Hi from Phuket. The sky is blue, the breeze is coming off the ocean, Bill Clinton just left after a nice day of golfing (oh yeah, I think he saw some tsunami work, too), and I'm recovering from my triathlon.

Well, the truth of the matter is that there's not much to recover from since I really only did the swim portion -- two friends and I competed as a relay. It's a pretty long race -- 1.8km swim, 55k bike, 12k run -- and a challenging course, and I wasn't sure I was up to the whole thing; or, more exactly, I knew I wasn't up for training for the whole thing. Those are a lot of sports to get ready for. And it is hot in Thailand.

But, I have been absolutely faithful in my swim training, going to a Masters class twice a week and swimming on my own 3-4 times the rest of the week, plus yoga every day. The biggest lesson here is that when you train properly for a race, you do get faster, but what's really remarkable is that I actually enjoyed the race instead of feeling like I was fighting the water and gasping for air.

We started off, all 756 of us, men and women, professionals and utter amateurs, in a mass start in the Andaman sea, kicked and clawed to the first buoy 300m out, turned horizontal to the shore for a good long while, came back to the beach, sprinted across the sand, and bailed into the lagoon. Going from saltwater to freshwater is a shock. The ocean at least is nice and buoyant; I got into the lagoon and sank like a stone.

I knew I could do the race in 45 minutes; I said I would be thrilled if I did it in 40; in the end, I finished in 38. Woo-hoo! A great personal victory! Now I need to learn how to pass people. To my astonishment, I found there were a lot of folks in my way.

It was also a lot of fun to hang around afterward, drink gatorade, and watch the rest of the athletes go by. (The winners came in before my teammate had finished the bike portion. Just to give you an idea.)

One of the things I like most about triathlons, and triathlon culture, is that everyone is a great mix of competitive and supportive. Case in point, the conversation I had with one of the other women who does the Masters swim class.

Her: Who are your teammates?
Me: Jorge's doing the bike, and Pilar's doing the run.
Her: Oh! That's a good team! Jorge's a good biker. And Pilar's a great runner. (pause) And you're...improving.