i'm still not clear on how long this swim was. the long branch site says .5k but on the results page it says .4k, so who knows?
i ran into the water when they told our "wave" to start (its so relaxed - you kinda just go when you want to, but i did opt to go in a women only wave) the waves were minimal and the water was not terribly cold. i did freestyle stroke pretty much the whole way out, which was kind of rough. coming back i felt a little tired so i did a combo of sidestroke and breaststroke and then went back to freestyle. i stayed close to the bouys which helped navigation-wise, but it was crowded there. i never actually put my head in the water, though... too chicken, i guess

put my head in, try to get into a rhythm, swim away from the buoys to avoid the congestion
overall, i'm happy with this, i learned alot and conquered an ocean swim, so points for that!

after that swim, i trudged up the beach and went to rinse off, then you had to go up a ramp and cross over the boardwalk to get to the transition area. i stopped to high five Jorge and kiss Brianna - i was happy i had finished the swim and felt like celebrating. Brianna complained i tasted like salt... guess i didn't rinse well enough
threw on my socks and bike shoes and helmet quickly (i love having a tri suit and not needing to change clothes, by the way)
the run out of transition seemed L-O-N-G - and once I got into the mount zone, some guy almost fell clipping in... very congested area there, but i had no problems getting in the pedals and getting up to speed.

skip the rinse, totally not necessary and added extra time
the high five and the kiss did too, but that i would not change - they both got up at the crack of stupid to be there, gotta interact a little bit now don't i?

i think Carol mentioned that people were really chatty during the bike course. i second that emotion. there were also an alarming number of ROAD HOGS among the cyclists that day. two people in particular who were riding side-by-side, with the one on the left hugging the yellow line and the one on the right close enough to her to make going between them really tight... um, yeah, they were annoying and every time i'd cross the yellow to pass, they'd catch up to me sidle in front and assume the position. GRRR! whutevah... i tried to ignore it. bike computer was again on the fritz/unreadable either way, i had no idea of my pace or anything, but i felt like i was pushing myself. the number of turns on the course made it challenging to keep up my speed. a chatty-cathy rider yelled out a car warning and i thanked her when she caught up to me. apparently this was an invitation for her to camp out next to me and talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. she was so nice and everything, but it was kind of distracting. well, let's say i let it distract me - i take responsibility. i did not drink enough on this leg of the race. i also thought the course was 11 miles, not 9.5 and when she told me there were 2.5 more miles to go, i was like oh snap! gotta drink, and pounded some gatorade... this will be a factor on the run...
clipping out was a riot (to me) because i usually have trouble getting my left foot in. because i'm kinda spazzy on the dismount (we'll get to that) i usually unclip both feet. funny part is that every time i went to just pedal through to the dismount area, my left foot would effortlessly clip in - seriously i had to take it out three or four times! annoying and stupid and i know it takes practice to get more comfortable on the bike and stuff, yada, yada, yada...
Carol also criticizes her bike dismount in her RR, but if pictures are worth a thousand words - all those words about my dismount would have to paint THE most dorky dismount of the day... yo, compared to her, i look really uncoordinated, believe me! PM me your email if you want to see the pics, they're kind of/really funny!

drink more, chat less, push harder

love the yankz! remembered to carry my hat and put it on as i ran, no race belt to fumble w/this time, so i was ready to run in :43, but had to get out of transition, which took the remaining time...

prolly nothing

ok. i've already admitted that i made bad choices by not drinking on the bike. again, with the jelly legs... saw carol up ahead of me and wanted to catch her, but the stems weren't havin' it. "chatty-cathy" from the bike caught up to me and started her monologue up almost where we left off. she's like, hey you're fast in transition, i looked for you but you were gone. yeah, honey... apparently not fast enough.
dude. i don't want to be known as throw up girl, but again, i had to hurl after the first mile. i was as polite as i could have been about it, looked for a gutter to do it in (like some drunk or something) ugh! a cop nearby says to me, "i've been there - when i ran track" i'm like, yeah, thanks...but i'm glad i did it. i felt better and it got rid of "miss motormouth"
when i passed my "cheering section" Jorge says, Carol's 2 minutes ahead of you, go catch her! i'm like, uh, okay?
i caught sight of her, but i kept having to walk, my heart rate felt through the roof and the air felt very thick.
by the end of mile two, i felt much better and was able to pick it up a skoash and caught up to Carol and we ran in together... cool!


um, let's see... not vomit?

none really...


poor nutrition the night before, poor hydration on the bike... bleh.


these "practice" tris are a great way to get racing experience without the pressure. i agree that the DIY water stations are kinda, well, not so great... but for 20 bucks, its a super safe way to get in a great workout and for many to have a low-key first time experience.