I completely blew the nothing new on race day directive and bought a sleeveless wetsuit the day before as I had planned on going without after swimming in the lake the day before. Nice temps, but then I saw everyone else with wetsuits and thought, welllll, maybe I better. The expo had a great deal - 60% off a women's sleeveless in my size so I nabbed it. The recommendations said it is for advanced swimmers when I read the reviews online ...after I bought it, but I had one choice and one choice only and it was a great suit. ..the Blue Seventy Helix. Highly recommend. It was a bit too warm for a wet suit, but my legs just got a little warm, not the rest of me.

The water was very clear and a great temp. We were the second wave so the anxiety of being in the path of all those aggressive swimmers coming behind me peeked out, but in reality, I had very little in water anxiety which was a huge win for me. My goggles weren't terribly clear so it was tough to see -- easy to see that black line in the pool, but not to spot in open water. Nonetheless, it was a very calm swim and one of the best swim times I have had despite swimming very wide to avoid all traffic behind me. (touched maybe twice the whole swim).

My left eye swelled up quite a bit on the swim because lake water kept leaking into the goggle, but I couldn't see anyway so not a big deal other than it was a real pain the first five or so miles on the bike as it watered like made getting all the water gunk out and working properly again.


One day I will have the nerve to get in the mix, but right now I'm just very happy to not have the all out panic.

Also, get new goggles several weeks before the race.

I had crashed my bike the week before so still a very nasty cut on my arm and hadn't done anything all week so I decided before I started the race, I was just here to get the training in, not to race so I took my time in transition, cleaning my feet, putting sunscreen on, hanging up my wetsuit so it could dry while I was on the bike, etc. It was very relaxed.

have a little more umph and sense of urgency, but this one, eh, I was ok with being slow.

The road surfaces all over Texas have become that awful chip seal that gets really nasty when it gets a year or two old so there were several dozen people changing flat tires throughout the race.

Also, because of the nasty cut on my forearm and hand from the crash the week before, tri bike was not an option so I had to ride the roadie. I love my roadie, but it is not the bike for this type of race. I was surprised that I could get all the way down into the drops and stay there for an extended period of time because of all the time on the tri bike. The one thing that was awful about switching bikes one week out was the fact that the roadie and the tri bike have very different seat - adamo v. cobb. holy butt hurt. those butt muscles were used to 20 miles of hill work, but not 56 miles, with 50 of it flat in the saddle time.

The shifting to get up the hills was a breeze with the roadie, but it did not compensate for all the flat, strong head wind time better tackled with the tri bike.

Toward the end of the ride, I was feeling a little nauseous, but I'm sure it was from not having done anything all week then getting out there in the wet heat v the very dry dessert heat. the nausea did not carry over into the run.

Although there were a few nasty hills, the climbs weren't that bad in a relative sense -- I have done Lake Placid and Rev3 Wisconsin -- those climbs were much, much worse.

I was actually quite happy with my run time. Not a PR, but given the nasty hill and heat, not bad. Course was well stocked with cool water and ice, I did not over indulge in water so that my stomach got sloshy, did not overheat. The one thing I did wrong was I did not reapply sunscreen and I put on a shirt that exposed skin that has not seen a lot of sun in training. My face and parts of my back got fried. ---but even had I reapplied sunscreen, likely would have wiped it all off as I doused my head and neck with cool water every water station.

When I first started the run, the left leg muscle was unhappy, but once I got into a rhythm, it worked it's self out. I ran most of the way, except up that big nasty hill. That was awful and I walked up it both times. The coming down though, that was awesome.

Drinking beer sitting in the lake as there was no food and free beer. sitting in the lake with a beer was AMAZZZZZZZING


crash one week out, too many hours working the two week before.

Is it just me, or do other people actually GAIN weight during each race? It usually takes me 3-4 days to get back down to my normal weight. It's not from too much hydration as I drank two beers, two cups of water, three more bottle of water driving home, and stopped for a large slurpee at sonic and didn't need to go to the bathroom until I got home 4.5 hours later.


It was a hot, hot, hot day. The aid stations did an outstanding job of making sure there was ice, cold rags, and cold water at every station for everyone, not just the front runners.

My one complaint - end of the race there was zero food. unless you call orange slices and a dry bagel food, but there was free beer at the end. I LOVE that we were given all the beer we wanted to drink so we could sit in the lake and drink out beer, but maybe wasn't the smartest choice and the lack of any food at all, especially given we were to far out of town is a little disappointing. On the other hand, they were handing out IVs like candy for anyone that wanted one just because.