Tri the Parks - Indian Springs State Park - TriathlonSprint

I was NOT ready for the open water swim! Swimming in a pool is a totally different animal than open water swimming. I started pretty fast but when I would hit someone I'd stop and look up then gag on water. This continued until the pack was ahead of me and by that time I had expended WAY too much energy.

Swim through the crowd. Not worry about hitting other swimmers (like they didn't worry about swimming over me). Roll more when breathing. When I was swimming normally I'd occasionally take in water because my roll wouldn't move my mouth over the wave enough.

I was very thankful to be out of the water. I came out with a very nice guy named Robert (#143). My transition was pretty good but I was a quarter of the way down toward the bike start when I realized I had to go back and get my number. Oops! Otherwise I was pretty satisfied.

I thought the bike went pretty smoothly considering I don't ride that much. Right before turning back into the park a line of traffic came by and was held up by a racer riding in the middle of the lane. That slowed my pace coming down a good hill and I had to ride my brakes too much. Oh, and I threw my chain going up one of hills on the way out :(

Change gears better to avoid throwing my chain.

This transition went pretty well, I thought.

The run was very slow, the swim really sapped my energy. Running through the camping areas was entertaining. Some kid showed my his new penguin toy while I was running by. I think it was from that new animated movie about surfing penguins, it was cute.

I wasn't properly stretched.
Didn't roll enough during the swim.
Wasted too much energy during the swim.


It was a good race, well organized, lots of participants, but poorly executed on my part. No triathlons for me until September because my wife and I are on baby watch now. Open water training is going to be high on the priority list. I'll see you at the Hiawassee Oktoberfrst Sprint and I'll have two-month-old in tow :)