Tri the Parks - Richard B. Russell State Park - TriathlonOlympic

I really enjoyed this swim. After wading for a bit at the start (the lake was pretty shallow), I got into a good rhythm pretty early on. It helped that there weren't as many in my wave as the Clemson tri. I was actually able to do bilateral breathing without too much trouble. The hard part was reminding myself to swim my race, not try to race the girl next to me. Swim time also includes uphill run to T1 - pretty run through the trees. This is where Leslie (111) passed me.

Swim faster. I didn't want to be completely wiped, but I think I could have given more during the swim than I did. It was my first oly, so I think I did okay.

Umm, pretty normal T1 time. I was a bit out of breath after running from the lake.

Practice running right after I swim, I guess? The lifeguards might frown on that, though.

I was NOT expecting hills this bad. Silly me. I was pretty winded starting the bike. I think running instead of walking out of the water, while smart, got to me at the beginning of the bike. It took a while for me to get my breath. I passed a few people, but got passed by a lot more. oh, and I LOVE my bento box. It made life so much easier.

It was hard to judge what kind of effort I needed to give on the bike, since I had never seen the course. I guess I was trying to save energy for possible future hills and for the run. What I would do differently - more hill training. Not so strong on the gatorade mix. More sports beans, maybe no bloks. Maybe gu instead. Practice going faster on long rides. Run before I ride. -- (ooo. That's a good idea. Practice starting off winded.)

As I was one of the later ones in, it was a bit crowded on the bike racks. And I was walking funny and feeling tired, which didn't help me get the bike on there any faster. Oh, and I sat down to get my socks and running shoes on.

Not much. I wasn't disappointed with my T2 time at all.

I got off the bike as others were finishing their first lap and the insides of my legs were really sore. That hasn't happened before, so that was pretty weird. Ran a comfortable pace that was probably somewhat slower than I was capable of starting on a trail in pretty decent shape. Soon after I got off the trail, Adam passed me, and I sped up to keep up with him. He sounded like he was ready to lose a lung, he was pushing for speed on his last lap. I paced him until just under a mile to go on my first lap. It was nice to run with somebody, and trying to keep up with him helped my times. (first lap - 30:13). With no one to run with on my second lap, it didn't go as quickly, but I did pass a few people, including a guy who is 73 years old. That's pretty cool. Tried to sprint toward the end, but wasn't much of a sprint. (second lap - 31:53).

Run faster. I need speed work. Yep, this summer will have more track time.

Walked around, felt like I'd run a marathon or something. Found Mindy, met her hubby and kids, really met Leslie, met K Hopkins (Kevin) thanks to his North ATL multisport jersey. Ate half a bagel, several cookies, orange slice, couple of bottles of water. I also ran into Shannon, a girl I was in campus ministry with at Valdosta State. THAT was really cool.


Not enough training on the bike. And I need more speed training on the run. My very conservative goal (thanks to the tire incident at Clemson) was 3:08:00. I finished this race in 2:55:36, so I was very happy with my finish time.


The volunteers who help out with the Tri the Parks series are AWESOME! There were so many people out there to help us, and that made this race. Russell was a good first oly. I enjoyed it, and if I can, I'll be doing it next year. And I will put in more hill training beforehand!