My first race swim. My opinion... bad, bad, bad. Didn't get as much swim training as I would have liked leading up to the event. I started off well but just couldn't find my rhythym at all. I am sure some of it was mental, as the swim was the great unknown and I was concerned about sapping my strength in the pool. I am not that fast of a swimmer right now, so I wasn't expecting to set any records, but I spent way too much time with my head above water.

On the plus side, I didn't stop and didn't hang on the ropes.

I just need to develop a more consistent swim training plan and be able to find my rhythym and stay with the stroke.

Everything was damp in transition, besides getting out of the pool (duh), which made slipping on my bike shoes a little more time consuming. I put the tri top on in T1, which took longer than planned, and conciously took a few seconds to relook everything and make sure I had it all together. Crossed the mount line, off to the side, and did a standing mount. Off to the races...

Actually use the plastic bags I brought to keep my towel dry. Come up with a better plan for the shoes, and swim with the tri top on. Now that the weather is warm and I can get the bike outside, work on speeding up the mount time.

Overall, happy with the ride. I fell a little behind my goal (12mph) on the hills (I saw 9 at one point) but kept a steady climb going the whole way. Conservative in the corners due to the road conditions and the fact that I have only had about 3 rides with the bike in this configuration.

Anticipate the downhills a little more and get speed up sooner. Also need to practice gearing at bottom of hills to find the right combo to carry speed up the hill as much as possible. Drink more on bike.

I had practiced riding feet out of shoes, but didn't want to disturb my first race karma, so I opted not to test the theory in front of a crowd on a wet road. Those seconds didn't mean anything in this race anyway. Unclipped, nearly standing dismount and shuffled to T2.

Practice a faster, barefoot dismount. Drink more on the bike. Had a slight side cramp as I knelt to slip on running shoes. Consider downshifting earlier to relax legs on last part of ride.

Pretty happy with the run as well. Shook off the heavy legs fairly quickly (1/4 mi?) and found my pace. I am sure the transition music helped since headphones are not allowed on the course. One water stop on the out and back 1 mi/2 mi point, they were only on the backside of the course. I would have preferred them on the outside, water in the last mile doesn't do much. There were almost a few collisions with people crossing each other for water. Probably should have had a table and vols on both sides.

Negative splits pretty much the whole way, and I felt pretty good after the first 1/2 mi. It was just the unknowns, and the fact that I wanted to finish upright that kept me from pushing harder. Pushed the last 500m pretty hard, but could have started sooner and pushed harder.

Just keep moving. Walked, chip removal, walked, banana, coffee, high 5 for a job well done, then collected my gear before the big rain rolled in. Finished the warm-down with a few tall carb-loaded icy beverages and wings at BW3s


Other than the swim, which I need more training on, the majority of my limitations were mental. Now that I have "been there, done that" I can compare my bricks to an actual race experience and be able to adjust my performance to that.


This is my first Tri and my first HFP event but I have been to numerous running events (large and small). I think this race was well organized and supported. Enthusiastic volunteers and supportive spectators despite the less than perfect weather. Packet pickup was generally speedy, if they could have lined things up a little better there might have been less chaos before the race. The chaos/crowding mainly came from the packet line and chip line criss-crossing and intermingling right between the only door from the parking garage and transition area. Thankfully, pretty much everyone was helpful and polite to each other.

Overall, I had a great time with my first race and look forward to making some improvements over the next 6 weeks.