Disappointing swim. I was actually the first out of the water from my wave. However the timing mat was at the entrance to the transistion area and we all know I don't really run in barefeet because of the limb. I hated beging passed by 3 others in purple caps!

When the first wave of men took off, we watched from the beach. It was scary. As in some were dog paddling. The old ladies and the relays were in the last wave so we watched the same non-swimming taking place wave after wave. Backstroke is one thing, dog paddle is another.

Beach start so i skipped the few steps into the water and then started my dolphin dives. I love dolphin dives! It was crowded at first but then there were a few of us that broke free. I could actually see the turn buoy for once so I stayed to the inside and sighted every 5-10 strokes. We started catching the waves in front of us and chaos ensued. The kayakers would paddle into the inside path and then just stop. I was swimming around one kayak that had stopped in front of me and he started to turn to straighten out. As he turned he hit my head with the front of the kayak. Hope the kayak didnt get damaged. The ski doo person also went in front of us and just stopped. He had an empty rescue raft on the back and me and another person stopped and asked which way he wanted us to swim around him. I know they saw people they thought needed help, but they really should be watching out for the other swimmers!

Before the turn buoy at 390 yards, I had caught swimmers that were 2 waves ahead of mine. At the turn I just stayed inside and away from the others. Funny thing was that after the turn buoy, there were no kayaks or ski doos so I began to relax.



I stopped 3 times for the kayaks and the ski doo in the first 390 yards. Next time I'll just stay in the middle of the pack. I get why they were doing what they were doing. However, no one was holding on to the kayaks in the inside path.

This was actually a really good T1 for me. I usually order out for pizz during transitions.

No socks or gloves today. I just dried off my face, put glasses and helmit on as I slide into my shoes. Grabbed my bike and took off.

I got really hungry on the run so I probably should have ordered that pizza. ;)

First 5 miles felt really slow. It was crowded and hard to pass.

Between mile 5 and 6, I passed Rinny Carfrae like she was standing still. Oh, wait - she was! I saw someone on the side and it looked like Rinny. As I got closer I saw that it was her and she was texting. (Tony, can you come and rescue me? I'm stuck in the middle of a race here on 36.)


It was around here where I started noticing that some racers had earbuds in. Racers were also going into traffic and just staying there. I can't believe no one was hit.


Around mile 10 i felt my lower back getting tight again. I had my lower back cupped last weekend and it was a lot better all week. But, I hit a few bumps and my back decided to tighten up again. I just tried to relax and push only a bit past discomfort level.


I was actually happy with this bike. I haven't really been on my bike as much the past few weeks because of my back. When I did have bike workouts they were easy with very little efforts.

I have to run with socks on so I took off my bike shoes, sat down to wipe off the dirt and sand that was still on my feet from T1. I then put on my socks and shoes, making sure my left shoe was tied securely. I didnt worry about my right shoe because it doesnt have issues.

Did I mention all the rocks and stickers in the transition area? Yup, I got a rock in my sock and it lodged itself on the ball of my right foot, right below the big toe.

Make sure there were no rocks in my shoes!

Run was okay. Like the bike, I haven't really ran since Santa Rosa. I do have to take smaller strides to make my back happy and my cadence has been slower. The rock in my shoe helped take my mind off my back, haha. I just had fun on the run and encouraged others around me.

My coach asked me why I didn't stop and take the rock out of my shoe. My response was, "I thought about it, but then I decided not to for a few reasons: 1) If I stopped and bent over to take my shoe off I might not be able to stand back up again; 2) If I would have stopped you would be asking why I didn't just ignore the rock and if I didnt stop I knew you would be asking why I didn't take the rock out. It was a double edge sword (rock)" wink wink

Same as my warm-up. Don't usually do them.

I haven't done a sprint in years. My goal was to relax, have fun, and feel good about my race. Even though I didnt hit my goal time on my bike or swim, I had a blast out there so I'm going to say this was a successful race.


Lack of time on bike and run because of my stupid back.