Over The Mountain Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Moss lake is an excellent location - the water was about as clear as you can get in NC and the temperature was just right (for a wet suit), there was very little chop. The spacing between people was perfect. The start is so wide that there is plenty of room to carve out your personal space without knocking into anyone. My age group was one of the larger groups too.


This was the furthest distance I've ever gone in open water. Pool laps just don't cut it as far as training preparation goes. My time was abysmally SLOOOOOOW, but my goal was to finish. I had heavy cramping in my calves and had to stop a few times to let them release. Next race I will get lots of open water swim training prior to!

Staging area was well spread out, grassy and clean, no crowding and well marked. Climbing the moderate hill out of the water was fine. My heart rate jumped up a little, but it was a short climb.

Practice having shoes clipped in and mounting the bike, stepping into shoes while riding out. Add plyometric drills out of the water to my swim training sessions to prep for running up hills.

This was definitely the best part of the race! The scenery is beautiful, and the hills make it interesting yet challenging. Up to mile 12 (?) when you enter Kings Mountain National park it feels like you are mostly going downhill so enjoy the ride! The long incline on Battleground Road/National Park isn't bad at all. The downhill leaving the park makes it all worth it. The toughest part of the course is the last 6 miles. There are two steep inclines and a few smaller uphills that really burn. Either bring enough water or take advantage of the water stations.
The road surface throughout the entire course is almost perfect. There is a short stretch of road between Hwy 74 and 85 that is a little rough, but manageable. There were hardly any cars/road traffic except in Kings Mountain and at the highway junctions. There were police and volunteers at every crossing to direct traffic which really helped make the course feel safe.

I'm a big chicken when it comes to riding fast downhill so I didn't go all out on some of the down hills and I'll practice that more. Every week leading up to the race though I did one day of hill training either in spin class or in a group ride and that gave me an advantage. I passed a lot of people on hills which gave me confidence and made up for my crummy swim time.

This took entirely too long because I paused for a clif shot and water. I should have had this ready to take with me on the run.

It felt like the course went mostly downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. The course goes through a neighborhood and it was dull compared to the swim and bike course. I think a prettier route could've been chosen.

There were a lot of friendly volunteers and that was great! I highly recommend this race.