Going into this swim, I *knew* that I was very under-trained for the swim. I felt comfortable enough to swim the distance, and I expected to be around 20-22 mins, including the run to the mat.

Before I knew it, it was time to go off. I had my sights on a buoy...the wrong one. I went diagonally towards the other one that we had to make a turn around, and I didn't want to get punished, so I changed directions to the one we had to go around first then get to the one that I accidentally was aiming for. Hard to explain, but I lost a little time here.

Told myself not to exhaust yourself too much on the swim because of lack of training, so just swim more causally. Stuck to the plan, and I swam all of it with an easy pace.

Sighting could be a little better. Bilateral breathing was perfect. Last 100, I started kicking to get my legs ready for the next leg. Got out of the water at around 18:30ish. It took some time to run to the T1 timing mat. I'll take it!

Nothing! I was actually a little surprised. I had a much better swim than anticipated. I know I can do 700-800m without issues, but once I start to bump up the distances, I need to train. :-)

Due to the LONG transition, this is where I changed my plan a little bit. My bike shoes are very slippery on asphalt. Feels like I want MTB shoes instead...lol! SO, instead of putting them on at my bike rack, I decided to grab the shoes, and walk them to the mount line, then put the shoes on. Well, I had planned on running, but I didn't and ended up walking instead to the bike mount area and put my shoes on there, then took off on the bike. It kind of bit me a little bit on the bike times, not much to make a dent.

Socks went on easily, CI on, sunglasses, helmet and race belt (this one required number shown on the back on the bike...first time I experienced that), then took bike and went to mount line, shoes on, then took off.

Need to create different transition scenarios and practice them. I have NO issues putting stuff on/off...that stuff I'm VERY quick, but it's the "getting there, leaving" is where I need to work on. I was always afraid of running in my shoes with the cleats that I'll slip. I think I may need to practice more or get a different cleat/pedal system.

Lesson learned: Know the course a little better before going in.

When I was thinking about this race, I was thinking about Las Vegas Triathlon because that's the same course as this one. Re-Reading the RR, I remember that I went down the wrong side and had to run from one side to the other. I still managed to pull a 15.9 mph avg. Putting that to consideration, and now getting familiar on how to arrive to TA better and doing better on the hills, I figured that I will get a PR.

I put my shoes on, mounted my bike and off I went. Took it easy because it's a nice little hill getting out of Boulder Beach onto Lakeshore Drive (which is the main portion of the bike).

I felt like I couldn't control my breathing at all. It could be that I start a nice climb out which wasn't helpful. Sipped my electrolyte mix, and kept going. I didn't push it on the hills as much as I normally would have, just kind of settled at a slower pace.

After a while, I started to realize that there was a high chance that we would be going on the 8% Hill (I call it that, I have no idea what the locals called it). It's about .6 -.8 miles, maybe a little more. When I got there, it was DOWNHILL, but then we would be doing a U-Turn...you got it, it's serious uphill. I was like, OH CR@P! I didn't go as fast as I normally do because by that point my stomach started to revolt a little bit and not feeling "right". Something was off, and I thought perhaps I had too much of a bagel or the Energy Blasts that I took (I know, nothing new on race day, but I figured why not try it out. I've had a couple before, but not during a training run. This isn't an A race, so at least I wanted to try it).

It wasn't until after the tri that I knew what was wrong...

Anyways, after that monster of a downhill, there was a small climb again, U-Turn (I hate making a tight U-turn!), then did the long climb. I passed about 6-8 people on the hill. I was actually a little nervous because I did not want to draft off anyone, so I had to push it a little harder to pass those people to get to a gap where I can stay on the shoulder per race rules. It was pretty easy to climb in fact...thanks to the Villa Ridge climb that I did on Tuesday. This is when I started to feel like, oh I could have pushed it harder on the other hills from the first 5 miles.

Rest of the ride was uneventful, passed a couple people, got passed by a couple of people.

Arrived at TA the RIGHT way. I felt like I did 15 mph avg. Kind of disappointed, but I'm alright with it!

Couple things:
1. Get a little more familiar with the course better and see if there's any LARGE unexpected hills!

