This was definitely my best swim ever. I was able to keep going, which is something new. The only issues I had was that my arms and shoulders were a bit sore, but it wasn't enough to really hurt my swimming. overall, I was really happy with it.

Well, I got the whole confidence/anxiety thing under control (read--breathing is okay now), so now it is time to work on SPEED! Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.

I was a little wobbly getting to transition (lots of run time from water to trans. and the parking lot that trans was in was really rough and jagged--lots of rocks/pebbles--not fun for bare feet!). This transition was faster than the one I did at this tri last year, so I am not disappointed with it

toughen up my feet! practice the transitions.

Possibly my worst bike performance...I knew the course was difficult, but it truly kicked my butt. I ended up having to walk up the hill of death (no surprise), but I didn't walk up the other hills that I had to walk up last year. Leaving transition one I was having a lot of problems breathing, so that didn't help things. On one of the few flat spots in the first couple miles I managed to get the heart rate/breathing under control, just to have everything rise again at the next incline. When I reached the hill of death, I couldn't even make it a 4th of the way up and had to dismount. When I reached 3/4 of the way up, there were a couple of people 'cheerleading' (there's a lot of those at this race--its really cool!)--they yelled that there was ice-cold beer at the top waiting! Oh if only...
After that it was into some steep rollers--7% up followed by immediately downhill, then another one...and so on..after the long stretch of rollers, it was into a residential area, onto Auburn-Folsom Blvd--a 4 lane street. We followed that then onto the road next to Railhead Park--where transition 2 was; we bypassed the park and went through this business parking lot--that was unpaved, full of potholes, and gravelly...not pleasant. this led to ANOTHER neighborhood, with a couple VERY steep hills. I had to walk one of them. After that it was onto a frontage road next to the freeway--some rolling hills but nothing majorly steep--unfortunately, my speed was averaging about 9mph on those hills. The frontage then went through an underpass across the freeway to another road--more roller and then a STEEP downhill--the sign said it was a 12% grade; my first thought was crap I have to climb this on the way back...the second thought was I am going 42 mph on this!!!! It was very fast. After about 2 more uphill miles, I reached the turnaround, and then got to face the hills I just did. Luckily, apart from the 12% hill(which I had to walk up), it was mostly downhill back to transition. It did NOT help that the bottle of Gatorade I had on the bike was icky. I had filled/mixed it earlier in the week, and it hadn't sat well--lesson learned, mix electrolytes FRESH for the race. This was a tough ride--the half has even MORE hills (including one named "LeMond walked"...that says something), so I'll stick to the sprint...for now.

HILL REPEATS....I need that. I also need to continue working on my speed. As for my bike, I NEED to get it tuned up, the derailler does not like switching gears smoothly. Often when I switched gears on the hills, it would get harder pedaling until it switched--unfortunately that would take anywhere from 2-15 seconds to switch. This was a very tough course, and though I know the lack of training and the bike issues were the main issue, it wont ever be an easy course--I need to train better for next year.
Yes, I WILL do this one again.

Nothing bad here--it went smoothly.

nothing.

The run course is decent, its not a hard course, though a bit warm. By this point, my breathing was not good. I was able to run a lot of it, but I did have to walk a bit as well. Luckily, my tri club had an aid station about 2.5 miles in, and they were very good about making sure I had fluids and icy sponges--very helpful on the way back in (it was quite hot by that point).

Run run run--I need to train more. I also need to stop getting colds in the weeks before a race.

walked around and grabbed my food


breathing. lack of training for the two weeks prior to the race.


Halfway through the run I decided that I was going to get a burger later on cause "I DESERVED IT!!!". After the race, it turned out that the post race feast included burgers!! Also, the best grapes and strawberries EVER.
Clint was wonderfully thoughtful and brought along a chair to sit in--that was great.
I truly enjoy this race, it will always be special, knowing that it was my first ever triathlon. It does help, knowing that I get a discount for every year I complete in this race, but I would still compete regardless. Its well done, and the community really supports it--there are so many residents that will come out and yell support to us--its such a great feeling! I did improve over last year, moving from 5th from last up to 7th from last! Maybe next year I'll break out of the bottom 10...