm...

- I have to do more OWS to be fully comfortable in the wetsuit. I still found it rather heavy on the shoulders, which altered my swimming style.
- Don't be so afraid of cold waters! The wetsuit works really well; I was warm.

Everything was good good good. Out of wetsuit quickly (just a bit of a catch on my heels), dried off feet very briefly, into socks, into shoes. Everything was ready for me to wear, then ran with bike, jumped on it and rode!!

Approximate T1 time: 2:00

I need a *bit* more practice taking off the wetsuit, but otherwise I have no complaints!

ARGH!!! I had been biking on thursday and had tried out going to the highest gear in the front while coasting with a tailwind. Usually I bike middle gear. Anyway, when I got on my bike, it was still on the highest gear and for *some* reason, would not switch down, no matter what I did. The bike ride, which usually would not make me achy for any reason, left me really sore. Because I was stuck in the front, I couldn't go down many gears in the back, otherwise the chain would be at too big of an angle, but being on higher gears in the back was tough going. Anyway, I went straight to the bike shop after the race to get it checked out. It's there, being fixed. But overall, I kept a good enough pace. I would have liked to be 30+km/hr, but was under b/c of that damn gear problem.

Check the damn gear shifting prior to the race!!

Took just a few moments to get my shoes off and runners on. My bike gloves wouldn't come off so easily. In fact, I didn't even need them for such a short bike distance, but it was good practice for the upcoming Oly and HIM.

Approximate T2 time: 1:20

Practice taking bike gloves off quickly.

Great running. By this point, I had NO idea how I was doing, whether I was in the middle of my women's pack, at the back, or at the front. But I went out and ran. The inside of my thighs were realllllly sore from that stupid bike (damn gears!!!), but I kept on going at a good enough pace.

I need to do more bike/run bricks. Although I had issues with my bike, thus making me more exhausted than I should have been for the run, I know that for the HIM in July, I actually WILL be dead exhausted by the time the run comes along, so I need to practice running on dead legs. Otherwise, the run went well!!

Walked around a bit. Drank a smoothie.


I need to practice biking at faster speeds, staying consistently at high speeds, for longer periods of time. I also know that I wasn't as fast a swimmer because I wasn't 100% comfortable in my wetsuit.


Hmm, there were quite a few problems with the way this race was organized. First off, the people directing traffic into the race parking had NO idea what they were doing. So frustrating. I unnecessarily parked 25 minutes away from the race site because of this. Secondly, the timing chips were set off if you crossed the line entering the transition station, even though you had not started your race yet. This made it impossible to know your swim or your bike times. Very very crappy. Other than that, I absolutely loved the race. Perfect temperature, just the right amount of people, well split up. I will definitely be doing this one again, even if it is shorter than what I'd ideally like to be racing. It was just fun!