I enjoyed the swim! I mentally broke it down into 3 races each one was one leg of the course. I was in the 4th wave (waves were done by age group) and by the end of the swim I had passed people in all 4 of the preceding waves. The wind was blowing hard 20-25 and was right in your face on the way out. The seas were about a 1’ high with white caps. I swam plenty of times in conditions like this so it was nothing new to me. It took a few minutes to adjust my breathing to the wave frequency during that adjustment time I swallowed some water. One nice feature about swimming in fresh water is that you don’t choke on the water when you swallow it and as a side benefit I was well hydrated at the start of the race. My arms were starting to feel it at the end of the 3rd segment but I was close to the end and I didn’t want to use my legs up so I just pushed through.

I was happy overall with the swim. The conditions were tough but they were the same for everyone.

can you say KICKED ASS - placed 7th overall in T1!

nothing

The strong wind was in my face on the way out of transition and then became a cross wind for a good portion of the bike leg. My computer died, I think the magnet got bumped while on the rack so it never read any data and just turned off. Due to the wave start of the race I couldn’t really tell how I was doing on the bike. I pretty much held my own and even passed people on the bike. Usually I’m getting my butt handed to me so I’m always pushing harder so I don’t lose ground. Anyway it was an enjoyable ride.

I should have pushed a little harder on the bike.

It was a good T2 - I placed 131.

My feet were frozen when I got off the bike. Talk about bricks – my feet were 2 bricks for about a ½ mile. I was doing really well and then about at the 1.5 mile mark my left knee was hurting a little. I stopped running and walked and then I up’d my cadence and shortened my stride and the knee felt fine for the rest of the run. This has happened to me in the past I’m sure this was just lack of conditioning.

I should have probably worn my neoprene knee braces.

I did a lot of post race stretching. I also drank in a lot of fluids after the race.


Overall I was happy with my race. In hindsight I think I used my hip bursitis as an excuse not to train. Interestingly my hip was never an issue during the race. I think mentally and physically I was done with training. It was a long season for me being my first full tri-season. It was very fulfilling but at times it was mentally and physically exhausting.

I had some mixed reactions to my race results when I shared them with some friends. This race was highly competitive. I actually did better in this race in my age group than the North Fork race in which I placed 20/46. This race I was 14/30. Go figure.