Hot water - no wetsuits. Pretty nervous at the start. Being my first race, it was really cool to watch the swim waves go off. I was in the last wave (first timers) so I got to watch everyone go off. Swam about as I had expected. Breaststroked about 1/3 of the distance to catch breath/sight/cough up Lum's Pond water). I was still getting in 10-20 strokes on the last stretch between rests and I never had panic/hyperventalating problems so I was pleased over all. Beat my goal of 30 min. for my first OW 1/2 mile swim.

Try to swim more freestyle, but it's easy to say that sitting hear at the computer. I gave it my best and I'm not disappointed.

No wetsuit made this a piece of cake. Happy with T1.

Bring a small cooler with ice to keep bottles and running hat cold.

Great bike. Felt like I didn't push it too hard and had a good time.

Possibly drank more gatorade/water. Not sure if that would have helped on the run.

Not much to do here since I don't have clipless peddles. Took my time getting a drink. Went down the wrong rack of bikes, but that didn't slow me down much.

First mile was ok. I was taking it easy and going slow because I knew I was getting hot. Had to walk through the water station - not winded or out of energy, just overheated. Mentally tough to accept that I had to walk after all my training, but I had to...I was starting to get chills and goosebumps so I'm sure some sort of heat exhaustion was not far away. Had a hard time cooling down after the race.

Not sure how much to attribute to the heat and how much to training. I think I wouldn't have had a problem running the entire distance if it weren't for the heat - I had done several bricks this length with no problems.

Hose on head and neck. Gatorade, water, banana.


Heat - heat index 95-100 when we were finishing.


3 stalls for the men and no porta pots. Waited in line 20-25 min. to use the bathroom which I would have liked to use to warm up, stretch, and mentally prepare.