More chop but less chill than expected; all went well at the start and towards the end, but somewhere in the middle I was swimming straight but getting swept towards the beach by the current.

I nearly missed buoy #2, and I definitely should've sighted more to account for the current. My normally straight swimming has all be lake swimming, no current. Duh, Sunny. Silly mistake that cost me at least 1-1:30 on this short swim.

Running out on the beach to the T-area racks, I was really happy to see Matthew there cheering for me. I wished I had seen him at T2 as well, but it was a blur...more later.

Not use gloves -- what am I? A hand wimp? You don't need gloves for a sprint, Sunny, even if the water was 'not warm'.

I made up a little time on the short bike loop, but it did feel longer than 10 miles and I wished I'd gone faster overall. It was called flat, but rolling hills would better describe it.

T2 felt like a blur... I saw no one and said nothing to myself or anyone else. I also heard almost nothing but a few earlier wave finishers (winners? who knew?) crossing the line to cheers. It was a blur, and then I was running, or at least trying to get into my stride.

This is where things got interesting. My legs felt awful -- clearly not enough bricks in my foundation. I'd had the same 'short striding' worries in my Marblehead tri last month, and they plagued me again for mile 1 of this short race. In that first mile, however, I didn't walk because I saw a Wheelworks teammate coming in on the course looking so strong (she was on her way to a 1st in AG 30-34 finish -- Yay, Kelwin!!) that it inspired me to keep going. I ran on.

I stumbled on would be more like it...and then I wanted to walk again but saw a trainee from my bootcamp at the gym. Well, I certainly couldn't slow to a walk in front of her! And so I ran on. Mile 1 passes and my legs freed up a little.

I started looking more like a runner than a woman who'd be sidelined by a bad back last week. I ran easy. I was breathing hard, but my legs felt OK and my back felt fine (yay!) so I just kept going and kept seeing teammates, friends, and inspiring people along the way. I do love this sport and hate to walk if I don't have to, so I ran on.



Like the bike, I wished I'd gone faster overall. I lost a lot of time on the fun, and I shouldn't have. It was called flat, but rolling hills would better describe it. I should practice more tempo work at the track and hill work. I should also preserve my back and not screw it up again. Working on that starts tomorrow.

Stumbling around while draped over Matthew's shoulders at the finish line, then bouncing around from teammate to teammate talking about the race, our performances, and our next races. All the usual tri-geek stuff, I know.


Back injury the last 2 weekends pre-race was the minor set-back. I think that the major set-back was not structuring my own workouts as much as I structure everyone else's. Seriously, the trainees get more of my 'good thinking' than I do sometimes, and I think that kept me a little "off" in April and May.

Weighing 5-7 pounds less would've helped, too, of course. I'm still not down to race weight yet, and it's a struggle.