Tupelo King of the Hill Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I had a good time in the water, but this was my first wave start and I had trouble getting away from people. After I rounded the second buoy, I got kicked pretty hard in the eye and my goggles came off. I went under a little bit trying to get them back on, then it took a minute to get back on course. The waves were probably not that bad, but it felt like they were, so I was only able to breathe well on one side, which I'm sure hurt my time, too.

Not much... I need to practice getting away from people in the water. Other than that, I'll just keep putting in the yards and hopefully keep making speed gains (I can't go any slower).

Everything normal here... no surprises.

I keep saying that I need to practice mounting the bike with shoes attached to the pedals, but I never do. I plan to change that now.

This was a pretty good bike course. There were some fun descents, good climbs, and some pretty flat fast sections. My max speed was just over 37mph, my average was right at 20mph, and I was able to keep spinning over most of the hills. I found a really comfortable aero position and was able to hold it most of the course. On the downside, I lost a couple of minutes airing up my front tire twice (which brought down my official avg speed: my actual riding time was 1:05:58), and I rode in the last few miles with it pretty soft. I'm not unhappy with the ride at all... it was my fastest pace this season.

I should have changed the front tube before the race. When I aired it up in the morning, it was softer than it should have been after sitting around for a day. Live and learn, huh?

I somehow lost my race belt and had to borrow safety pins. Funny, I didn't look in the goodie bag until after the race, but it included a freebie race belt that I could have used. Had a good laugh with my wife over that one.

Keep better track of my stuff. Oh, and check out the goodie bag to see if there's anything I might need for the event.

I honestly don't know how I kept sub-30 minutes. I felt like I was overheating the whole time, and I took several walk breaks. I didn't really hurt, but it was hard to keep good form.

I need to get in some longer runs. I've been so bike and swim focused that my running's been getting the shaft. If my wife has her way I'll be doing a few half-marys over the winter... that should speed me up some in the 5k.

Cold wet towel on the head, bottle of water, walking around in lots of little circles.


Not much. This was the 4th tri of my first season, so I'm pretty happy with my progress so far.


This was a fun tri. If they have it again next year I'll definitely be signing up.