Hickory Grove Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This is my first tri ever. I thought the swim would be my strongest event. I was very comfortable with the distance. I didn't know what swimming in a crowd would be like, but wasn't worried, more like curious. I had been out to the lake once to practice sighting and get used to not being able to see underwater.

Well, during the race I had a panic attack every time I put my face in the water. I really think it was the timing strap around my ankle, but now that I think about it, the adrenaline rush from the horn may have thrown off my breathing, too.

Anyway, one I realized that dog paddle was not getting me anywhere very fast and would leave me no energy for the rest of the race, I switched to backstroke. Yes, it made sighting difficult, but at least I have a strong backstroke and I finished well.

Swim freestyle.

The long run up the hill to transition counted in the swim leg, ugh. I jogged through transition, wiped my feet on my towel, rolled my socks, onto my feet, put on my shoes, and put on my glasses and helmet. Then I jogged my bike out of transition, stopped, got on, and took off.

I will try learning to mount the bike while moving, but I think I can get big gains practicing putting on socks and shoes while standing on one foot. I foresee lots of one-legged yoga poses over the next 8.5 months to improve my balance.

I can very comfortable ride 15-ish miles in 1-ish hours. I didn't know if I could do that in the middle of a triathlon, but I did. Even with my chain falling off once and stopping to go to the bathroom.

Today, nothing. For the future, more miles in the saddle and develop a faster average mph.

Jogged in, racked my bike, helmet off, bike shoes off, running shoes on, grabbed number, and jogged out.

Again, that whole standing on one leg thing to change shoes could use a lot of improvement.

I feel way good about this. I have never run a standalone 5K, not even in training. I'm on Week 4 of the coolrunning.com Couch to 5K program. I knew I would run/walk, and I did. I did a great job of making all my walks power-walks and of keeping my run stride relaxed. I finished really strong and sprinted to the finish.

Today, nothing. For the future, learn to run.

Walked around. Did some sitting stretches while eating the post-race food


Well, this is my first tri and I've only been training a few months.


I don't have any other events to compare this to. They had lots of volunteers making sure you stayed on course and shouting encouragement. They handed out water bottles at the finish line and had a table with fruit, bagels, and cookies. So I gave it a 5.