Music City Triathlon - Intermediate Course - Triathlon

I was proud of this swim. I swam freestyle the whole way and never freaked out once. There was some debris in the river and I just let it bounce off me and kept on swimming. I never once felt tired or out of breath or anything other than relaxed. It wasn't the fastest I've ever swam this distance but it was my best swim in open water to date.

I didn't account for how strong the current was, so I drifted quite a bit going across the current the first turn. I also need to sight more than every 100 strokes. On the last upstream portion I could have hugged the bank a bit more to stay out of the main channel. I made myself work harder than I had to. But very happy overall

The run to T1 was LONG and all uphill.

Not much. It was just a long way to transition. I should have hailed a cab!!

The course was 2 loops of Ellington Parkway, a 4 lane thruway to downtown Nashville. It was closed for the race. I took my time to find my groove on the first loop. The out part was hilly but the back part you could FLY and I did! I also did something I've never done before in a triathlon. I cussed another cyclist. This dude passed me but cut back in front of me nearly clipping my front tire at 27 mph. I dropped back to avoid an overtaken penalty, then grabbed a bigger gear and dropped that sucker like a bad habit. The bike is my strength and I stayed aero pretty much the whole way, except for the short sharp turns at the downtown part.

NOT do the flying squirrel dismount barefooted on to hot pavement. My rack spot was WAY in the back fo transition and I had to hoof it a long way on that blazing blacktop! I could have pushed my pace a bit more as well, but I was trying to save something for the run. That plan didn't work out too well.

My T2 is always a bit slow, because I can't run without socks and I don't like speed laces so I have to sit down, put on socks and tie my shoes.

Not much.

Having lived in Nashville prior to moving back to my hometown I knew this was gonna be a hilly run. I just never felt like I could get a groove going or get my heartrate up to what I wanted, so I just ambled along, thanking every volunteer and police officer I passed by. I LOVE the downtown vibe of the live music and tourists taking in the sites, so it was fun.

Train hills more. IM Louisville has a dead flat run course so I haven't gone out of my way to train for running hills this season.

Grabbed my gear, hooked up with my partner and #1 IronSherpa. Then we met up with some friends who also raced, some who didn't and went for Mexican food at our favorite place on 4th Ave South!


This race was just a litmus test of my confidence in open water for a considerable distance. I wasn't pushing myself, just good steady pacing and enjoying racing instead of just training all the time


On a 26 mile course I would like to see at least one water station on the bike portion. I had a good time, caught up with some friends we haven't seen in a while, and our new friends,the gentleman is racing Louisville with me and his wife is just a jewel. It was FUN!!!! And that's the whole point of our crazy love of triathlon, right??