My swim was brutal. I didn't try my wetsuit on beforehand and didn't take the time to put it on comfortably - it felt incredibly tight. I took off at the horn and the neck felt like it was choking me. The knees were bunched uncomfortably. I rolled onto my back and kicked while trying to stretch out the neck but it was no good. Resumed front crawl. The water had no visibility and everyone passed me. I couldn't get into a good rhythm. Contemplated undoing the wetsuit a bit but wasn't sure of the outcome of that. In the end I did the backstroke for almost the whole course but didn't sight enough and wasted time and energy zig-zagging back and forth. When I rounded the first buoy I got half way across and started feeling people swimming around me. Noticed I was in the middle of the path for the next wave which had caught up to me. Just kept a straight course doing front crawl until I rounded second buoy. Then rolled onto my back and back stroked to the finish - again going off track a couple of times. It felt like the longest 1000m of my life but given all the wasted zig-zagging I'll bet it was even longer than 1K.

Try wetsuit on before event!! Still not sure I even had the right size. Need to sight more often.

Removing wetsuit was like moving in slow motion and as usual it got stuck on my ankles. Had to sit down to get cycling shoes on. Couldn't get my gel open, guzzled some water and then ran with bike. Took too long.

Maybe skip wearing a wetsuit altogether!

Felt good on first half of course. Rode the big gear but didn't really pass anyone. Was passed by a number of older riders which I find amazing and hope that when I'm 60 - I'm whizzing by people in their 30s. About 18km into it I started to fade. I didn't bring anything on the bike to give me a boost. Headwind started to slow me down. Then this woman came up alongside and we were chatting about the wind change - I told her I was fading - and she handed me half her Powerbar! Such kindness. I devoured it, took some water and started to feel better. Last stretch it started to drizzle but I felt great and got my speed up to 33km and sped past a number of riders. Passed the generous woman and thanked her. Closer to the end of the race she rode alongside and said "Well I kept one for myself too!" and then continued on ahead of me. I smiled "You go for it!" and followed her to the dismount. Bike course was beautiful - country fields.

Pay more attention to fueling my body. I think I would have been a lot slower had it not been for the snack.

Decided to hunt through bag for some sport beans...

Not pack snacks away.

Legs felt like bricks for quite a while - at least 2km into it. Felt good for last 2km. Felt okay with pace. 10:25/mile. Normally I'm an 11 minute girl so...

Have to confess I hated the run course. So boring, path was an old trail that was broken down and grown over. Little room to pass and you just saw all the people that were ahead of you running in the other direction. Sort of boring and made the run feel longer.

Nothing

Packed stuff and joined my family. Skipped the food and awards. Soaked in hot tub back at the hotel.


Wetsuit and poor nutrition


This was a good race for me in that it was my first sprint distance race and I hadn't really done the race bike distance in training more than two or three times let alone all three together. I definitely know where to improve and as hubby pointed out - a month and a half ago I was flat on my back with a tube sticking out of my chest so aside from swim performance I'm feeling pretty good about it. :)

Hubby took funny pics - me running out of the lake with eyes closed - I was *that* tired! Then laugh or cry as I cross the finish line...?