This was my first Oly, and my third triathlon. After about 100 meters I started to hyperventilate, and even panicked a little. I had to calm myself down. Once I was "calm" I tried to get into a groove but couldn't. My breathing sucked and thus my stroke and technique went out the window. The waves of course weren't helping. But in the end, I sucked it up and pushed through. I was battling myself out there as much as I was fighting the chop and clock.

Try to do more open water swims with crowds. My conditioning wasn't the issue. From what I understand, hyperventilating thing is fairly common for newbies such as myself. I've got to learn to deal with it, relax and push past it.

The first 11-miles was tough. We had a strong head wind on our outbound ride. The crowds were brutal as well. Riders were bunching up, blocking the passing lane. The refs rode by just passing out penalties left and right. It's like people didn't care or know about the various rules. I really tried to push through the crowds - which I did and didn't get a penalty. Not precise, but I believe my average speed outbound was about 14 mph. The turn around was great. With the wind at my back I was averaging around 24 mph I believe - sometimes faster sometimes slower. I was zipping by plenty of other racers, although my overall average time was somewhat disappointing. On the return trip I saw at least three wrecks.

Not sure what else I could do. I just need to keep up the training for endurance and speed. Dealing with wind, I believe, is just part of the challenge which I accept and embrace.

Right off the bike I could feel the slight tingling sensation of cramps in my legs. Damn - I didn't drink enough on the bike. The first few aid stations I grabbed Gatorade and didn't push myself as much as I had planned. My though was I didn't want my cramps to get worse. I kept passing other runners but I wasn't going as fast as I had trained for. Later on after the race my mother told me that it looked like I had plenty of energy and that i was "just cruising along." OUCH! She was probably right...ok she was right. Not sure why I held back during the run but I did. Maybe I was conserving my energy for the bridge, didn't want to increase the cramp issue but either way I'm not sure.

Leave everything out on the race. Push harder during the run and drink more on the bike.

Myself. The only reason i didn't go faster was because of me.