Tugaloo Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Not a good swim. I had a bad start and a bad finish. Took a spill while running into the water. I then swam right up someone's back. I tried to get around the swimmer and kept running up another swimmer's back. I looked up and saw about 6 swimmers in a line right in front of me. I spent what felt like an eternity trying to get around this group. I blew a lot of energy and in the process lost control of my breathing. I was finally able to get past the group, settle into a rhythm, and get my breathing under control. Trying to get around the group cost me a lot of time and energy. I probably should have just powered through the middle. It was a straight line to the next yellow buoy - that went ok. Once I made the turn to go back toward the beach I had a tough time staying on course. Every time I looked up all I could see was mud on my goggles and the sun reflecting off the water. I had to stop in the water twice to adjust my goggles to see where I was going. My sighting has always been "ok" - but I really had a difficult time navigating this swim. Obviously the other triathletes were able to deal with the mud and the sun much better then me.

Next time I run into a large group I'm going to just power through the middle. I need to practice sighting so I don't lose so much momentum in the water. I felt plenty strong during the swim. After I passed the large group early in the swim, my breathing was fine too. I just need to get better at navigation in open water.

Long run up from the water into T1. Otherwise it was ok.

I'm very happy with my bike leg in this race. I found a coach to help me with this leg as it has been my weakest of the three. I was able to cut 8 minutes off my time when compared to the bike leg at Chattanooga. Huge improvement for me. I felt strong and kept my HR under control. I was also very focused on staying hydrated and taking in calories during the bike leg. This is something I have not done well during previous races. Very happy with the bike.

Not much. While my bike time was not very fast as compared to the rest of the field, it was a big improvement for me. I plan on keeping up with the bike training as much as possible over the winter. I'm shooting for much more competitive bike times next season.

Happy with T2.

This is the most hilly triathlon 10K course I've done. In the races I've done, the run course is mainly flat. This course has some rolling hills and a few steep hills. My legs felt great right away. I focused on keeping my strides short with a high cadence going up hill. That seemed to work as I was able to recover fairly quickly after the hill. Also, I was very focused on nutrition and hydration for this race. (Something I never thought of in my previous races - but is obviously very important!) I planned the timing of when and what I ate for breakfast, how often I would drink and take in calories on the bike. I guess it worked as I felt I had plenty of energy for the run.

Not much. Continue run and brick workouts.

Walked around, drank water, ate pizza, etc.


Poor sighting and navigation during the swim. Need to get better at this. Also, I need to be more aggressive in the water.


Great race. Very well organized with a lot of volunteers. I'll do this race again next year.