Ohhh can I comment on this. I was feeling really good about my OW swimming ability. At least I knew I could swim 500m proficiently. For some reason I had an anxiety attack and was hyperventilating. I was encouraged by my Wife and others on the side to finish and figured since I am not a quitter that I would struggle on. I held on to the side of the breakwall to try and catch my breath...but as anyone who has had an anxiety attack knows, you can't.
I kept telling myself that if I just kept swimming I would float in my wetsuit and life would be good, but as soon as I stuck my face in the water I would panic and start hyperventilating again...pretty crazy.

I focused on my swim alot over the winter and was feeling very confident that once I hit the open water I would be fine. I was doing some pretty hefty workouts in the pool and thought that would translate into great OWS abilities. NOPE....Needless to say I freaked out, which for me is not normal in anything I do. I can run into a burning building and not have my heartrate go up too much. It is as soon as I cannot touch the bottom I freeze.
It relates back to a time when I was younger, drinking at the beach and doing an impossible swim from a breakwall to a beach where I almost drown. Someone had to pull me to the beach because I pretty much was going down. I can't get it out of my head!!!!

The only thing I can do is practise OWS in areas that are deeper. My Wife is going to buy a Kayak and paddle along side of me in some deeper water.
I also am going to learn how to tread water, which is a skill I have never learned to get a bit more confident in the water. Lastly I have made an appointment with a Sports Pyschologist to help me with the mental aspect of my races!

Took my time through the transition to try and calm down.

Well if I wouldn't have used up my energy panicking and hyperventalating on the swim I may have had more energy on the bike. Considering the time took in the T1 and T2 times I did well I guess. I have done this same course much faster in training.
I passed quite a few ppl on the bike and that made me feel like I was kind of back in the race a bit.

Not waste all of my energy on the swim!!!!!

could be faster in T2 a couple of people beat me out cause I took too much time putting my socks on and figiting around... I think I tripped on some of Tabb's stuff ;)

go faster

Took it slow at first feeling out of energy. Once I hit 2.5kms I felt great and really pushed forward. I passed a few ppl and kept my eye ahead trying to pick off more. By the 4th km I was running a 4:20 pace and sprinted to the finish. I should have tried to run a 4:30 pace through the whole thing but I was worried about bonking!

Run faster!!!!