Callaway Gardens Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

The swim was in a horseshoe shape around the edge of a lake. The deepest water was about 5 feet so I could stand up anywhere along the route. This was my first open water swim and first group start. I was in a fairly small wave of about 50 people. I started in the middle towards the back since I was a bit unsure. Got off to a pretty good start. Found some open water and just started plugging away. About half way though I went looking for a buoy and noticed my goggles were pretty fogged up. Start "water walking" to clear them and hit my knee on some sort of submerged rock. Did not really hurt but was more of a "what was that" sort of moment. Rest of the swim I alternated between "water walking" to catch my breath and swimming. Overall my time was much better than I expected but would like to be able to do the whole thing swimming without stopping.

More pool time. Avoid invisible unmarked lake obstacles.

I was pretty gassed from the swim so I walked through transition to catch my breath. No wetsuit so did not have to deal with that. Everything went pretty smoothly.

Run with bike.

The bike went really well. The course was really fast. I averaged 18.3 mph which I never even touch with my training rides. I noticed about 4 miles in that my encounter with a rock (or whatever) in the lake had left a pretty nice scrape and bruise right above my knee, still no real pain. Passed a fair number of people and was passed by a fair number of people. Got caught behind a slower rider while being passed by quite a few people a couple of times. That was a little annoying but I don't think it hurt me too much, just part of racing. Over all I think the ride was my favorite part of the event. I felt good doing it and it was scenic.

Just need more seat time.

Dismounted a little early. Guy telling people where to dismount told me to get a little closer next time. Ran about half way to my rack then walked the rest of the way. Shoe and hat change went well.

Dismount at the right place. Run further with the bike.

The run was by far my weakest effort. Came running out of transition on a path leading around the lake and make it about 300 ft before I had to stop and walk for about a minute. Convinced my self to run to at least the drink station at the half way point and see how things were then. Made that goal at what felt like a super slow pace. Walked for about another minute after getting a little water and started running again. Just keep ploding along not allowing my self to walk again. Close to the end my wife and kids were waiting on me with signs they had made cheering me on. Seeing the family gave me a huge surge of motivation and I sprinted the last few hundred feet to the finish line. Overall I thought the run was horrible by I manged a pace only about 20 seconds slower than my 5k PR pace so maybe it was just perception. I am by no means a fast runner but the numbers say the run was not too bad for me.

More practice and speed work.

Walked around a bit. Got some water and a granola bar. Went and found the family and cheered on a friend that was still on the course.


Need more training.


Well organized and run race. Great race for a beginner. I would highly recommend it.