Swim went alright. I was the third one in the water. I always get ansy about these seeded events. People tend to exaggerate extremely when it comes to their swim times and I was hoping I wouldn't get stuck having to pass plenty of people. Turns out I didn't have to pass any because a few of the people who put in faster times than us top swimmers must have had a look at us and got scared off or realized they made a mistake and went further back in the line. No big deal. I was touching the toes of the guy ahead of me just as we were getting ready to get out of the water, so it was nice to of gained some ground. I'm at home in a pool, so this was all very clear cut for me.

Not much. I need to order a new pair of goggles since my right lens filled up with water right as I started. They are over a year old and I knew better!

I NEED TO WORK ON THIS MORE! I think besides the typical stuff everything went well. I mean it was only 25 seconds, it's just I think I can go faster if I practiced more.

Practice my transitions more. I can save some seconds on both of them if I did. I took forever it seemed to get into my shoes once I was riding, which means I haven't done it for almost 7 months or so...practice young padawan.

The bike went ok. I took forever getting my feet into my bike shoes as I rode which I stated earlier. Need to practice that more often in a hurried atmosphere. Otherwise the course was pretty simple. There were a few hills, but I would call them more of a false flat than anything else. This is central Illinois after all. There isn't a lot of elevation gain out there! A couple spots in the road were rough here and there, but overall it was nice country backroads that had volunteers at the intersections to make sure everyone was good. Quick course I think.

The bike is by far my worst discipline. I know if I devoted the time to it I could gain another mph pretty easily I think. It's just I love to run and well...yeah I need to hit the bike workouts harder and more often.

I could have hoped off the bike quicker, but being my first tri I was taking things a little on the safe side. I need to practice my running dismounts more often to get more used to doing it. I could have ran a little faster with my bike, but felt I did ok with the speed I went. I had the bike turned around very quickly and noticed the girl who's bike was next to mine must have still been on the swim since her bike was still there, so I had to avoid that somewhat, but otherwise that went well. Shoes took me longer than I expected to get on, but I felt my left calve start to cramp for a second, so I turned my body a little to avoid that. Once they were on I took off running with my sunglasses in my mouth so I could snap my race belt on.

Practice my running dismount more and putting shoes on in grass with somewhat wet feet more often. The two guys who beat me were both faster in T2 than I was. I don't know why, but they must practice it more or didn't have trouble getting a shoe on as much as I did.

The first mile I think I clocked in at 6:20 or so. I have been battling IT Band issues with my left knee and it didn't start to hurt/discomfort until at least 1.2 miles into it. I felt I was pushing it pretty hard as far as pace was concerned. I finally saw a guy ahead of me when I was at about 1.3 miles into it, but I knew there was to much distance to try and make up the gap. I still pushed hard for the rest of it, but I could have went harder if I had someone to chase down, or someone coming from behind, which subsequently I thought I did close to the end, but it turns out it was just a guy out running and didn't realize he was on the run course of a tri! Kind of funny...or did he :)

Wish my IT band was feeling better. It didn't like the trails and little downhills/ all the corners you had to take in that park.

Walked around a tad. Did some quick stretches, but otherwise just talked/cheered others on. Watched my sister finish as well. She placed first in her AG and 4th female over all.


Lack of training on the bike and IT band issues with my run.


A good first timer race for beginners, or a great way to warm yourself up for the season. Did this race so I could get an early qualification to the AG nationals hopefully. Overall they did an excellent job keeping the event on time and awards were good as well. I won a 50 dollar gift card to a bike shop, so I guess I can technically say I have won some money from triathlon now! I gave them a four only because the run course is short by quite a bit. Otherwise great race and atmosphere afterwards as well.