I got in and just did not feel great physically and technique-wise. It didn't help that due to the large number of us, I think we were leaving sooner than every 5 seconds. This caused problems throughout because three to five of us were piling up at the end of every lane. There was also the usual incidence of people underestimating their swim times (I know 8 minutes for a 400 isn't fast but I blew by some guy doing the backstroke at one point. I realize it probably was cramps, but, if it wasn't, he usually must be nearly Olympian doing it that way. ;))

Basically, I couldn't get by the same four people for 300 meters of the race. The worst was actually getting some water open, having a guy cut me off, trying to go to the right around him after he wouldn't get back over and then having him cut me off again. I don't watch NASCAR very often but it reminded me of the few races I've seen.

Not insist on touching the wall? I don't really know what else I could have done other than been more insistent with my foot taps.

One thing I do need to work on is breathing to my right side for times when I have people like Mr. Splashy-pants tossing off mini-tsunamis while I was swimming next to him.

This transition was much better than my first T1 in my last race but it still needs some work. I was a bit disoriented balance-wise after the swim, so trying to put on my socks while still standing up was quite an adventure.

The bike next to mine was also unracked and resting on my bike so I had to take a few seconds, untangle it and move it off of mine.

Nothing I could do about the bike but I think I will go back to kneeling but with my foot on one of the handtowels that I had in my bag. I actually ended up using it as a target for my foot and it worked pretty well.

My legs felt pretty tight for some reason but I made the best of them and still felt pretty good about my ride (this was before seeing my time, which I loved seeing, but it makes me wonder if the distance is right!). The race course was a pretty simple three loops around the inside of the park. Other than some paved over spots, the road was flat, smooth and in great shape. I need to work on my speed heading into corners.

I did nearly get into an accident when some guy insisted on passing me on the right (I had just passed someone and was riding along the dotted line in the middle of the road. Since there were two lanes that could be used, I have no idea why he insisted on showing off by coming up on my right). I wish I could say he was the only one doing it, even though they explicitly covered passing on the left both in the pre-race briefing and information packet (I mean, there literally was an 8.5 X 11 red piece of paper with a diagram covering this...).

I also remembered to practice for my longer races by slipping down a gear and pedlaing at a higher cadence for the last 1/2 to 1/4 of a mile to get ready for the run.

Nothing really. I'm pleasantly surprised by my time. :)

Other than struggling to rack my bike again, this went pretty well. Since I don't have clip in bike shoes, I just took off my helmet, grabbed my hat and took off.

Figure out how to quickly rack my bike beforehand?

The course was two loops of a 1/2 grass and 1/2 pavement route. I think the only problem was a soggy patch of grass in one area, but otherwise it was well marked and human sign posted.

I ditched my heart rate monitor this time because of the shorter distance and my desire to focus on running how I train (1 min walks between 4-5 minute runs). It seemed to pay off as I was much faster per mile than last time. I walked just three times and even had enough at the end to huff and puff my way past a few people to the finish line.

I even kept mama Super Cat in mind and gave the photograper shooting the runners a thumbs up on the way by. She laughed at me when I told her it was so I could at least look like I was having fun. ;)



My running is getting better, but, like the bike today, it is what it is.

Ditching my calf sleeves did cause me to cramp a bit and have some varicose vein swelling after the race. I will definitely have to wear them in my full sprint races.

Wandered around and chatted with my fiancee and future mother-in-law while we waited for transition to open. I wanted to stay around and try to win a raffle but my tummy was hungry and even though they had a decent spread of fruit and bagels, that just wasn't going to cut it.

I also succeeded in enjoying it more. :)


I've been inconsistent with my training over the past two weeks and it felt like it affected things. On the other hand, I felt MUCH better than my first race and my times on the bike and run were improved.


I'd give it four and a half if I could. For the number of people there, it was very well organized, allowed us the pleasure of cheering on the kids, featured volunteers and race personnel that were awesome with their encouragement, had a tremendously newbie helpful race briefing and was a most enjoyable second race of my triathlon career.