My First Triathlon at Lake Lanier Islands - TriathlonSprint

I was expecting chaos but wow. Every time i tried to draft someone they would stop and i would run up on them, then try and go around and bump into someone else. Broke to the outside and had a dozen good strokes until the bottleneck under the bridge. Came out from under the bridge and got excited by the freedom and stopped spotting and when i eventually looked up and I had drafted way to the right and had to spend time swimming back at an angle instead of straight ahead and it cost me alot of time and got me flustered. I never got back into a rythm and my breathing was horrid.

It's clear i need alot more swimming work, i new this would be my worst event but did worse than i expected. Need to work on form so i don't drift off and work on spotting better. Not sure what to do in the early chaos except maybe stay on someone's toes until it opens up a little instead of trying to go around people.

Alread had goggles and swim cap off from the .25 jog from water exit to transition area. Sat down put on socks and shoes. Stood up and put on race belt glasses, helmet. Plan was to work from feet up so i didn't forget anything and followed that plan. Need to learn to have shoes on bike and put them on while riding but haven't practiced so i didn't try.

Put socks and shoes on without sitting down but other than that i was happy with the transition.

Was frustrated after my swim but that faded quickly on the bike and i was feeling good by the time we got out of the park. I was taking it easy at the beginning to let the blood get to the cycling muscles and i was passing people left and right. Once we got out on the road and the hills started all of the hilll riding i've been doing really paid off as i was flying by people (granted it seemed alot of people were on mtn bikes and hybrids so taking that with a grain of salt). I was trying not to draft but sometimes it was impossible as there were so many slower riders that everyone passing stayed as far left as possible so i just followed along. Had a stretch where we were passing and i caught a little breather and then broke from the group and pulled away and worked my way to another group moving pretty quickly. Rode with that group for a half mmile or so and then started to lay back a little while and then they pulled away again. Got caught behind all kinds of cars when we got back in the park and was really nervous about passing cars and had to pass on both the right and the left and was waiting to get clipped at any minute. Used to cars passing on the road and it doesn't bother me but passing cars freaked me out a little.

When i signed up 5 weeks ago and didn't even own a bike if someone would have told me i would have ridden that well i would have laughed at them. I shouuld have stayed with that second group instead of trying to give them room so i wasn't drafting and end up getting dropped. Probably would have saved me 30 sec to a min on my bike time and saved my legs a little. I also should drank some in the last couple of miles but i was to busy hammering on the pedals and forgot about it.

unstrapped my shoes coming up the hill at finish of bike but didnt get my feet out in time so had to unclip with shoes loose and it was kind of awkward. Then had to run with my shoes undone and i was almost coming out of them so i walked to rack my bike. Bike racked fine and i took off helmet and strapped back to bike and grabbed my running shoes and slipped them on high fived one of my training partner and his kids who were right by my bike (wasted about 5 seconds but was worth it) grabbed a drink of gatorade and a gel and was off. Jogging out of transition i could feel i used to much calves on my bike so took it easy trying to stretch them out.

set helmet down in transition instead of strapping back on bike. Glad i bought yankz friday afternoon as my running shoes went on really quickly.

My calves were cramping bad at the start of the run. I knew i had hammered it to hard on the bike using my calves and stopped 3 times in the first quarter to mile to stretch them out. It wasn't working and i knew from my brick workouts just to run through it and change my gait a little and it worked by the time i was up the first big hill my calves were feeling better. I took it easy on the first mile to make sure i didn't cramp up again and get my running legs under me but i knew my brother who had started 2 waves behind me and just ran a marathon five weeks ago (this was basicallly a couch to sprint 5 week train for me) was going to be coming after me on the run so i picked it up a little. At the turn around point he hadn't caught me so i was feeling good but as soon as i came back around i saw him and knew he was going to catch me. He caught up to me right at the 2 miile marker. I contemplated running the rest of the way with him but i didn't want to puke at the finish line so i let him go and just stayed on my pace. I finished strong and feeling good and was excited to be able to now call myself a triathlete. My goal time was 1hr30min-1hr45min and it was showing 1:27:xx crossing the finish line and i was happily surprised to know i beat my goal by almost ten minutes (quick math in my head at the time)

I should have picked up the pace and run the last mile with my brother as he passed instead of holding back as i had some gas left in the tank at the end. Overall was happy with the run,didn't cramp after the inital off the bike and managed my stride and pace well in the middle of the run.

grapped about 4 cups of gatorade and a water adn went and took pics with friends and family, then stood in line to get t-shirt. After that all friends and family went back down to the beach and grabbed breakfast at the cafe on the beach.


Biggest thing is weight. I dropped 10 pounds in 5 weeks leading up to the race but need to lose at least another 20 while improving my conditioning to really be able to cruise.


It's a great race for first timers and I'm glad i did it. I learned what i need to work on for future races as well as what to expect. I performed better than i expected so overall i was quite pleased.