So this was my 1st swim in my new wetsuit and my first salt water open water swim. I jumped in before my swim start to get a quick feel for the water with the urging from my teammates. A lot of people complained about the water temp but i didn't find it to be as bad as people were saying. I started to the back of my wave again and I decided that I would only breathe on one side in order to avoid the waves with some advice from my club members. This worked out good because I naturally breathe better to my left side and doing that allowed me to avoid turning into the waves. For the 1st 200 yards I felt really really good, so good that I was passing people and couldn't believe it! I was like this is amazing if I can keep this up the whole way I will be golden. I felt really buoyant which was a combination of the new suit and the salt water. After the first 200 yards things changed as I lost my flow and took a few breaks in between but all in all it was my best swim effort to date for the fact that no one from the other waves caught me and I wasn't in last or near last after the swim

Just practice more and try to stay relaxed when I feel I am hitting my breaking point

I really need to work on this, I don't think I should be in transition this long. I had a little trouble getting my suit off my heels and the fact that I wear socks and had to clean my feet didn't help. Also I was racked on the opposite end of the bike entry and exit but right near the run start. I fiddled with my watch to get the settings right for the bike. Still 6 seconds faster than my last race

figure out how to shave 30 seconds somewhere

So my goal going into the bike was to average 1 to 1.5 mph more than my last race for between 19-20.5mph. The course was very very flat and fast and I was able to average 21mph without feeling like I pushed to hard. I felt really good on the bike. I drank a good amount to in preparation for the run, 16oz water and 16oz powerade

Nothing really, but for next season I may try the whole leaving shoes clipped onto bike trick to shave some seconds

This transition went really well I feel, was able to slip shoes on really quick grab race belt and go.Takes some seconds however to turn on my foot pod. GPS watch or a better footpod will soon eliminate this

nothing

So I decided to start off faster than I did my last race and I started at around a 6:45 - 6:50 pace according to my watch which I realized needs to be calibrated after this race. I felt really good for the 1st half and then my side started to hurt but I got through it. I wanted to run a 6:30 pace for the entire 5K and at the end my watch said I averaged 6:36 but had the distance as 3.36 miles. I some people with GPS watches had 3.06 miles so I really need to adjust my settings in order to get a more accurate reading

Have my equipment better calibrated

PANCAKES, the served a pancake breakfast after the race


I really enjoyed this race and will be doing it again next year if possible. I don't remember passing many people in my AG as I was trying to look at there legs. I think I am not fast enough to be with the front pack but faster than the back pack so I kind of race in no mans land in my AG. I am however feeling very optimistic about my future in triathlon