My first triathlon! I was thinking about it a lot and didn't sleep so well the night before. Ate a bowl of Grape Nuts for breakfast. Packed up my car. Drove to pick up my friend in Sherman Oaks before heading toward the race area. Arrived at about 6:45 in the morning. Registered. Set everything up.

Swam a bit in the lake. Water was real warm, so decided not to use a wetsuit. Made the decision to swim with my tri top on to save a bit of transition time.

They started in waves - women and relays went 5 minutes ahead of the men. Waiting those five minutes made me too pumped up I think, and I went into the water too hard. I didn't swim SO poorly, but I finished toward the final 1/3 of the group I think. Lots of hacking and people swimming over you. I definitely need more practice with navigating.

Calm down and take it a lot easier out of the gate.

After a poor swimming start, I had even a worse transition. Getting my bike shoes and helmet on was no problem. But I knocked down a bike getting mine off the rack (sorry to whoever that was!). Fortunately, my friend said not to worry and he would help re-rack it. Then, as I jumped on my bike, my chain fell off. Lost a few minutes dismounting then fixing it. Got grease everywhere on my tri suit and hands. Haha.

Set the bike in a slightly lower gear so it doesn't come off coming out of transition.

Passed a lot of people on the bike, men and women. So after a poor start and transition, I was able to make up some time. Really hammered it on the hills, passing most people there.

Got pretty dehydrated during the bike ride. Should have drank more of my Accelerade. I didn't really notice this until the run. Otherwise, I was happy with my pace.

Great transition. Less than a minute, but I didn't have the split.

Nothing.

I was pretty tired by the time I started running. Not my best pace. I was dehydrated from hammering on the bike. Didn't pass too many people here, but not too many people passed me either. Got some water at an aid station near the end of the course before we turned around.

Drink more on the bike and/or take some bigger gulps of water during T2.

Walked around, took some pictures with other tri club peeps, and then went out to have some dim sum with the family.

Speed work, transition practice, swimming practice.

Race was pretty well organized. The turnout they had was probably double the turnout they had a few weeks prior, mostly due to LA Tri Club advertising the race on their email lists.

Race Reports Modeled with Permission from
Endurancecoach's Triathlon Post Race Analysis Sheet.