I'm not really balanced at all, and while I do try to concentrate on my weakness (running), I've come to accept that this is probably the way the sport goes for me. I'm usually the first woman out of the water, sometimes the first woman off of the bike too, and where I place really depends on who manages to catch up with me on the run. I'm trying to up my running miles this year and focus more on form, drills, speed work, etc., but I'm already seeing some nagging tiny almost-injuries, so I'm not sure how well that will work out.

I'm happy with where I'm at though - almost always placing in age group, often placing overall as well, every now and then I'm the overall 1st woman (more likely in races with longer bike or swim). Now if there was a great running coach out there who could somehow improve my running dramatically, I wouldn't turn it down, but that's where I'm at for now.

Bike is my strongest
Running is next
My head hangs low in shame when I swim. I can't ever seem to do better then a 2:00 100m split last year. I just couldn't do it (then again I never really pushed the swim. I am a little faster this year so we shall see how it goes.

My last Tri I did I was 16th on the swim, which was a bad swim for me, 18th on the bike (24.5mph avg over 15 miles) which was a little fast for me and 54th on the run, which was average for me (7:00 miles for 4 miles). Overall came in 18th out of 300. So the run really hurt me, but that was September and I'm getting better!

Do you have access to a good swim coach or Master's group? Swimming is 90% technique, so a coach can make a much bigger difference than in any other sport. You might consider posting a video of your form here, like Pete L. did last month. I'm always willing to take a stab at it and I know there are some other experienced swimmers and coaches here too with great advice.

I'm kind of the opposite of Ironmom - I get blown away on the swim and then spend the remainder of the race reeling people in. I've never been passed on the run, which speaks as much to my slow swimming as it does to my fast running. My last race had about 375 guys and I was 95th on the swim, 40th on the bike, and 5th on the run (18th overall).

That was almost a year ago. My swimming is much better now. At this point I feel weakest on the bike. I'm trying my best to address it though, and hopefully I'll be more balanced this time around.

I'm trying to make myself more even, my swim is way faster than my other legs. I think ill always be unhappy if im not first out of the water. My bike is respectable, but my run is pretty bad. I'm going to work alot on my running this season and see if it gets better.

I'm pretty similar to ironmom, just not quite as fast... For an average tri, i'll be top 10% out of the water top 15-20% off the bike and only top 40% on the run... Usually gets me a podium in the 20-24 age group and top 10 overall, but its not too much fun to be passed by so many people during the run, though it has been getting better. I used to be able to run sub 20 xc 5ks in high school, but then I would run 25-6 min off the bike. Finally, this past summer, I ran 21 min off the bike. My 10ks are another story though - I can't even break 50 and I haven't seen any improvement lately. I'll be working on this...