I'm happy the water had warmed up for last week. With the rain, I was worried it was going to be sub-60 degrees, but it really wasn't bad. I think adrenaline helped! I really didn't push it as hard as I could have on the swim, in preparation for knowing the bike and run would be much more difficult legs. Didn't have too many problems with goggles. Sightbreathing was okay.

Pay more attention to stroke, sightbreath less, more head-down time.

The water must have been colder than I thought, b/c it took a minute for brain to catch up and decide what to do next. Had to sit on the ground to remove legs of wetsuit. Walked/trotted to bike on area. Breathing was great, as was stress. Just sort of took this as a minute to myself.

Move faster, run to bike on.

I didn't mind the driving rain too much, except on downhills, where the rain stung my face. Tempurature was just right, so I didn't get overheated. I felt really fresh throughout the race. About mile 20, my legs did get a little sluggish. Also about this time, I stopped feeling my toes, as it was getting windy and cold. My feet just went numb. I loosened my shoes a bit and wiggled to keep everything circulating. My right front brake pad rubbed (with the sand, I did a number on my rim).

With more time before the race, I could have adjusted the brake pads to prevent rubbing.

Wow my feet were realy cold!! I skipped socks for the run, as they wouldn't have kept anything dry on the run and, though I know there would be chafing in my shoes, it would have been worse with soggy socks. Everything went really smoothly here - number and Fuel belts on quickly, shoes on quickly, hat, and I was outta there.

If it weren't raining so hard, I would have added socks for the run (foreshadowing).

Lin-Mark didn't give me an overall rank for the run, and my watch said just under an hour, but nevertheless...The run was good. The first mile+, I still couldn't feel my feet, so it was a run more than a shuffle. I loosened up a bit, and treated myself to some clean water and jellybeans (sweet - and yummy!). The hills weren't too bad. I did walk up around mile 3.5 at the turnaround. I got faster towards the end b/c I really wanted to get in under an hour. I actually passed people, which is a first for me on a run!! I felt very strong at the end, and sprinted to the finish!

I probably could have pushed a little harder on the run, overall.

Walked around, packed up all the soggy, muddy clothing. Didn't feel hungry, so didn't wait in the food line. Met up with club members, then headed back for a long walk to the car. My feet, at this point, had huge oozing blisters from the soggy run, so flipflops and the sandy roades were killing me. My husband couldn't join me today, so I carried everything by myself back to the car, which took a good 30 minutes, I was going so slow. It was at this point that I could feel the toll my body had taken. I developed full-body hives, as I often do when it is really cold out, which was uncomfortable, but a hot shower at home helped soothe this.


Training, training, training. More milegage needed. More consistent training (physical). Mentally, I think I had great strategies and pace today; I didn't much think about the rain until the end, when all I wanted were warm clothes and food. I was really pushing myself to endure, and I suceeding in beating my goal time by more than 15 minutes.


The transition area was flooded and muddy (not their fault), but perhaps lay some boards around the muddier sections, so your bike didn't sink in. The transition area was also a little tight, so this was tough to navigate. The course was very well-staffed with people and drinks, and having the mile markers broke up the run course, which was nice. GREAT goodie bag, and souvenier towel and shirt.