I positioned myself way out so I was directly in line with first buoy just as I did the last time at Blue Lake. I was right in front at the gun and there were only two others around me. I quickly pulled out and sped forward, losing a good majority of the pack in the first 200 meters. I was already catching up to the previous wave by the first buoy. Had a hard time sighting the 2nd buoy at first because a paddle-boat was blocking it, finally found it and managed to avoid crowds and drafted off someone for a bit. She fell off as I surged forward between two other girls. Awesome swim - I finally feel comfortable in the suit, and with OWS in general. And being able to see where I was going really helped too! :) I felt great coming out of the water and was shocked to see that I dropped a full minute+ off my previous swim on this course.

Nada, perfect swim for me. Working with the pads and more interval low RI sets over the past month has really paid off. My t-pace is hovering around 1:42-45 right now so !:38 in wetsuit seems just right.

The hill up is torture coming out of the water. Managed to get my wetsuit halfway down by top of hill while jogging into transition area. I walked a bit to my bike once I was inside the T-area. Got my helmet/glasses on no problem, but then took a little longer than usual to get wetsuit off. Put bike shoes on and jogged out. Nothing fancy to get the bike started.

Practice more swim to bike bricks. Lost a little time to the wetsuit. Also practice a bit more with running mounts w/ already clipped in shoes.

Started out a bit slow the first mile as my HR was up. Overall bike was good, passed a bunch of people, but was only passed by 5-6 girls, all of which flew past way too fast to try to pace with. Stayed aero entire distance cept at turn-around. I was intending to go about the same speed as the last race, or slightly slower to save my legs for the run. There was a bit of headwind on the route out, but caught the tailwind on the way back and was averaging 21mph+. Aerodrink worked like a charm. Used Nuun this time instead of gatorade - worked much better. Managed to get shoes off before dismount and ran into transition barefoot.

Not much. I felt like I could've pushed it a little harder, but I was still suffering on the run, tho not as much as last time so maybe it was just right.

Racked, helmet off, and into running shoes. I decided not to put on my socks again, even though I don't normally run without socks. Was out pretty quickly.

Not such a great idea to not wear socks, but oh well.

Was hoping to have a little higher pace than last race as I've lost ten pounds and run a lot more since then. But no... only improved 10 seconds. Definitely did not suffer as much, and ran the whole thing. I really wanted to take a couple walk breaks, but told myself to keep running. Got very hot and ended up dumping water over my head at each aid station.

Running continues to be my major weakness, so I'll continue to run... Run more trails! Wear socks! Got 3 blisters from that bad decision, fortunately none of them are too large or painful.

Walked around, checked results, drank water & electrolytes, ate a luna bar sample, stretched the legs, walked around more. Packed up gear, then went back to eat some provided lunch food. Kinda lame but the watermelon sure tasted good. Stretched again while eating, then hit the honey pot and rode home back down Marine Drive to the Max.


THE RUN. I was in 34th place overall coming off the bike, so boo on my (lack-of) running ability! :)

My overall fitness has improved since last race so I didn't feel completely wiped out at the end of the race. And day after my quads are not in the really sad state they were in after last race.


I had a blast. It was fun watching an entire road full of ladies riding their bikes as fast as they could. Great support from fellow competitors. I was pleased with my overall improvement in fitness and time. I have to be patient with the running which I'll be focusing on over the winter. Definitely will be doing this race again next year, the vibe is so different from coed tris.

Later I enjoyed a race day recovery fueling session with pizza, cucumber gin & tonic, and a piece of banana creme pie. Yay!