The course is great; except the water is really dirty. I could not even see my hands entering the water in front of me.

Breathing with my Instinct wetsuit on was really difficult. I am at the high end of the weight range for the size I have and it is pretty tight. That, in combination with the chilly water, and I started out way too fast (tried to get out of the mix) made it very hard to breath and I ended up stopping and treading water for a bit to unzip my suit about halfway to try and breath better. Lifeguards approached and were concerned about me having stopped and I had gone off course a little and they almost pulled me out of the water, but I convinced them it was just a tight wetsuit problem and took off again.

The water was not as cold as everyone was saying. In hindsight, I should have just done the swim in my trisuit. Having grown up in SE Wisconsin, we started swimming in the lake my uncle lives on when the water made 60 degrees; I would have been fine at 55 degrees. Moral, don't take everyone else's word for it - - Test the Waters.

AND, start out slower. Not worry so much about getting out of the mix and just settle into a spot. I started at a frantic pace and wasn't thinking about the full distance just getting out of the mix. I lost my breath at about 150-200 meters and could not get it back until I unsipped my wetsuit.

Good transition except that I had definitly gone anerobic during the swim, so it took me a few minutes to catch my breath and composer to actually get started with the

Not kill myself on the swim so I can get into the transition immediately on getting to my area.

I had ridden the course several times on the last few weeks, so I knew and was comfortable with the course. The race coordinators had plenty of volunteers around the course for direction and warnings, which was really good on the second turn - the IDOT had the road tore up early in the month and the patch was really rough and the volunteer at that turn was really good about making sure we saw it.

Pace better on swim so I can hammer a little harder on the bike. The 18 minute bike split is the same time I ride it late in a training ride.

Not much except it would have been nice to have a stool or something to sit on. I had a towel and sat on the ground, but after the swim I had and the bike, I was real close to cramping up trying to get my shoes on sitting on the ground.

Decent run considering the detrimental swim. I was never really able to get my full breath back after my swim.

Again, have a much better swim so my entire race is better.

Walked around transition area, took in fluids and fruit, and talked to friends from law school and the tri club.


MY SWIM! I never really caught my breath throughout the race, but more importantly my body would not let me push it after the big time breathing problems in the water. I have capable of a faster bike and run back to back, but the anerobic swim shut me down. First timer learning experience!!


Small race in its 22nd year at Southern Illinois University. Short enough course it was great for a first timer like me; considering if the swim had been much longer I might not have made it to the beach.