FIRST OPEN WATER SWIM!!!!!! Very happy with the experience, especially given the circumstances. The air was cool, the water was cold, the wind was blowing small waves straight at us out of the start, and there was a slight head, cross, tail current throughout the race. Despite all that, my sighting was respectable, and my swim was relatively quick, as I came out of the water 3rd in the men's group.

Better fitting wetsuit. The rented suit was binding up around my neck and chaffing. I need to commit to buying a suit if I'm going to do much open water swimming.

I was pretty slow in transition. I started stripping the wetsuit as I came out of the water, but it took a little time getting the suit over the ankles and getting into run gear. As with the July Tri, I was breathing pretty hard coming out of the water, and took a little extra time to just settle and try to let my heart rate come down.

Not much really. I wasn't fast, but this was more of a training event, so I wasn't trying to set the world on fire in transition.

I'm still damn slow. My pace was even a bit slower than the July Tri, but I suspect that the July Tri course was actually a bit short of the reported distance (5K). I got passed by about a dozen people, but my breathing was good and I felt okay on the run. My run will get faster with time.

Not much really. I just need to keep training on the run. I expect that my speed won't come for a while, and for now, I'm still building a comfortable base. After I run a 10K this fall and settle into a normal run training program with a comfortable base, I'll start running hills, sprints, fartleks, etc. to get faster. In the meantime, I'm happy to just keep training and racing and not worry too much about my run time.

Stretching, drinking water, vitamin water.


Nothing except training.


Loved the Dip & Dash event for a mid-week training race. I will sign up for the whole series next year to break up my training and provide some fun and interesting diversions.