I started in the back corner of my wave, but ended more towards the middle. Right when I walked in my water my heart rate shot way up. The max water depth was about 4'. None of us were really sure when to stop walking and start swimming, so I started just a little before the turn. I really struggled with breathing and had to keep switching to the breast stroke. It was a little choppier than what I had practiced with, but I think being nervous kind of threw me off. For whatever reason, I wasn't very good at exhaling while my head was down and I felt like I didn't have much energy. Weird. However, I got through it fine and finished right about where I thought I would. The water was a lot warmer than the air, so it felt nice.

Get more OWS in, especially in rougher waters. Maybe wear a wetsuit so I'm more buoyant.

I had all my gear set up nicely, so I didn't have any problems with it. Drying off my feet and putting on socks took a while. And putting on bike gloves also added a fair amount of time, but I was happy I had them on. I kind of forgot to dry off, but oh well.

Maybe try going without socks to see how it feels, but I don't think my feet would like it.

I felt good going into the bike, but I still had to stop and walk up the very end of the first hill. Going into the race, that was the one thing I didn't want to do, but I was going so slooooowly up the hill and tons of other people were walking up it, so I decided to just walk it. Since I was just trying to finish the race, why should I waste all my energy on the very first hill? I did not have to walk up any other hills and while I did the course very slowly, I was happy with my performance. Especially up the last really steep hill right before you turn back in the park.

Do more hill work so I don't have to walk up any hills! Invest in some clipless pedals.

I biked in my running shoes, so there wasn't a whole lot to do here. The only thing that slowed me down was taking my gloves off, but again, I was happy to have them on the ride and I think they were worth the extra time. Emily's yelling also made me laugh a lot and slowed me down a bit, but again, I was definitely happy she was there being ridiculous!

Nothing.

I was so pumped up after seeing my cheer section (Brad, my mom, Jim, Emdizzle, Kara, Falafel, Papa Wong and Peggy) that I started the run way too fast. When I noticed how fast I was going, I slowed it down to about normal pace. My calves were super tired during the run. Brad thinks maybe I had my seat too high on the ride and was having to use my calves. In any case, I think the run went very well. Nothing too eventful.

You can always train more, I suppose!

Just stretched a bit and drank a bottle of water before my cheer section found me.


Just not enough training.


I had a very fun time on my first tri! The course was beautiful, the water wasn't cold like everyone had told me it would be and the hills-well, the hills still sucked. I was very happy my friends and family came to support me, too. (Complete with homemade signs and everything!) The weather was awesome, too. Overall, this was a great challenge for me and I'm so happy I finished it with a smile on my face!