Clemson Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I had a very bad swim. We ran into the second wave of men before the turn buoy. Traffic & congestion!!!! Got kicked in the face rounding the turn and choked. I had to go into breaststroke while I contemplated vomiting and/or quitting the race. I can honestly say this was my worst swim experience. I didn't think it would ever end.




Practice open water swimming lots more. Not freak out with 200+ people swimming in close proximity to each other.

Had a long run from the beach to transition. Got lucky with a rack close to the entrance of the transition area.

Practice racing without socks. I can't get over how long it takes to roll on socks over wet feet.

The bike course was very crowded. One kamikaze nut case took off across the center line to go high five his buddies standing on the road side. He never looked before he did this. Thank god he didn't take anyone out while crossing over into oncoming traffic. I felt good on the bike, but I felt like I didn't have room to pass. A lot of people were hugging the center line while not passing anyone. It was still a beautiful day and I enjoyed the bike course.

Maybe try pack riding more to get used to navigating lots of riders.

I fell flat on my butt in transition because I couldn't feel my feet. The wind going through my shoes onto my cold, wet feet turned them into ice cubes.

This was my best run ever. And this was a hilly course. I am very pleased with this run. For the first time, I felt like I held my ground on the run. It feels so good to be making progress!!!!

Nothing

Felt like dry-heaving at the finish, but restrained myself to gasping and snorting.


Lack of experience swimming in open water, poor bike handling skills in crowded conditions.


I took second in my age group. Last year, I didn't place. I reduced my time from last year by nearly 6 minutes. I'm very, very happy with my run. Definately need to practice open water swimming a lot more before my oly in June.