There were no waves since it was a pretty small race. I started out trying to stay out of the way as I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Started out nervous and I thought I had settled down by the end, but you couldn’t tell by my heart rate. I started the bike with a way higher heart rate than I have coming out of the pool or training OWS. My sighting was terrible, and I went way wide on the parallel portion, but was able to settle down and pleased that finishing the swim at all wasn’t as big a concern as I thought. I didnt get mangled too much since the faster folk were in the water before me.

Look for bouys more often and swim lots more in training.

As a first timer, I wanted to keep some things a surprise. For instance, I consciously decided not to practice transitioning or check out the bike course before the race. My goal was to finish only, so I wanted to embrace the chaos and leave transitions for another day. It wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be and took less time than I figured on.

Maybe get some bike shoes to wear on bike rides. I just wore running shoes throughout. When time allows, I'll investigate the benefits that clipped in bike shoes provide over the straps that came with my bike.

This race starts with a pretty steep hill that you only have to do once. At the top you start two loops. I think this was my faster bike rides and I didn’t feel like I was pushing it too hard since I still wasn’t sure I'd be able to finish the day. This race confirmed for me that hills that I do most of my training rides on are more than "rolling" and I can stop beating myself up over not breaking a 13mph average while training on them. The hills on the race were very manageable, even the first steep one. The roads were wet with a light rain falling and I was all torqued up, so my first downhill was a bit of a disaster. I started to do a crazy wobble that I tend to do when I tense up and feel like I'm going to spill. The only other mishap was popping off my chain once, costing maybe 1 minute. I tend to finish each bike ride feeling like I can do more miles, but can’t go faster. This is the first time I've ever rode with other people so one thing I noticed is that I spend a lot of time out of the saddle with slow, hard cranking, while others were keeping a fast cadence. At first I thought maybe they had way more power, but since we were near each other (they had not already blown past), it must be proactive gear changing. All and all the bike ride was a lot of fun and traffic control was great.

Try to get out and ride with people who know what they are doing and pick up some technique.

Since I had my running shoes on, there was really nothing too it except that I had to double back when I left my watch/hrm on the bike.

Nothing much

The run was the same rolling hills except for the start and finish. I started by walking a few hunderd yards to get the rubber out of the legs and I think pushing a run would get me up the hill much faster. Overall, I felt like I was pushing it hard, but in the last 1/2 mile I went WAY too fast for someone who was really pusing it. Felt good and got to see a lot of good people be supportive of each other.

Next time, push harder, especially in a race that ends on a hill that you could basically roll down with gravity. That's not to say I should have done that this time. I was in no mood to risk a DNF.
Also, shut off the alarm on the HRM. I had to stop my watch since the constant beeping was a nuisance. In training, it tells me to take it easy but didn't serve much of a purpose in a race.

Felt pretty good. I hung around to clap for the fast folk and went home for a barbeque and a few too many beers.


Training time. I started this year and am building a base. I plan to add some intensity in the Winter since I hate long workouts inside anyway.


It was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday morning. I felt so good I signed up for an Olympic in October. I better get swimming since there is a big difference between 0.3 miles and 0.9 miles for a novice swimmer. Thanks to all of the BTers out there. This site has been a huge help for me this year.