weather was good, lake was flat and still. no wetsuits. swim went fairly well, got better at sighting and went out feeling strong. by the second lap arms were getting a bit tired, and was catching people from the wave that went behind us - but mostly just straglers so they were easy enough to pass. getting out of the water was a run up a short hill to transition area.

slow as crap.

i had heard that the bike was a large hill for the first mile (and last) and flat for the rest. it was very hilly, the hilliest course ive been on so far. felt like i was either going 30 or 10, which is probably true since i averaged a 19.6. passed 3 people on the first uphill (i thought it was going to be the only one), and other than 3 or so people passing me i was all alone the whole ride. in the last mile i saw a few people alot closer behind me than any other time throughout the course, but i held them off because we were all slowing down to start running anyways.

slow again

ugh. was a trail about 8" wide with roots and rocks and twists and turns. i did not like this run at all, couldn't judge distance very well and couldn't get speed - and when i did get speed half the time i had trouble passing people. its hard to push yourself to go around someone when you are already hurting and can just hang in behind them and rest for a bit. my kick (200ish meters) was phenomenal, even though no one was around, i just had too much energy left.

was not ready for the run trail.