This was my biggest fear. I was standing in the wave start, trying really hard to keep my breakfast down. :) When the gun went off, I stayed behind everyone, but still, once I got a little ways in, I felt that familiar panic creep up. It was like last year at Danskin all over again. There was a lifeguard buoy not too far away, so I doggy-paddled over to it and spent about 20-30 seconds catching my breath, wondering whether to just give it up right there. Then - decided that I was being an ass about it (and plus, how would I explain to everyone that I had just given up?) and started swimming. From there on out I had about two more episodes where I started feeling a little panicky, but managed it and kept going. Really, the rest of the swim was pretty good for me... got calm enough by the last 200m to start thinking of the transition, going through the routine in my head.

Definitely need to practice sighting -- I was all over the damn pool! Luckily the lanes weren't all that wide, so I couldn't get too much off course. Also - like anything else - need more time in the pool. Have to be able to get through that first part of the swim without freaking out.

Felt like I did pretty good. Jogged from the swim to my bike, and worked quickly without completely rushing.

Nothing

I love my new bike!! I had set a goal of 50 minutes on the bike, and came in well below that. And, also felt that while I was pushing, I could have pushed harder and gone faster -- just not sure what kind of effect that would have had on the run. Passed a WHOLE bunch of people, and didn't get passed more than a handful of times. Felt GREAT.

Could have pushed a little harder, in hindsight, but for this race, it worked out well.

Went pretty smoothly. Without thinking, I used my left arm (which is the one that I'm still having trouble with after breaking it about 2 years ago) to hoist the bike up to re-rack it, and missed the rack. Ooops. Second try went a little better. Didn't cost me too much time, though.

Rack it right on the first try!

I was fairly pleased with the run. I think I can do better, but just kept motoring and it all went by pretty quickly.

Figure out that I need to turn on the speed monitoring part of my HRM BEFORE the race to be able to see my pace. Ooops.

Waited for Marcie to come across the finish line, ate some food and then sat down under a tree for awhile.


Need to swim more. Need to do more bricks. Need to figure out how not to panic at all in the water.


Nice race! Well organized, tons of volunteers out as well. And with the swim being a pool-type swim, a good first triathlon of the season for me.