This was my second triathlon. Here are the results
The swim went fairly well. The lake was full of long, itchy grass. It was constantly wrapping around my arms and neck and I could feel it with my feet and knees as I swam. I started off swimming freestyle but almost immediately switched to breast stroke as I could not see more than 8 inches under water. Very different from swimming in the pristine Gulf of Mexico. I had a hard time getting a good breathing rhythm at first, but I found my pace about a quarter of the way through the swim. I could probably shave a minute off my time swimming freestyle, but I would have been out of gas.
The first transition went fairly well, as did the bike leg. My heart rate was high for the first few miles but it eventually leveled off. It was cool and drizzling rain on and off. The wind was gusty at times but never really bothered me. I haven't ridden my road bike much lately and it didn't feel like it fit like it used to. My track bike has an entirely different geometry and I've been spending a lot of time on it. I averaged 19.3 mph and finished 23rd out of 62 in my AG
The second transition sucked. I tried to swing my leg over and ride in side saddled so i could jump off at the last second. It didn't work. My jello legs failed me and I took a nice chunk of carbon out of my top tube. I also couldn't find my head band
The run went very well for me. 9:09 pace was actually great for me. That's almost a minute better than my 5k pace with fresh legs from a couple of months ago. I am confident I can knock at least another minute off of that. I found my pace about a mile in and finished strong, not out of breath. I guess I need to push harder next time.
