Lake Marion Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

Yep, you read the time right. Worst swim ever. I swallowed a big lungful of water, just shy of the shallow area so I hung onto a paddle board until I could catch my breath. It's impossible to catch your breath while trying to float or do anything in water, so I never really got it together. I swam my way through the course and, unbelievably, passed a few in my wave. WTH people? So glad when this was done. Most swims leave me questioning my interest in triathlon and this was no exception.

Long run from the beach, where the timing mat was, to transition. I did okay once I got to my bike. Wore my casual riding sandals since this was the only tri I did this year, I have different pedals on my bike. Turned out pretty slick. Not as fast as my tri shoes, but fast enough. Really simple transition with not wet suit!

The course was changed due to road construction, so ended up being longer than the planned 17. Normally cool with me, but my legs were kind of fried and it was windy! The crosswinds made it nearly unbearable at points, but the tail wind was fun. Times were pretty slow overall, so I am satisfied with this. This is a top 1/3 time for females overall.

Okay, so I went potty. I knew I'd be in trouble otherwise :)

Now this surprised me! I was fully expecting this to be much much slower, considering Ragnar. I started out very slow and painful and I was worried. But I thought about just how very slow this could be, and the desire to finish sooner rather than later won out. I did walk quite a bit in the first half due to a hill, but I ran little bits as much as I could. Once I hit the general downhill portion I ran well for a while. Towards the end there was more walking bits, but I really tried to keep chugging. I was so fatigued that I was only able to run at a pace that, fortunately, my heart and lungs were okay with. I often struggle slowing down enough to find an "easy" pace. By the time I made my way through this little jaunt, I was pretty pleased with myself. Amazing!

This race is really nice. The vibe is laid back yet organized. The only hiccup, for which blame both the race organizer and my self, is that I started in the wrong wave. They didn't list the Athena group in the swim start schedule, so I went with my age. I should have asked, because I realized when I saw my time that I should have started a wave sooner. They fixed the time, but it was a hassle for the people involved and could have been avoided. Otherwise, this is a great event at a really nice venue. It's for a youth swim club, so lots of kids both racing and volunteering. Very cool!