This was one of the roughest swim starts I've done. Everyone I spoke to commented on how violent the swim start was. The horn went off and it was the worst churning of arms and legs I've ever experienced. And because I had been a bit paranoid because of the warm-up, I started near the back of the pack and I had to swim through quite a lot of it. In the first two hundred I got water kicked into my mouth three different times as I was breathing in and had to do breast stroke for a bit to catch my breath. After that things calmed down and it was a decent swim, but for the inability to breathe. My chest felt tight the entire time and I was very winded. I tried bilateral breathing and was gasping for air each time. I finally gave in and only breathed to my right in order to breathe more often.

Start near the front of the wave, despite the worry about not being able to breath or swim well, and let them swim over me rather than having to swim through that obstacle course of arms, legs, and splashing water. Try to draft more. I caught someone's feet for about 20 meters as I was emerging from the washing machine and it was nice. But then I wanted to pass them so I moved on.

This T1 went pretty well for me considering my T1s are usually ridiculously slow. My sleeveless wetsuit doesn't come off as easy as my full suit so I'll need to work on that when I wear it again.

Not get my suit stuck on heel.

I thought I would be on my old hybrid, but last minute my mom's TNT coach loaned me her road bike and it was AWESOME. It was very light and it had a dual cassette (or is it a compact?). I've never ridden a dual cassette before but I'm switching to one immediately when I get home, especially for Racine. Everything about gear shifts, getting up to speed and staying there while I tried to hammer was easier. The first half the course involved a lot of false flats an my quads felt tired so I stayed in a higher rpm and lower gear, but really pushed all the same. The second half of the bike, other than one or two small hills, was screamin' fast. I spent lots of time in the big chain ring hammering as much as possible. Played cat and mouse with a couple of people, but because the bike was sooooo fast and I felt pretty good riding it, I tried to be more competitive and aggressive. When we came around the last turn to head towards the reservoir, I started hammering like crazy. It hurt but I wanted to pass the woman in front of me. I also knew I would need to keep hammering to keep her from passing me at the end. There was one last hill I had to downshift for and then I went straight back into my big chain ring and hammered again until the dismount line. I was huffin' and puffin' like you wouldn't believe and I knew my legs would be trashed for the run, but I didn't care. The bike was great. I need to see about buying that bike from my mom's coach!!!

Be more competitive and hammer even harder more often. I'm trying very hard to get stronger on the bike. I know it's only a short distance but it's faster than I normally ride. I also normally can't even hope to see someone who's riding hard and be able to pass them. I need to focus on that competitiveness more.

Given the altitude and the heat I probably could've afforded to drink a little more. I wasn't bad, but I knew I was a little dehydrated.

Lucky for me my spot on the rack was about 30 feet from the bike entrance so I hardly had to run with my bike at all. I was also close to the run exit so it was a smooth and fast transition.

Not much.

Holy hell this run was HOT (have I mentioned that yet). Record breaking heat in Colorado today. The huffing and puffing on the bike proceeded to get much worse as my chest tightened right back up again for the run. Having come home to visit and gone running enough, I knew the altitude was getting to me. And my legs were indeed trashed from the bike. I tried to start off hard and knew right away I needed to back off and run more conservatively if I wanted to survive in one piece. Whenever I would see someone from my age group I tried to speed up and my breathing would instantly get worse and I would need to back off again. Instead I worked on keeping a steady pace (which I knew would help me pass some people anyway) and really listening to my body.

A perky little 17 year old passed me within the last mile and looked very strong so I said, "Nice run." She then proceeded to get about 15 meters on me and that's it. I was really struggling at that point and wasn't sure I had it in me to battle her out so far from the finish so I tried to stay with her, but run steady and listen to my body. Near the end we came up on someone I knew we could both pass so I tried to kick it in and when she felt/saw me coming she did too. We elbowed just a teeny bit and then she crossed maybe a foot before I did. And other than one woman who sprinted across the finish line like she was running the hundred meter dash right in front of both of us (how do you do that if you've been running hard the entire time?) no other woman passed me.

Do better at remembering to look for women in my age group, not just in the run but in the entire race. Really work on my end of run kick for triathlons. This is the second race this season where if I had been paying more attention and had a better kick strategy, I could have passed or prevented myself from being passed by someone else.

After I crossed the finish line I thought I might pass out from the heat and effort level. After a tough swim, I rode and ran hard. The altitude was getting to me and I was BEAT. I walked out of the finishing shoot and my cousin was waiting with open arms to give me a hug. I saw the rest of my family and then ran back to find my mom. She had a couple of mishaps on the course and I had expected her to be in front of me. Instead I saw her as I was on the return part of the run course and I knew she hadn't ever trained or raced in this heat so I headed back to find her and cheer for her.


Altitude a little. An aggressive swim. Overall I thought it was a pretty good race.


Very well organized and supported race. I would definitely recommend it. It was tough for me, but I had a great time and would do it again.