Clemson Triathlon - Triathlon

It was a good swim, overall. I started out fairly strong, and then held on. I did well coming round the first buoy and then settled in after that. I even did some adequate sighting using the swimmers around me.

Not much

Did pretty well, the suit came off quickly, which was nice

Not much

I wanted to go faster, and I think I could have, but it would have wrecked my run. I knew that if I wanted to podium, I'd need 23 mph, but I couldn't achieve that and still run well afterward. It was a good bike, and I felt good getting off. I passed quite a few, and never saw anyone in my AG, so there wasn't much competition.

I'm sure I could have gone harder, but it's hard to tell how hard to go when there's a run right after!

As always, T2 is slow for me bc of the socks, but I don't lose too much time, and there's not much I can do about it.

Not much

This was the most interesting part of the race for me. I started out well, got through the first mile feeling good. The 2nd mile was tough bc of the steep hill, but going down made up for having to push hard on the way up. Things got interesting in the last 1/2 mile: I got passed by my only AG competition of the day. He ran by and I thought, he's not going too fast, let's see if I can hang on. I was pushing it, but it was a pace I could hold. I stayed on his heels, and told myself I'd try to make a pass right at the end. We went up the last little hill toward the finish line, and I made my move, but so did he. He picked up the pace, so I did too. We were moving pretty good-and then he saw that I was next to him. It was a full-on dead sprint to the finish. My final pace at the finish line was 4:20! We both congratulated each other at the end, which was cool. He and I ended up finishing with the exact same time; it's amazing what's left in the tank when you think you're done.

If I can go that hard at the end, surely I can go harder before then!

catch my breath, eat pizza!


I love this race: it was my first triathlon, and it's great every year. It's very competitive and the course is perfect. If this is my last SC race, it was a great one to end on!