Water was cold and it took me probably 150-200yds to get my breathing down. By the time I got it under control I was at the back of the pack and had alot of time to make up. I just put my head down and before I knew it I was out by myself and out of the chaos that I started in. After the last turn(250m from the finish) I decided to really push and see how I felt. Now for the bouy that was not inline on the back stretch. We were told before the race to keep all the bouys on our left. So that's what I did, but some of the top swimmers by passed the small bouy and went straight. Shortening the course by 75-100 meters, then after the race we talked to the RD and they said it was a sighting bouy and you didn't have to go around it. Then why did you say to keep all the bouys on the left?

Don't know what else I could do about getting my breathing under control faster. Still had a great swim, all in all. PR my swim by over 7 minutes.

Was a little whoozy coming out of the water. Had a hard time getting out of the wetsuit at my rack.

I need to practice getting out of my wetsuit faster. Usually at wetsuit races they have strippers, here they didn't.

Decided prior to the race that I was going to give as hard of an effort as I could for the 40k and just see what I had left in my legs forthe run. It worked out to my advantage, I felt great for the run, I think I should of pushed harder now. I ran my brother in laws HED90 rear and then my front. I had no computer and no watch, which was great because that was just one less thing to worry about. I knew I had a pretty good swim, but didn't know where I was placed until the turn around. I passed 1 on the first hill right out of transition, then Bobby on the 2nd hill. Then another on the flats before the hill before the turn around. At the turn around I counted 8 bikes in front of me and I knew that I could catch at least one more. I hooked it down the hill and passed him on the way up. Me and this guy (in my AG) went back and forth the rest of the way back, but I finally pulled a little gap on him on the last two hills. I then passed one more guy coming up the last hill. So I knew that I was about 5 or 6. Had a great ride and good confidence booster for me, because I am usually not a climber and I passed several people on the hills.

Push harder? I was close to max effort. I did have a problem getting into my shoes out of T1.

Had a good transition. Slipped the shoes on grabbed my hat, watch, and race belt and off I went.

Nothing. Went great.

After pushing it on the bike and swim, I was curious just how much that I was gonna have left in my legs for the run. Since I'm not a fast runner, I knew that there was going to be some guys that were gonna pass me. First it was the guy that I passed on the last climb, he was cruizing. Then shortly after that 2 others passed me, one of them being the guy I battled with on the bike. I had a great run for me. PR my 10k by 8 minutes and even my stand alone 10k time by 3 minutes. I saw a lot of people out on the run and they were cheering me on and I was doing the same.

Nothing had a great run.

Nice easy 10 min jog and stretch. Then sat in the cold lake, almost like an ice bath.


The swim was the only part that started out bad due to the cold water, but I ended up exceeding my expectations.


RD needs to give better info on the swim and course and I heard a lot of complaints about drafting.