This was my first time swimming in open water with any more then one other person next to me. I took the advice of other experienced triathletes and positioned myself to the outside of the where the first buoy would be. My start felt pretty good. I definately felt like a fish in a Koi pond in the beginning. My goggles fogged up almost immediately and I had a hard time sighting. I swallowed a good mouthful of water at the first buoy which made me choke for a minute but I was able to recover. I just tried to kind of follow the pack but I ended up swimming farther then I needed to. The long leg of the swim I was able to get some good open water but after we rounded the last bouy I ended up getting kicked in the face several times by either me or someone else going off track. Overall I felt strong and confident in the water though and I think I came out in about the top quarter of the pack.

Figure out how to get my goggles to not fog.

I had not done any transition practice other then some bike/run bricks so this was my first time and picked up some little things that will make it go quicker next time.

Practice more. Do things in a more orderly fashion

I had just started biking about 4 months ago and am riding a fairly heavy cyclocross bike but with all of that considered I was very happy with myself. I felt like I could push the bike a fair amount harder and still be able to run well. I think I may have taken in a little to much water though during the ride because I had a bit of an upset stomach for the last bit of it.

Work on what kind of pace I am capable of which I believe is still faster then what I did.

T2 felt slow to me. I chose to go sockless on my bike but not in my running shoes since I had never done it before so I had to put some socks on and I almost tipped over from twice trying to get them on. I could see the first place male leaving T2 just as I entered which pushed me to move as quickly as possible.

Work on building my feel up so that I can run sockless.

My run overall was great. I was hoping to be under a 7 minute mile pace and I pulled it off. my splits were 7:12, 6:56, 6:49 and then 6:38 pace for the last half of a mile. The first mile was fairly rough my stomach was still turning and got worse before it got better I was burping ever 30 seconds or so and thought that i might puke and then on top of that my feet were asleep for about the first 3/4 of a mile. At about the one mile mark though my watch told me my pace which I was happy with and I could see that I was gaining on the runner ahead of me. I caught him at about 1.4 miles and then was able to increase my lead into the finish. I tried to tell everyone I passed good job on my heading back leg of the run which helped motivate me too.

Figure out my my stomach was so upset and why my feet went to sleep on me. Push it harder last half of the run knowing that I can carry that speed.

Walked around and then enjoyed the BBQ that the tri club put on. Cheered for the other people who were finishing.


Lack of experience but overall I was very pleased with myself. I was the top male in the sprint distance and 2nd overall for the sprint.


Was an amazing first race and it has me hooked even more then before.