This was my first ever half mile in open water... and I panicked. They set up the waves in exactly opposite order so that each wave overtook the preceding one. I got whomped by the men behind me and ended up doing almost the entire 1/2 mile in breaststroke. I made it, but I've GOT to do better! I don't even think it was a full half-mile, so I'll have to work a lot more if I ever want to get to Olympic distance races.

Learn to freestyle for longer or learn to backstroke in a straight line! Swim in open water at least a few times a month to get out of the bad habits of pool swimming. Take that swim class so I don't expend all my energy flailing and get more efficient. Bow my head to the task of learning Hill and Molly's mad swimming skillz.

Long T1. I was running the 1/4 mile barefoot with no jogging bra so I was really slow into the transition area. Lots of time for the clothing change too since this was the first time I was using the Title9 uber-bra and tri shorts.

This time looks particularly awful because it includes the long T1. The course itself was hilly and I was glad I looked at the elevation profile before the race. I managed to pass several people who were walking up the hill, but I was a bit cautious on the downhill descent. Someone had yelled to me that there was a hairpin curve at the top of the hill (actually at the bottom) and the pavement was all torn up, so I didn't fly as per usual. I did, however, eat some Goo and I'm sure this helped considerably on the run later.

Beat my bike into submission so it gears down to the lowest set of gears. (My bike has issues.) I could have tackled the hills much better if I had been able to do that, but despite repeated tries I was never able to get into the lowest set.

I do not understand what happened. I ran my race at what I thought was a steady pace and still had enough energy for a sprint at the end. When I checked the time I found I came in 30s/mile faster than usual! I will never get why I run faster in a triathlon than I do if I run the same distance WITHOUT preceding it with other sports, but I'll take that rate happily!

I also don't understand exactly why I ranked better as a runner than as a biker and swimmer. I consider myself a slow runner, an abysmal swimmer and a decent biker, but the truth is that in biking I usually do slow long-distance rides (50mi+) instead of these short fast sprints. For running, there's absolutely no explanation I can find but that maybe the long-distance riding has given me some kind of crazy endurance mojo. In any case, I guess I'll have to start focusing on the other two again!

Not a thing.

This was the longest triathlon I'd yet tackled (my fourth ever), so I set myself the goal of finishing in 2 hrs. I finished in 1:40 with a sprint at the end of my run, so I felt very very good about it. Since it's a longer race, I ranked much worse than usual -- I think I'm competing against better athletes -- but I'm still quite content with my performance for the day.