Parris Island - Triathlon

had a hard time getting into a groove. Felt like I lost my mojo early-like Lap 2! Just didn't trust myself to stick to my breathing plan and panicked, breathing every left rotation. Kept worrying about the people behind me. Stopped too often at the turns to see where others were.

TRUST MYSELF AND MY TRAINING! Go my pace and be comfortable with it. Try to get in a groove as early as possible in the course and let go.

Biggest problem was trying to get my cycling gloves on at same time as I was moving bike out of transition area.

If I can have Brian around at swim exit, have him hand me gloves and flip flops then. And start putting them on then. No suit to get out of so that was easy. I just put on my Sugar jacket so that was good. NEED to grab quick drink.

The course was flat with very little grade so it had the potential of being pretty fast. BUT the headwinds! Ugh. Felt like they slowed me down. My gear changes were like BUTTER! Very smooth. I was very happy with my bike performance.

Need to keep working on strength and speed with Spinning so that I can keep my bike in more challenging gears to go faster and work less. Drink something during course!

I was dying of thirst during bike because I didn't want to balance drinking and riding. Need to develop that confidence. I didn't ride with cleats so I was using my running shoes and flipped the pedals around. This worked very well for this course and saved me a lot of time in transition.

1-use a race belt. Had to pin on my bib as I was leaving transition area.
2-Bring my chews or pin to race belt.
3-Make sure I have my head band on for bike portion so I don't have to fumble with that as well.

Good grief? I seriously can't believe this time. This would be a 5K PR for me! Best 5K was 29:52 (the HY-5 in Westlake in 2009!
Felt like I was slow trotting at best. I did take a few short walk breaks but overall kept moving. Carb Pro water was the bomb!

Again, use race belt. Attach chews and Gym Boss timer. My goal was to run continuously during this portion, and seeing my time I wonder if the timer would have even helped me.

Grabbing some fruit, cookies and sweet tea!


Mental barriers. All the conditions were right for a good performance.


Parris Island Triathalon is a well organized, fun event. It's a great way to start off the Triathlon season here in South Carolina. It was well supported with volunteers. The event was fun and all levels and ages of athletes could compete and feel welcome. I would definitely recommend this race as well as sign up for it again in the future