The water was warm and I could see in the water. It was calm. Swimming was so easy in comparison to swimming at Musreau! I was even doing bilat breathing a few times! Still did a lot of breaststroke and backstroke. Kept it nice and easy and calm. Went off course a lot, so probably swam more than 1500m. really kept my distance from other competitors.

Practice sighting more in practice. Try for more open water swim practices. Practice swimming in a group more often.

Getting the wetsuit off was HARD. Felt like a slow transition.

Try something to help the suit slide off easier

Started to really feel pain and tightness in my right hip, right knee and right quad and had to back off right away. Took in gu brew right away and started sipping at the water. Took a gel at an hour in. Coasted on the steep downhill and powered up but in a really low gear on the uphill. Felt pretty good throughout

I realy need to get into a good habit of regular stretching and core exercises so I can fix up my old lady hip!

Went pretty smoothly but I really had to pee. I was so ready to run! I couldn't wait to start my run!

This is where it all fell apart! Started off feeling strong but I knew I was going too fast, so started trying to slow it down. Had to stop for a quick bathroom break. Then about 15 minutes in, I was getting awful cramping and side stitches, chest pain and back pain. I had to walk.... a lot. Every time I would run, I would have to stop and walk. I was doiubled in pain at one point. It is my slowest run EVER! I had the biggest mental battle with myself to not drop out.

I wonder if it had to do with gels. I've been cramping on runs lately but didn't experiment around with nutrition. I have a year to experiment, so I plan to try lots of different ones. Maybe it had to do with water intake, but I doubt it because I stopped at an aide station to drink a ton of water and it did not help. I think it was gas pains from the gel.

I think the run portion was my warm down!


Hip pain on the bike. Cramps/Side stitch on the run. Being sick 10 days before the race and missing some really good training sessions.


The race was great. Volunteers were awesome. Amazing amount of spectators. I wish the bike portion was on completely maintained pavement as a few km of it were on poor pavement and I didn't enjoy that. Otherwise it was great!