Callaway Gardens Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

At this race I knew I'd be good if I started near the front. I'm fairly confident in my swim ability and with my experience I knew I'd have an advantage over most women in my wave. Well, I started having second thoughts before we started. I looked over and there were some girls standing there in swim suits that looked like they were on a swim team (my mind has funny thoughts before starting) so I didn't want to get swum over by these fast (looking) girls so I moved back some and ended up right with Mandi. (she's in the NAMSC)

We were chatting and then all of a sudden it was time to start and off we went. I had a tough time with the crowd to begin with. There were bodies everywhere. I had to swim around women and in between some breastrokers and had a hard time getting past them. I had a hard time getting a good rhythm with my breathing so there were times when I was breathing every stroke. When I could, I was sprinting as hard as I could to stay near the front. Greg said I was probably one of the first 10 women out of the water which is great! I was jogging up the beach and didn't even turn around to see how many women were still in the water. At the same time, Rebecca (rhodespedal) came out with me (hey you!) and we ran to transition together.

At this race, I'd definitely start at the front. I have decent swim speed and it would be easier to have open water near the front instead of trying to squeeze in between swimmers.

I ran to my bike, pulled on my shoes, put on my sunglasses and helmet and grabbed my bike. I jogged out of transition with my bike and got on and clipped in after I got on the road. Stayed to the left to go around the slower folks. I stood up to get up to speed and yelled at Elena as I was going by. I knew going in to this race that at sprints the transitions are a key point in the race.

Nothing, I think this was one of my better transitions. We racked right in the middle of the row so it was about as long from the end of the parking lot as it was from my area to the road.

This was the most fun I've ever had on a bike course. I really enjoyed this ride, mostly because it was really fast. Once we got going I was among some other riders who were experienced and we were all going 18-24 mph on the course. I only passed men because the faster women were ahead of me and the men had started in the first wave. I had to stay to the left most of the time to keep up my speed because there were many who were weaving or hanging out in 2's talking to each other.

I got passed by some older men who'd started in the wave behind me. I had to chuckle as they went by me on their tri bikes with their HED and disk wheels, I mean honestly, it's only 9 miles. My left calf started cramping about 1/2 way through but I kept hammering because I knew I was almost done.

I don't think I'd do anything differently except go faster. I felt very comfortable with the speed of this ride and I'm happy with my time.

I came in to transition and didn't fall. (yay!) Unclipped one foot and stopped and unclipped the other foot. I fell getting out of my toe straps last year so I'm very happy to not fall getting out of clipless pedals. ;) Walked/jogged back to my rack and racked my bike. I almost always have to sit down for this transition so I did that and rolled my socks on, put running shoes on, said hey to Ken as he came in, put my visor on and stood up and grabbed my race belt. I put my belt on as I started running out of T2.

Go faster and not sit down but it keeps me from falling over.

I felt strong starting this run and didn't even think about the cramp I'd had on the bike. My only focus was getting to the finish within an hour. I wanted to keep the fastest pace I could handle. Again I didn't see many women. There were 2 or 3 women who passed me at the beginning and then 1 or 2 who passed me after the water stop. I got to the water table and took a cup of water because I felt dehydrated. I could have made it to the finish without it but the water tasted great and it was a good mental boost before the finish. My pace overall felt great but I think I could have pushed a little more at the beginning, I picked it up near the end when I knew I'd break an hour.

Go faster. It's only 2 miles and I should pretty much be sprinting that distance; especially since the bike is so short. But this is a great time for me! (maybe the course was shorter than 2 miles?)

Filled out my card, found Dan and Greg and waited for his wife to finish. We walked over to the water and food and then went back to the finish line to wait for my sister. I went back out on the run course to wait for her and when she came around the corner I started yelling at her that she was a rock star and we ran towards the finish line. I left her before she rounded the corner to make the sprint to the finish.


I don't know. Overall, this is one of my best performances. I think not starting closer to the front on the swim cost me some time but other than that I'm very happy with my time. Taking out the overall female winner (who was in my AG) moves me from 7/38 to 6/37.


I really enjoyed this race this year. It's much more fun to do this when I have better fitness. ;) I hate that it's not chip-timed but that's not a deal breaker for this race. It's a fun race to do and it's fun to be in the atmosphere of so many people who are new to the sport. Callaway Gardens is a beautiful venue for a race and I would definitely recommend this race to someone who is very new to the sport and wants to "try a tri".