I felt the most confident in this leg going in, and the most disappointed after. The start was out at the first buoy in the lake, which was approximately 75 meters from shore, and we could swim out after the prior wave started. As soon as I got into the water and started swimming, there was pond grass everywhere. It made visibility worse, and then I started getting tangled in it. That made me panic a little. I was ready for open water, but not that. And that was all before the gun sounded. I wasn't even out to the buoy before the gun started.

Once the gun sounded, I got moving, and eventually got into a rhythm, but the grass was an issue through the entire course. About two-thirds of the way through the swim my shoulders started aching and burning - I'm assuming it was due to the grass - but I had finally relaxed and started passing people from my wave, which felt great, but I knew I was shot. I had burned too much energy fighting in the pond grass.

The whole concept of training would have helped. I think if I had focused more in the swim on what I was actually doing in terms of stroke I could have preserved some energy. I was probably thrashing a bit too much.

Didn't dry my feet well enough and my feet got caught up in my socks. Aside from that, this went much quicker than I had anticipated. Trotted to the mount line - the line was a grassy slick uphill from transition, and I didn't want to wipe out.

Aside from drying my feet, nothing.

I wasn't happy about this, because I knew the course. I was still sucking wind after the swim, and right out of the gate there were two big hills. I had to get off the bike for a few minutes and walk to catch my breath, which was REALLY disappointing - but then again, with minimal training, I should have seen it coming. The rest of the course was pretty decent. I kept moving smoothly, passed a few people, and aside from those first few hills, was happy with it.

Um, yeah, train.

I was pleased with this. A lot faster than I thought I would have been. I had to walk down the hill - again, slick grass - but my legs felt great.

Nothing.

My legs felt great after the bike - I would have to say that the bike fittings this summer were HUGE. No real brick-like feeling. The problem was the lack of training. I did better than I thought I would in this leg - the first mile wasn't great - I kept sucking wind - but the second mile was much better as I got into a rhythm and was able to run longer distances before having to walk. If it had been a 5K, the last mile would have gone well.

Train.

Stretched and then went back to John's for breakfast with his family.


I'll give you three guesses, but you'll only need one.


This is a great race, especially for beginners (or people like me, who have been away for a while). Neil and everyone at Piranha do a great job with their races. While I was disappointed with all of the pond grass in the lake, it's a challenging bike, and a good run.