The swim to the first turn bouy went alright. It was a tough swim though. We were swimming against the current at this point. But it was also crowded, so there was a lot of pummeling. I was swam into and over quite a bit during the first 3rd.

After the first turn, the swim turned to crap! The sun was in our eyes, so I couldn't see all the way to the next turn buoy. So we all headed to the orange buoy in between. That was a mistake!! Apparently it had drifted out and we ended up swimming way out of the way. So far in fact, that when we got to the buoy we had to turn 90 degrees to get to the next turn buoy.

Once we were finally on course again, I just tried to finish the swim strong. At this point my calves started to cramp. They each cramped about 3 times each (at different times). I never stopped swimming because of the cramps, but they slowed me down I am sure. I just kept flexing my feet until they would go away.

When we got within about 100 yards of the swim finish, I noticed everyone was walking. It became very shallow at this point. I tried to keep swimming as long as I could because I thought it would be faster than trying to walk. I did eventually stand and try to run out of the water.

I paused for a second after I got out of the water to take my wetsuit off completely. I don't normally do this, but I knew it was a long run back to the transition area. I thought I could run a lot faster without the wetsuit on (and wouldn't have to worry about it drying before I got there making it more difficult to get off).

I was very disappointed when I saw my time from the swim. I went into this race hoping to break 6 hours and I knew this time wasn't go to help my chances.

My swim still needs a lot of work. Some of my long time can be explained by the long course. But some of it is still me being too slow.

My T1 time was 2nd in my age group, so I think taking the wetsuit off was a good idea.

Nothing

When I first started this ride, my legs felt really tired. I had a pain in my left quad just above my knee. My plan was to hold zone 2 for the first 20 minutes then pick it up to zone 3. But with the way my legs were feeling at this point, I decided to just do what my legs wanted to do. I didn't want to force a pace and then pay for it on the run. So, I let my legs dictate how fast I went. For most of the ride, I stayed in high zone 2. I was feeling good after the first half and picked up the pace some more. I did the last hour in zone 3. My HR did go higher a few times, but only going up hills (and the bridge over the river).

Pick up the pace a bit.

This transition should have been faster. When I packed my socks for the race, I wasn't thinking. I grabbed the socks I do most of my long runs in (my Injinji sock - toes socks). I like them because my toes are prone to blisters. But I don't wear them in races because they are too hard to put on quickly. I had rolled them up so I could get them on as quickly as possible, but I still struggled with getting my toes to go into the right holes!

Bring different socks.

This run went great. My plan was to keep my HR in zone 2 for the first half of the run, then pick up the pace to whatever I thought I could hold to the end. I settled into a comfortable zone 2 pace right away.

At mile 4 I developed a side stitch. I was worried that this would mess up my race, but I stayed calm. I slowed just a bit and concentrated on my breathing trying to get rid of it. This eventually worked and by mile 7, it was gone completely.

After the side stitch went away, I just concentrated on keeping my pace and trying to increase my pace slightly with each mile.

After the swim, I didn't keep track of my total race time. I didn't want to blow up on the bike or run by trying to "make up time". I just ran my race and hoped for the best. When I was a half mile from the finish, I switch my watch over to see what the total time was. At that point it said 5:48. I knew I was going to break 6 hours - so I ran harder!

Nothing. This was a good run. It was only 4 minutes slower than my stand alone half marathon PR time.

I walked around with my husband a little bit. Talked to some friends I saw at the race. Then loaded up my stuff and carried it all back to the car.


My swim.