I wanted to get an idea of where I am regarding open water swimming in this race and I have. I changed my stroke two weeks before the event (since I have only been swimming 3 months I wasn't really attached to my original stroke anyway).

This was only my second open water swim and the first of any distance. That really showed! I started as far wide as I could (I read that advice in an article somewhere) in order to minimize my participation in the frenzy of moving body parts during the start. I think next time I will start in the middle of the pack. As when the first time I looked up to sight (which I had already swam like 50 yds) I had started at the wrong angle and was way away (behind and severely off course) from the other athletes in my wave

The actual swimming was the easy part. I had not worked on my sighting nearly enough, as I hardly did any sighting in training. This really hurt my swim. I swam WAY out off course a couple of times, and never really got on course until the last 200 yards. I ended up dog paddling alot just to keep on course. It seemed that every time I would swim normally I kept getting off course. So for most of the course I was just swimming a few strokes and then dog paddle a little while I was figuring out where I was, and then start swimming again. Why don't they have the big black lines in the lake??? That would have been so helpful. When I finally made it back to the dock, I had to climb this hanging rope net to get on top of the dock which sat 12-15 inches above the surface of the lake. There was a volunteer there offering to help me out of the water, but she was small and I was afraid that I would end up pulling her in the water instead (my weight on race day was 252lbs). Once I got on the dock, then I had a 1/4 mile hike up a steep incline to the transition area. Though everyone else jogged up this climb, I decided that I would walk up to the transition area to allow my heart rate to recover.

I will add sighting to every swim session from now on. Starting in the middle of the pack.

I did not dry my feet off well enough, and so I had a hard time putting my socks and shoes on (I only have cages on my pedals). I also walked mostly through this transition, that way slowed me down. I also had a hard time getting my jacket unzipped (I should have had it unzipped and ready before hand).

get my area set up better and practice my transition more.

The bike is the best event for me. It is not that I am especially good on the bike, rather that I am worse at the other two events. A few weeks before the event I rode this course and I had to get off my bike twice during the ride (something I did not have to do at any other point in my training). During the race I told myself that my legs were going to have to fall off in order for me to get off my bike and push it. Since I still have all of my limbs attached, I did not get off the bike and push during the ride. The ride was good, and very similar to my training rides. I got a new bike 2 weeks before this event, and during my training rides, the chain would come off often when I switched from the small to the large
gear on the front. It really got to be frustrating during training, and I was afraid it would happen during the race. Well, with a mile or so left to go, my chain came off the front gear. I was immediately frustrated. So as I coasted looking for a good spot to hop off and put the chain back on, I noticed that the chain was on the gear at the bottom of the gear somehow. I slowly pedaled backwards, and the chain stayed on the gear! I didn't have to get off and put the chain back on. That was the highlight of the ride for me.

Figure out why my chain keeps coming off, and do what I can to prevent that.

I didn't try any fancy dismount/mount stuff. I just got off the bike normally and jogged it into the transition area. I took off the jacket top, drank a little G2 (i barely drank on the ride), and grabbed a gel from my bike pouch. I ingested the gel as I jogged out of the transition area.

Not much.

I really enjoyed the run. I waved at the other runners, even giving a high five to another novice that I had met in transition area before the race! I remembered that this race was all about having fun. I took in the scenery as I jogged. The course really is beautiful. I could have pushed it harder, but I knew at the beginning of the run that I would meet my goal of finishing in less than 2 hours, so I just jogged and soaked it all in.

Run a little harder.

Walked around with my wife and daughter, light stretching.


Experience, and training.


This was a great event. I haven't been to any others, but I hope they are a well ran as this one.