You know that cold headache you get when you eat frosty treats too fast? And you think it couldn't get much more painful until you take that next bite too fast and realize it could be MUCH worse? Yep, that was the afternoon swim.

Cold and crampy, that was today's game. I heard about the cramping legs after the bike and feared it on the two loop course, but it wasn't until I got up to run to transition and slammed my foot on a submerged rock that I felt the crippling pain of totally cramped quads and hammmies. I gasped some unmentionables and these two dudes sippin beers on the dock nearby hollered over to me, "welcome to the American Triple-T." And started laughing. Let it be known that I was NOT laughing.

Yeah, putting on a wetsuit after sweating your azz off on the bike...ain't easy.

Ziplock bags to get the feet and hands through the wetsuit was the best advice I received all weekend long. Thanks Rick!

Oh yeah, I remember this course. It's like, ridiculously hard. Still. But this time I had Alaina to trade drafts off -- legally, I promise! it's in the athlete's guide for teams -- which was a little advantage, but really not much for the hills. I mean, what kind of draft can you get going 5mph and barely able to turn the pedals over? The best part was just having someone there to talk to and keep us moving.

Alaina was waiting for me in transition and helped get my suit off and run stuff ready. Helluva teammate that one.

The plan was to stay steady, stay strong, and just get to the turnaround without blowing up, since most of the way back is downhill. The worst nemesis here wasn't tired legs or fatigue but roving gangs of horseflies that brazenly attacked heads with all the bad taste of the Boppers from Warriors. Punks. When you looked down at your shadow, you could actually see their shadows swarming your dome in their best Pigpen imitation.

I actually thought this time through the run course was easier than this morning, probably because I wasn't pushing as hard, instead saving the sticks for what would be a killer trip back up this same route tomorrow for the HIM. We saw some other teams that were going to be very close to our times, but it would all come down to tomorrow's race and if we could hold pace with the other top Co-Ed teams.

Ice bath in the stream near the finish line. Every single race site needs to have a crystal clear creek to sit in at the end. Seriously.


We discovered after the race that a team we didn't think was that close to us had put up some stellar Oly times and would be fierce competition for the top slot tomorrow.