This first leg was fine as far as heat. I tried to pace myself, although I knew round 2 of the run was going to be brutal so I toyed with the idea of going hard in this first leg. But I knew better than that, and tried to run at a good clip but not blow up my legs.

maybe could have gone a little faster, but I'm overall pleased.

I'm estimating this transition time. I think I got my bike stuff together pretty quickly.

I was surprised how tired I got on the bike. I think I'm not used to going race pace for a full, non-stop 17 miles. On my longer rides, I stop and do intervals and stuff. Need to work on that before the August Oly. I was definitely cruising at the beginning and slowed down quite a bit for the lat 5 miles or so. Not sure if it might have had a bit net uphill for that part, or if I was just tired. I thought I passed smart and geared smart.

I'm not sure if it was a good idea to go out hard (it didn't feel hard at the time) or if I should have tried to pace myself more. I also had some cazy chafeage that was killing me for the second half of the ride. Ugh. So I'd wear different tri shorts!

This T was a little slower. I took the time to get some Gatorade in me, dump some water on my head, b/c I knew this was going to be a challenging run

nothing.

Phew! This was a scorcher!! And even in the woods, I felt like my head was going to explode and at one point I thought I might vomit. had to walk a few times. The woods were just so stagnant feeling. It actually felt better on the road. I was really dragging, mixing walk and run, and then this woman who I passed on the bike and had looked like she was struggling at that time passed ME on the run! I was like, oh no you don't! (Also, she was a good 25 years older than me). I told her she was looking good and then stayed running with her. As we rounded the turn towards the finish, another woman came cruising by and I said, let's do this! I ran as hard as I could for the finish.

I don't know how you prepare for this heat in a June 2 race when the weather hasn't been above 65 for weeks.

misters! water!


HEAT (and maybe a tiny bit of lack of training).


I beat last year's time by 5 1/2 minutes!! That is awesome, especially in this heat (although last year's conditions were adverse as well - but I think heat is more limiting as far as speed).
I like this race a lot, even though there's not a lot of fanfare. it is very well organized and I really like the course. On day, we'll have perfect weather! Last year, it was a monsoon, with 55 degree temps, driving rain (mostly for the bike segment, of course) and 30 mph gusts - I almost got blown off my bike! This year, the Sahara. I'll probably keep trying.