Was a little nervous about my next open water swim, but I tried to just get to the end of the faster group of swimmers which left me with a lot of space. I just relaxed through the swim, kept breathing well and tried to stay as close to the course as possible.

Seagull relieved himself on my cap right before swim... apparently in all future races I should consider this a good omen.

Push myself more next time.

No speed laces (maybe next time), so I had to put on socks, shoes and tie shoes. I got a little stuck in my wetsuit, but after that everything was gravy.

Focus more when I first get to my bike, get wetsuit off better, speed laces.

The bike went better than I thought. I actually went a lot faster than I ever thought. Course was flat though, so it made it pretty easy.

I heard they were going to give away water bottles on the course, so pre-race I replaced my plastic bottle with a bottle of propel water (that I could just throw away mid-bike). The bottle of propel fell out of the cage less than 5 minutes into the race. And, there was no water on the sprint course. My plan had been to hydrate on the bike for the run (luckily it was not too hot of a day).

Water, maybe food (or some type of energy), more practice on bike for speed, better cornering

I saved a lot of time because I had my running shoes on with my clips, so just dropped bike off and went. Unfortunately, I banged my bike pretty hard on the sidewalk coming into the transition area and gave myself a flat (but at least I was done with the bike).

All and all, I think this part went well.

First mile of the race was the hardest, at the beginning I was making my legs go way to fast, once I realized this I lengthened my stride and felt much better. I started singing to myself in my head and this helped my pace. I was unsure of when to start picking up the pace. There was a girl in front of me who I was closing in on from about the first mile. I decided that I was going to pass her before the end, which I did in a 15 meter sprint to the finish. Unfortunately, there were two sets of mats (the second set being the finish) and I started to slow down once I crossed the first set. The girl passed me again, I re-picked up my sprint but it was not enough to pass her again, so I lost 1st by one second.

Next time I will know better. Ah, such an idiot error.

Pick up the pace to the end sooner... and,
next time I am going to make someone physically stop my before I stop running at the end ;)

noda


I was proud of myself and I learned a lot. I am officially a triathlete! And, I am officially addicted to this sport.