I didn't get in my preferred position (outside and to the back) when gun went off, so didn't feel ready, but quickly got into my groove. At turnaround point the shore looked much closer than it was and I broke out into a sprint sooner than I should have.

I was extremely dizzy once in T1

Get in water ahead of pack to get into position in time (only a couple minutes between waves), better pacing. DEFINITELY wear earplugs for cold water swims!

As I reached the bike I realized that I was extremely dizzy, with no accompanying nausea, fatigue, unusually high heart rate etc. It was scary because I couldn't stand and had to sit. I was afraid I was going to pass out. After nearly 1 min I felt ok enough to stand but it was even more difficult getting my wetsuit off and remembering what I needed to put on for the bike from being disoriented. Also had to sit to put bike shoes on because I couldn't keep my balance.

I later found out that with cold water swims, the water that gets deep into your ears can cause nystagmus (eye twitching) which can cause dizziness/vertigo. I didn't experience it in my practice swims because my training swim cap fully covers my ears and very little water flows into my ear canals.

I usually have trouble clipping my shoes in, didn't really have problem this time.

Wear earplugs to prevent vertigo in T1, practice getting wetsuit off more quickly

The roads were pretty hazardous. The rain made the roads slick and made it more difficult to see some potholes. There were also a couple areas that had a lot of grooves in the road, like the kind to slow cars down, which added to the hazards.

Get a road bike! I'm still riding my hybrid, although I hit several bumps that made me grateful to have a tougher tire, and on some of the winding downhill turns I didn't have to slow down as much since I had more traction that everyones road tires.

First time wearing bike shoes, so this was the first time I had to change shoes. Definitely slowed me down since I didn't practice this. Extra time taken to remove jacket worn on bike ride. Also had forgotten to put bib on in T1.

Practice!

I wished I had my soloman speedcross3's instead of my brooks pure flow. I think CGI's description was quite inaccurate. I should have brought trail shoes just in case and scoped out the course the day before. It was a beautiful course and despite slipping a couple times I never fell or twisted anything thankfully.

Always be prepared with trail shoes just in case.

Decent food spread - macaroni salad, cookies, muffins, yogurt parfait, fruit. Walked around and stretched while waiting for results to post.


Challenges I didn't anticipate - vertigo coming out of water, trail run

Challenges I anticipated but didn't properly prepare for - rain/cold air temp, T1/T2 with addition of wetsuit and shoe change.


Absolutely loved this race! Very challenging and well organized. Hope to do it again, maybe upgrade my bike and go for a longer distance!