This was my first OW swim ever. I played it safe and started about 2/3'rds in the back and to the right. This turned out to be a bad idea.

I was very passive and instead of "battling" and passing, when I reached someone, I'd breaststroke/treaded water to come up with a plan. Well, it turned out that I did have any real plan and so I passed very few. Also, stopping and breastroking/treading really consumed alot of energy. I found that when I did get into my freestyle, I did real well and felt comfortable. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever continuously freesytled for more than 50 yards. All of the stopping and starting really took alot of energy. So, I pretty much exited the water about 2/3'rds in the field.

I also choked on water twice when trying to regroup.

I do feel that I could have easily kept a 2:15 /100m pace if I would have freestyled the entire swim. Oh, well, I'll get better at this.

I really need more experience with OW swims, especially with people all around.

Long (some say 1/4 mi, but I think it was more like .15 mi) run from swim exit to transition area. I really didn't rush (obviously) and talked to a few others in transistion while putting on shirt/shoes/helmet/glasses, etc. I really wanted to be sure I had everything.

Not much, I still have the all-for-fun attitude, so I wasn't rushing though it.

This was my second tri and my second in which my shoestring got caught in my chain. This time, however, I made sure they were tucked in my shoes but I guess they came out. I had to pull off the road and take care of it. Also had to wait a bit before re-entering the course since there were so many dang bikes on the course.

The course had many turns and 4 u-turns with many cyclists on the course. Several times I had to slow down to allow the faster cyclists to pass me before I could get around the cyclist in front of me. Also, the course was quite hilly compared to what I'm used to, but I knew that ahead of time and didn't really pose a problem.

I pass quite a few and was passed by many. About what I expected.

Either get clipless pedals/shoes or get some yankz type laces.

Since I already had my running shoes on, this was pretty quick. 6'th in my AG.

The run was quite hilly compared to what I'm used to. Basically, I have not ever trained on anything but flat surfaces.

The course was advertised as a 5k, but shows 3.5mi in the results. There was a half-mile section through a neighborhood that the volenteers were directing the Sprint runners through that I think was for the Oly only. Looking on the run map provided prior to the race, this section was not there and no mention was made in the pre-race meeting about a change.

The hills killed my calves. I don't think the hills were really bad, but I never run on any type of hills. My calves were tight and in pain after about mile 1 and did not let up. I walked the water statoins and did a little stretching, but it didn't help.

Aside from the course change/error, I did OK althogh slow. My HR decreased over the run due to my legs not being able to push my heart.

With about .1 mi to go, someone came up behind me and told me to push it to the end. I ran with him at about a fast pace and it actually felt good. Looking back on it, the end was completly flat, so that may have been why it felt good.

Add hills to training.

This was only my second tri, so I don't have alot of experience to base my opinions on, but here goes

First, I think this was a HUGE event and it was run very well. Here is what I think could have been better:
1) There was no drink stations setup prior to the race. I expected to be able to get water prior to the start, so I didn't bring any for pre-race. It was announced, though, that there was a water fountain which I used.

2) The sprint run course was not what was given. This didn't bother me much, but it did throw me off a little (and add to my time).

Again, I'm still amazed it went as smoothly as it did and I give big props to Tri-Mania for the event.