This swim actually felt pretty good for me. I even passed someone! In the second lane, a man passed me and the girl in front of me, so I followed him and passed her too! Then I got to draft off of him until he let me pass him at the wall in lane 4 or 5. Bilateral breathing worked most of the time, although I reverted to breathing every other stroke at times.

Swimming is definately my weakness. I have little to no proper form or stroke efficiency and I work harder than my times reflect. I need a lot more practice (and maybe even professional help) in order to become a stronger/faster swimmer. So, more time in the pool/lake is what I would do differently.

Had to run a looooong way in gravel to get to my bike rack (it was the very last one). When I thought I was there, I realized I was at the wrong rack and had to run to the next one. Duh! When I finally found MY bike, I got into my socks, shoes, helmet, sunglasses and race belt pretty quickly. Ran with my bike to the mounting line and off I went!

Hang some sort of flourescent rag on my bike rack so I can find it on the first try. More practice in non-race settings.

There were several technical difficulties I had at the beginning of this ride...1) forgot to reset computer, so couldn't look at my avg which is what I usually look at, 2) aerodrink "poofy" flew out on first dip, 3) just about all of my Accelerade became a projectile into my face and eyes at next dip, 4) velcro holding aerodrink came undone and the bottle was bouncing around everywhere, 5) the GU pack I had taped on my bike frame was gone, so no drink and no GU.

Okay, now for the good part. With the thick layer of Accelerade coating the inside and outside of my sunglasses, I could barely see anything. I'm normally pretty cautious on bumpy roads, but I just flew on them today since I couldn't see too well. The ride felt really good. I have no real complaints. I tried to save my legs for the run the best I could, but I did push it on the bike. Nobody passed me.

Pretty happy with my bike performance. I got confused at the end thinking a red "fire lane" mark was the dismount line. The volunteers kept yelling at me to keep going, so that cost a few seconds. Need to practice getting on and off the bike faster.

My bike rack was the closest one to the bike out/in area, so this was a fairly good transition for me. Since there was not really anyone else in T2 at this point, my 5 year old son yelled "Mommy, are you last?". The volunteers laughed at that one. Slurped down one GU and chugged some Propel, then off I went.

Practice more transitions.

The body almost beat out the mind on this one. The first mile felt awful. My legs were like lead and it took everything I had to keep from walking. I did walk through the first water stop and took a small sip of water before starting to run again. Mile 2 felt much better, but I was panting like a dog. Walked through water stop at the 2 mile mark and took another small sip before starting to run again. Mile 3 felt okay, but still panting. Just before running under the bridge, I was passed by a 12 year old boy. Sprinted with the little energy I had left to the finish.

Need to do more bricks. I'm going to try to finish out most every bike ride with a 1 mile run. I need to get more used to pushing through that "I really would rather be walking" feeling that comes during the first mile of the run.

More track work too to increase pace.

Drank some Gatorade and ate a bannana. Stood around and talked.


Lack of experience in the pool and in transitions.


Good race and very well organized.