I had so much adrenaline running through me that I couldn't keep my breathing under control. Open water does not bother me in the least, but as this was my first ever tri I had a hard time dealing with adrenaline. I swam mainly breaststroke/freestyle and that pissed me off because I KNOW I could have been faster had I been able to do freestyle the whole way.

Meditate/calm down before the swim portion; try and keep HR in check immediately before swimming.

The run from the end of the swim to the transition area was ~100 yds uphill. I rinsed the sand off my feet, put socks on my wet feet (not advisable), downed a Power Gel, and forgot my gloves.

Re-think the sock issue.

I was blown away by how many people I dropped on the bike. I just couldn't believe how well I was doing. And that they STAYED dropped was the best part. The miles I've put in I guess were the best thing I could have done.
Halfway through the bike, I pulled out a Power Gel to eat. Ripped the top off with my teeth, tried to squeeze the gel into the mouth, and it came out the side of the package, all over my upper arm, leg, and the bike. That pissed me off.

Not forget my gloves, figure out a way to get gels in my mouth.

No problems: rode right to my rack, hopped off, off with the helmet/ on with the shoes. I get to stretch my hamstrings when I'm taking cycling shoes off and putting road shoes on.

Nada.

One aid station at the beginning of the run. I was expecting water, I got Gatorade, and not the watered down stuff I normally used. Good run. Ended up doing 10:26 for the first mile, 15:00 for 1.5 miles, 20:26 at mile 2, and 31:09 for the whole thing.

Nothing.

Walked after the race, stretched.


Adrenaline at the beginning of the swim. It would have been nicer if I had been a bit more calm.


I had a great time for my first tri. Met both of my goals: Have fun and finish. I accomplished something today and look forward to the next ones!