I will forewarn you that I lack the skills of Baggsy and this won't be nearly as thrilling a read as his was about his first duathlon (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=115168) but nevertheless, I wanted to post since it was my first triathlon...

The Narrative:
It was the Carlsbad Triathlon, a 1K swim in the Pacific, 25K bike and 5K run along the coast. It was a gorgeous day! Water temps 66 (no wetsuit, hooray!) and air temps probably somewhere in the upper sixties with mostly sun. The swim was pretty choppy, even past the break, and required a lot of head up swimming to sight the buoys over the waves. I didn't feel that great. (I didn't warm up swimming at all, maybe that had something to do with it?). T1 was smooth and easy. The bike was fine. My undercarriage hurt (from my accident/surgery). T2 was fine, too. The first part of the run felt bizarre, but then I settled in. The bike and run courses were all rolling flats (or whatever you call stuff that's partly flat with small short ascents and descents all along.) I don't wear a HRM, but I could tell I was near max for most of the run. It was amusing throughout to look at peoples' ages on their legs. I liked knowing who I was passing or being passed by. It all went by very fast, and without too much suffering. I had fun. I hate Gu. *GAG*

The Stats: [edited]
The official splits aren't posted yet, and I really can't rely on my watch because I screwed up too badly on pushing my buttons!

Official time: 1:41.20
10th out of 39 in the 30-34
44th out of 233 women total
350th out of 835 total (excluding pros)

The Summary:
My goals were to stay under 25 in the swim, under 1hr on the bike and under 25 on the run, and also to place in the top 1/3 in my age group. I met/exceeded those for the most part, so I was happy. I had a good time, too! I'm gonna be sore tomorrow... I think if I were better conditioned (that stupid injury sidelined me for 6 weeks in May/June) I wouldn't feel so drained right now, and maybe I wouldn't be so sore tomorrow?! In any case, it was a fun day - I'm sure I'll do another.

Many thanks to all of you for the fabulous advice about all things - transitions, apparel, nutrition, hydration - you name it! I thought of you all while I was out there!

Cheers

Congratulations H2O!

Awesome! Someday I'll get to that 25 minute mark in the run too - I have my first olympic length swim in the San Francisco bay in August and am worried I'll feel the same as you - do you think it was the choppiness or conditioning? Either way, I'm not necessarily looking forward to it - I also have a swimming/water polo background but it's been a while...

Woohoo!!! You are a triathlete!

Nice job. I was thinking about you today and hoping you would do well...that seems funny since I've never met you :) Glad to hear it went well.

Good job, its always good to see people having a good time doing a great sport.

Bravo H2O!!! Sounds like you woulda passed me up and lapped me a couple times! How was the bike ride, and what kind of bike were you using?

Ain't that run out of T2 something? Feels more like a death march than a brick to me...

Ohhh, the bay? You're brave. Cold AND choppy!

For me I think it was a combination. The problem for me is that I'm still a good swimmer, even when I'm out of shape. I can hop in and hold my own in a master's workout even if I've only been swimming once a week. So I get a false sense of where I am. Honestly, I'm in OKAY shape, but could/should be in better shape. I think I didn't feel good on the swim because a) yes, it was choppy, but b) I'm also not in fabulous shape. Hats off to you for braving SF and good luck. Tell us how it goes.

Thanks! It's a testament to the nature of this forum that you feel like you know me! I appreciate the generosity, patience, wisdom and civility here. A nice group of decent human beings!

Nah, if you started telling funny stories, I'd stick with you just for the amusement factor! I did find the bike kind of lonely, actually. I do a good part of my "training" (if you can call it that) alone, but I prefer riding with friends when I can. For me the ride went by quickly - and it wasn't really difficult. No real hills to speak of. I ate my Gu halfway through and wanted to puke on the spot. Nassssty stuff, that. It wasn't challenging at all, but I felt like my heartrate was fairly high and I was only going about an average of 18mph. I think that had a lot to do with my lack of overall conditioning.

I ride a road bike that my friend built. He's a pro cyclist, and he gets stuff at cost so it cost me about 1/4 of what I would have paid. It's got a no-name frame (Tsunami) and has mostly Dura-Ace components. My cranks are Shimano 105s and so is the front derailleur, and I have an Ultegra "flight deck?" (shifters/brakes/hood thingies). My wheels are 650s - Mavic XP21, I think. No aero bars. So really it's a road bike. And I have a PINK saddle (the rest of the bike is black, so I felt entitled to some color - not to mention it made it easy to find in transition!)

Wow. 25min open water swim, first time out? Outstanding!

Actually it was about 21 minutes. But I have lots of ocean swimming experience (and was a swimmer in college) so while it was my first tri, it wasn't my first competitive ocean swim! But thanks all the same! :)

Nice race.

Enjoy some time off. :)