Well, for me it's all about the swim. The positives? I didn't freak out!!! The first 100 yards was actually pretty good. My plan going into this was to swim boat to boat. With this plan I would swim 100, rest for 30-45 sec, swim 100, rest, swim 100, rest, then power into the finish. Well, it started out right on plan. Even the second 100 wasn't too bad. The third 100 was a struggle, with a lot of time on my back catching my breath. Also, this is where my stroke broke down. The final 100 was where the problems were magnified. My goggles leaked, which I really don't handle well, and I started to lose my swim cap because my head is so big. I didn't handle that well either.

Let me just say how wonderful the lifeguards and boat staff handled this race. They were so friendly and attentive to all swimmers. There were more guards on this course than any other tri I have ever seen. Of course there were many first-time athletes and many poor swimmers out there today. The guards handled it all with a smile on their faces. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

More OWS practice. Still working on all aspects of swimming, but I like to swim so I'm confident that I will get there. Work on keeping a smooth stroke for the entire course. The first 100 I was very smooth, but at the end it was flailing around. This caused very sore shoulders for the rest of the race.

So slow coming out of the water. I've been faster getting the suit off, but it wasn't too bad.

Run out of the water faster!

Started out with some energy and thought I might be o.k. That feeling didn't last too long. Shoulders and arms were really affecting me. Legs were o.k. for a while then they left me too. I was able to hit 37.5 mph on two different occasions on the downhills so that was fun. Since I was so late starting (wave 28) there was not much problem with a congested course. Disappointed with the mental effort.

DTFU on the bike. I need to become mentally tougher.

Decent T2 for me.

Not much.

This sucked the biggest suck that a suck could suck. At least six minutes slower than I expected. Again, probably the poorest mental effort I could possibly have.

DTFU.

Walked to the food, ate some pancakes and oranges. Found the wonderful Donkey support crew (cweninger, kimk, djdavey) and other racers (jmwebs, BunnyT). Walked back to the transition area to clean up and pack up for the 1.25 mile bike ride home.


Mental toughness. Right now I do these races to have fun and be a part of the experience, and to finish. I realize that I may never be an award winner (let's face it, I am firmly a BOPer), but dammit, I could be better than this(MOPer?). More training, and so much more mental toughness is needed. I guess I need to bring my basketball game face and attitude over to triathlon.


Bottom line? I AM A TRIATHLETE AGAIN!!!!!!!! As negative as some of this report may sound, I am very happy to finish and get over the swim hurdle. It really helps to erase the bad memory of Lake Mills. I am now looking forward to Triing for Childrens in two weeks. EEEEEEEAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!