More concerned about band-aids on elbow and shoulder coming off than worrying about nasty water - good. Didn't settle into a good rhythm until about 1/3 of the way through. Stopped at kayak at first turn to give her my nasty elbow band-aid so I didn't leave it in the river. Second turn was a bit wide. Still horribly slow, but that's ok. 100 yd run-- 3:32, beach path was tough-- 5:19 (rank 9 in AG, 67 of women).

Still need more OWS practice and to get used to nasty water and not freaking out. Practice, practice, practice.

Time seems long, but I guess I was pretty beat after the beach path? Took wetsuit off at water's edge and had trouble. Ate 2 Gu chomps because I felt really drained after the beach path. First tri with clipless pedals, and I think I did OK with them.

Learn to do running mounts, have shoes already clipped to pedals.

Legs felt a bit heavy at the start, so I tried to spin to get them loosened up. Eventually got going ok and got to pass a few people (and be passed, too). Was good to see Matt at 2 pts in the course - gave me an extra boost. Probably could have drunk a bit more, and I still feel a little timid due to my crash 2 weeks ago. Still pretty pleased with my bike performance, though.

Learn some better bike handling so that I can feel more comfortable going fast, and drinking while going faster.

Fingers were a little shaky trying to tie my right shoe (left shoe has elastic laces, rt. foot is smaller, so elastic laces don't keep the shoe on tight enough).

Learn faster techniques -- riding with feet on top of shoes, jumping off moving bike, etc. Practice.

I think something is goofy with the time or distance - I don't do 8:29 miles in a stand-alone 5k. Lead legs, tried to keep turnover up. Form was probably pretty ugly. Seemed to take forever to get to halfway pt. Had some nasty side cramps - due to poor form, breathing, dehydration? That ravine sucked. Tough run, but fairly pleased with myself for only walking a little bit (I wanted to walk a lot more).

Work on strength and core to keep form nice, prevent (?) side cramps. Need to learn to drink faster and not wait around the water stop to finish my water.

walked a little bit, sat in grass in shade and ate orange and drank water and talked to Mike, Katie, and Matt (when he got there)


Humidity, need to practice OWS and some other things a bit more, didn't really train the past two weeks due to bike injury.


Fun race - more for fun than super competitiveness. Challenging, but not impossible course.