I learned from the tri-for-fun that I am not a great swimmer so I stayed back and to the far right at the start. I got excited at the start and started out faster than I trained so tired a bit before the first buoy. I know I'm tiring when I start having extended sighting for that dang first buoy. The 2nd buoy and the swim to the end went well, catching my 2nd wind. The last length went well since I'm swimming parallel to the bank for easy sighting (i.e., can keep my head down).

Start more in the middle of the pack since I kept swimming up into people. Deliberately start slower too so I don't burn out before the first buoy.

Overall swim went much better than the tri-for-fun.

I forgot to record the splits for T1 but it was long. I sat down to wipe my feet and get my shoes on. It was difficult getting my socks on with wet feet. My shoes has those ratchet things, which added more time.

My shirt was loose but still was hard to get on while wet and I had difficulty with my number while huffing and puffing. I also drank some water to hydrate before the bike.


Roll my socks on rather than trying to pull them on. Maybe when I get serious I'll consider new shoes, but not right now. Lastly maybe leave the number off until the T2 transition. Then I can put it on while I'm off and running.

I didn't take any fluids since I didn't want to slow down. That's why I took a drink before the ride. And I figured it was only 18 miles. I powered up the hills out of the saddle.

Don't know.

Don't know the exact transition time, but I had my shoe laces pre-tied and got my shoes on easily with a shoe horn. That worked well actually. Took another swig of water.

Don't know.

The start of the run was up a hill. My calves started twitching like they were going to cramp. Pulled over and stretched for about 10 seconds. Luckily the top of the hill was water so I walked and drank water and Cytomax. Took it easy for awhile until I loosened up and made sure to drink fluids at the aid stations. Then I gained the most on people on the hills.


Don't know.

Stretch after eating/drinking. Bending down to pick up my stuff was sore/tighting up. Stretch more.


Physical endurance. Need more training, especially on the swim.

My swim was much faster than projected, the bike was about on par, and the run was faster by 30sec/mi. No complaints.


Its the tri-for-real, but really its still fun. Feels just like the tri-for-fun since the clock was only at the finish line and no splits taken. This is a great race for newbies and I enjoyed it.