There were a lot more weeds than I had expected, I think because the course went off to the side instead of straight out the beach area. Also, they decided at the last minute to merge the last two waves, so even though I was at the back of my original wave, adding the wave behind me meant I was stuck in the middle of the crowd. Didn't start regularly front crawling until nearly the turn-around. Water felt a lot warmer than the air.

more practice in open water, get used to weeds!

Didn't wear my wetsuit, and I put my shoes on before leaving... so... yeah. The girl at the spot next to me wanted to chat - sorry!

Learn some techniques for faster transition, like jumping on the bike and starting with my shoes already on the pedals... we'll see.

Um, that was definitely more like 25 miles. Bike computer says 25.1 with an average of 17.4 mph. Felt pretty good, even though I had the Barney song in my head for a little while. Was really able to pick up the pace in the last several miles, partially due to a light tailwind? I was super happy at consistently seeing speeds of 19-20 mph - practically unheard of! I fueled better than I had been during training rides - calories every 20 minutes, instead of 30, so no bonking! I started off a bit conservative since I was worried about bonking, but was really able to push it at the end.

Racks were sort of unstable, and the transition area was a little chaotic so hard to navigate while running with a bike. I wish speed laces got the shoes tight enough for my feet.

Learn to jump off a moving bike (I keep saying this, but never do it...)

I actually felt pretty good getting going - a little jelly legs, but not too bad. Felt like I was able to keep a good cadence, but there was no one near me for the last 1/4 mile or so, so no great motivation for a push at the end. Might have been able to break that 27 min... People had sprinklers out, which was awesome, and the spectators in the neighborhoods were great. Only stopped at one aid station for a bit of water, in my mouth and on my head.

speedwork?? more bricks, better bike fitness.

Not much, got some water, crackers and cheese, cookies, a pancake, stood around chatting with Katie and Mike


training?


Not badly run, but it seemed like things took a little while to get going that morning (partially waiting for fog on the lake to clear). I was a little disappointed by the (dis)organization of transition area, sturdiness of the bike racks, and the post race food. Not much protein! The bike racks that were on the hill (my rack) kept falling over, and I think it would have made sense to have the transition areas for the half and the sprint separate, if at all possible. Then we wouldn't all have been getting in each others' way.