Passed maybe 5 people, so maybe I seeded myself a little low, there was a bit of a logjam on the last lap, so it was tough getting a final burst in before exiting.

Get faster in the swim?

I second guessed myself and went without the shirt in the pool. Coming into transition, which was a bit of a hike from the pool, I was a bit flustered when my bike shirt got tangled up in wet body (again). At least I used a race belt this time, which was a load easier to deal with. Went without socks, which made the transition a load faster.

Get a tri-suit.

Was only passed by 2 freakish guys on superbikes, so I was happy with the effort. The course was kinda undulating, so a lot of gear changes, couldn't stay aero for any prolonged period of time.

More hill work.

The final turn before transition was so short, that taking feet out of shoes would have been a tragedy waiting to happen. The speed humps in the last straight also made it tough. The no socks thing worked well tho, and I was off on the run before I even knew it.

SPIN on the last lap - my calves were burnt on the first 1k of the run!

I bonked early in the run. Even tho I Gu'd during the bike, I think my hydration was what let me down. I developed a stitch after I worked out the calf pain, and really couldn't find my "kick" for the whole run. Only had one guy pass me, and he drafted me for about 2k, so I guess there was some strategy in that.

More brick training. (ok, START brick training)

Stretch, eat, drink.


Experience.


If I was to say 2 words about anyone wanting to do this race next year, they'd be: "RUN AWAY!". There was no timing chip used in the event, all manual...I'm not entirely sure the times are even that accurate...Apparently the timing chip company backed out of the deal with the event, which happened to coincide with a large running event on the same day across Canada, so I'm thinking there was an element of poor planning on the event side. I stuck around for the prizes at the end as they'd hyped up the fact they had some spankin $800 wheels to give away...they renegged once they'd got everyone there. Security was a JOKE! People were wandering through transition area DURING the race. No-one checking bike removal at the end, so one could have stocked up with any number of items should they have seen fit. This after the organizers had lauded the security protocols they planned to have in place. A lot of talk and tease. Disappointed taste in my mouth overall, esp coz I felt I had a good race, a lot of talk and not a lot of walk from the organizers :-(