This was my first Oly tri as well as my first tri in open water. It's is definately different. With only one ows practice I knew this was going to be an experience. I did the 'start in the back outside' and not in the middle and i still managed to completely swim over one person and get my goggles knocked off me twice. Sighting was tough as there were no objects in the distance for reference. I'm sure I was all over the place. I wanted to take the swim somewhat easy since i'm inexperienced and still had 2 hrs of race left but i wanted to go quicker than that. When i got out of the water i was pretty shocked and depressed with my swim time.

more practice swims in open water

my philosophy going into this race was 'float the swim, kill the bike, hang on for the run' so i wanted to push it just enough to have something left. I'm pleased with the 20.3 mph but think i could've gone faster (easy to say now, 3 days after the race). The last couple months i focused more on the bike and it showed. I passed quite a few people on the bike most on uphill climbs.

nothing

rack bike, throw on shoes, grab gu packet and off

/2 mile into my run i heard footsteps behind me and got that immediate "i need to go faster" thought but reminded myself to stick to my race plan of 8 min pace for miles 1 and 2 then evaluate. for the first 2 miles I took in small amounts of gu then dropped it. mile 3 i was feeling good began to pick up the pace then started cramping. cramping wouldn't go away and i thought to myself 'i wish i wouldn't have thrown down that 1/2 of gu packet'. just as i thought that i remember i threw it down somewhere around here (threw it down on the way out and now i'm on the way back) and no kidding there is MY half gu packet. i quick picked it up, looked at the guy who's been behind me the entire run and said "it's mine i swear" and ate the rest. that 1/2 packet kept the cramps away the rest of the run. around mile 4 i was feeling okay so i picked up the pace a bit. a few people passed me on the way and i assumed one of them was the guy who was behind me the entire time. needless to say around mile 5 i began hearing familiar footsteps again, gave a quick look and saw that the same guy who has been behind me the since the start is still there. i evaluated and felt pretty good so decided to kick it in. race my last mile in 7:20. If i would've went out fast i wouldn't have had any gas left. If that guy would've passed me i would've gotten 4th in my AG instead of 3rd

take in a litte more salt on the bike to help with cramping

bananas, bagels, oranges


$75 entry fee was steep especially since you only got a short sleeve cotton shirt and a tiny package of body glide. good race overall. weather.com said 10% chance of rain the entire morning with 60% chance starting at noon. well that was completely backwards. I misted and rained the entire morning and stopped at 1pm. oh well, everyone had to race in it.