Solid! Got off to a strong start and didn't let up much the rest of the way. Wanted to push as hard as I could to see how well I could do without worry of gassing out on the run. Not sure what the water temperature was but it was practically HOT - not refreshing at all. Goggles even fogged up a little after the first 500M, which made sighting the buoys (despite them being neon yellow) quite tough thereafter. As usual, spent most of the swim by myself, with no one around worth even trying to draft. Oh well. Definitely my fastest 1500M OWS ever, and quite impressive given that this was my first without a wetsuit! Knee didn't bother me at all - very happy about that.

Nothing.

Didn't run quite as hard from the water to transition as I normally do, and then took a little extra time to dry off my feet before putting on my socks. Wouldn't do that in a tri, but since I had no idea whether I could contend for a medal in the aquabike, I decided to make T1 a little more leisurely.

Since the 2nd place female in the aquabike finished 7 minutes ahead of me and the 4th place female was 5 minutes behind me, clearly the extra seconds I spent here didn't make a difference.

Again, solid! I had a blast working as hard as I could manage, knowing I didn't have to save anything for the run. First 6 miles flew by even though they were mostly a long, gradual uphill; before I knew it, I was at the base of "Heartbreak Hill." As during the Gatorbait Tri in June, I cranked my way up, trying to keep my HR reasonable by managing my breathing. Passed quite a few people walking. Definitely seemed easier the second time, and before I knew it, I was at the top. Spent a little time spinning easy at the top to get my HR back down and drank water, then resumed pushing hard. The next 4 miles passed by quickly and I ate the rest of my Honey Stinger chews at mile 10 (had eaten the first half of the pack about 15 minutes into the ride). The next 2 miles or so til the turnaround felt interminably long for some reason. Hit the turnaround at about 47:30 (which shows you how significantly more uphill the first half was, since I thus covered the second half in under 38 minutes). Decided to go for broke(n) on the way back since it was mostly downhill, and absolutely had a blast bombing my way down the hills (hit 36.5mph down "Heartbreak Hill" - and that was with being conservative and braking a little near the top). Was only passed by a few women the whole ride, and passed quite a few more (and even passed some men). Knee bothered me a little about halfway into the ride but not for long.

Nothing. Quite pleased with this, given my lack of hill training and, well, bike training in general.

Walked around quite a bit.


Haven't been able to train as much or as hard as I'd like, given the knee issue. Heat and hills also played a role, but all considered, I'm very pleased with my performance.


Great race! This organization always puts on unique and well-organized events. Particularly appreciated the volunteers who stopped us as we were about to pull out of the parking lot, to tell us we had a flat rear tire on our car. Only complaint is the LONG wait for the awards ceremony that seems to be common at all their events. I appreciate that they like to wait til most of the athletes are finished, but I'd rather not have to hang around out in the heat for 2 hours after finishing a race!