2. Push it a little harder

3. DRINK MORE!! <---this was the reason why I wasn't feeling right and felt depleted a little bit on the run. When I went back to TA after the tri - I checked my bottle and saw that I only drank 1/4 of the bottle (had HEED - electrolytes and 100 calories). It was a HOT day! It was so silly because I had a long discussion with another tri friend who did her first Olympic on nutrition. I screwed up, and she didn't. Kind of funny how it turned out that way. I don't practice what I preach!

After I passed the timing mat, I didn't want to run down with my shoes, so I pulled to the side, took off my shoes, then fast walked down. Racked my bike, unbuckled my helmet, and put running shoes on. That just took about 10 seconds easily. Then ran to the Run in area. Slightly disappointed with the times, but I was faster than the majority of the females, so I'm happy with that.

Learn how to run better with the bike. I felt awkward. I think because I normally hold my bike on my right side...this one I had it on my left side, so it just felt a little weird.

I tried to push it a little bit, but the first second was VERY rocky and they look like ankle breakers. I nearly have no experience running on a rocky surface. ONE time - two years ago, that's it. I was way slower here. Walked some of it, ran, walked. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't crazy about it. I wasn't the only one that felt that way, so I feel a little better. Got to Aid Station, poured water on my head, sipped on Gatorade, kept in mind to only drink a small amount because of prone stomach cramps with Gatorade.

Finally on asphalt, ran a little faster and just kind of kept it on an easy pace. Got to the U-Turn (which was about 20 min - 13:xx pace. Yuck), and all of sudden I had endorphin rush. And ran the rest of the way pretty good. Got back on the trail again, and I was able to go a little faster/better due to not so rocky on that part.

Pushed it through to the finish line within 15:xx at 10:30 pace, including running on the rocky part.

Got hugged by a friend who was injured and couldn't do this triathlon due to MTB accident just a couple weeks ago. Grabbed a lot of oranges, chocolate milk, water bottle, and just kind of reeled in the day.

Looked at my watch, and I got a PR for 5K on a Sprint. Regardless of the trail portion of it, I'm really happy that my running has gotten a lot better.

I knew that there was some trail running here, but I didn't run the course. I wished I did, then I would feel more comfortable running on this surface.

Stretched a little, drank more, went to the lake for "ice bath", got a massage and she really worked it on my shoulders because they were feeling VERY tight and a lot of knots. She looked at me shocked when she felt my shoulders.

Met up with friends of mine and talked about the race. Hung around for about an hour to 2 hours, and walked the run course to find my friend who was doing her first Olympic (she finished it in 4 hrs, and had a total BLAST!).

Sunday Note: My body does not feel sore at all. The only areas is the muscles by the shoulders due to the hard massaging. I expected that, but wow, that was painful. I did some research online, and it is expected to feel a lot of soreness, especially if it's the "first massage". This is the first time in a LONG time.


Swim - Lack of training, but that's expected anyways, so I really don't care about it! :-)

Bike - Know the course a little better and DRINK MORE or it'll affect my run!

Run - more trail running experience. I won't be doing any trail runs between now and Irongirl because Irongirl course is more hillier and all on asphalt. I think I may incorporate some trail runs (not rocky though!) for my HIM training though.

I originally wasn't going to do this triathlon because I felt like I wasn't trained enough. However, after finding out that a lot of my Tri club buddies are also doing this course, and I felt comfortable enough that I can finish it without serious issues. I registered just about a week and half before this triathlon. I'm real glad I did because I know what to work on (and they're minor things actually) before Irongirl. It's kind of funny because even with some lack of training, I can still do it and have a great time! If it was an Olympic or HIM it will be a different story, I know better than that!

While I did not get a PR for a Sprint (except for the Run PR), it wasn't meant to be a "push it and give all you got" race. More of see what I can do, and what to work on for Irongirl.

Can't wait for the next one and start some serious training!! :-)



This was a GREAT race. They finally added porta potties on the bike course, even for the Sprint. There was even aid stations for the Sprint bike course. Of all the tris I've done, there was no aid stations for the bike course. There was a girl just in front of me that grabbed the gel from the volunteer, so I didn't get the chance to try to grab something from a volunteer on the bike. Oh well!

The company also puts on Pumpkinman, and I remember when I did Pumpkinman, there was NO aid stations on the bike course or porta potties...and I had to go #2 badly.

So I'm real glad that they listened to what need to be fixed.

I definitely would like to do this next year and KILL IT! :-)