Swim – 3.8kms – 1:06:53
My swim could not have gone any better. I was really pleased with my placement and my final time for the 3.8kms. It did get pretty crowded around the sailboat (1st turn) and houseboat (2nd turn) but not as bad as I was anticipating. My only incident was a ‘blue cap’ grabbing my ankle and using me as leverage to get a head of me. Although I was slightly ticked off, I actually felt sorry for a guy who had to resort to pulling people back to get ahead. By the time I was around the houseboat, I realized I could site between the 2 condo towers on the beach quite easily and kept close to the buoys. In general, I would say my swim was quite uneventful and very well executed. I don’t think I could have or should have swum any faster and my position was good. As I was nearing the end of the swim (with about 500m to go) I could not believe it was almost over. I had been swimming for about an hour at that point and still felt really good. I swam as close to the beach as I could, not wanting to waste energy running in the water. Once standing on the beach I quickly took off the top of my wetsuit but kept my cap and goggles on my head until I was in the change tent. I didn’t do this for any other reason except not wanting to lose another pair of my crazy expensive goggles. It also, as I later found out, served the purpose of being able to identify my self in photos since my race number was on the front of my cap.
T1 – 5:00
Once up the beach and into transition, I pointed to a volunteer to let her know I had specially selected her to strip my wetsuit. I pulled the suit down a little further on my hips and then assumed the position for her to remove it. They did a great job. Very quick and my timing chip remained on my ankle (something that I was concerned about losing when my wetsuit came off). They then helped me up, passed me my wetsuit and I was on my way to grab my gear bag. Another volunteer was there ready with my bag as I ran up and directed me to the women’s change tent. Once in the change tent another volunteer offered to help me with my gear. After I dumped the contents of the bag on to the ground, she put my wetsuit in the bag and then helped me with organizing my bike stuff. I was wearing my bike shorts and bra top under my wetsuit so all I needed to put on was my sleeveless bike jersey, socks, shoes, helmet, gloves and glasses. The volunteer packed everything that was left on the grass into my bag for me and I was off to get lathered in sunscreen. Then it was off to grab my bike and go. I had remembered that my bike was in row#48 so it was easy to find.
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