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

I think I started better than I did last race, but entire swim was a lot slower than I wanted. I treaded water briefly at the first turn buoy when I thought my chip was coming off. It turned out chip was fine, I just had a leave or something tangled in my feet. I was having some stomach issues in the swim and felt a bit of nausea so I'm not sure what pre-race routine is really best for me yet. I struggled a bit mentally on the long, straight swim between turn buoys, and thought the swim felt too long. I figured I was off my goal pace, and when I glanced at watch on long run to T1 I got verification of that. I was 3 minutes behind my desired swim time. I passed Watergirl on the climb to transition and introduced myself... probably a strange place to introduce yourself to someone.

Continue playing around with pre-race nutrition to try and alleviated stomach issues on swim.

Find a swim coach that can help me learn to swim faster, not just more efficiently

Transition felt pretty efficient. I always take the time to put on socks in T1, so I'm assuming if I could go sockless, I might be able to get this under a minute. I was 11th fastest among women on this transition.


Go sockless.

I had an aggressive time goal (well for me anyway) for the bike portion of the race, so I think my desire for a fast time and trying to make up for another poor swim, had me mashing the pedals and dropping my chain. I felt a bit tired and winded in the early part of the bike, and my bike speed was slower than I wanted. I dropped my chain on the first hill outside of the state park and had to briefly get off bike to get it back on. I was trying to figure out what I did to manage the dropped chain, and figured it was a combo of the new chain, no lube on the chain (was told by bike shop dude not to lube the new chain for a few weeks), and general user error. I fixed chain and got right back on trying to catch those that passed me while off the bike. I managed to catch everyone (I think). I dropped chain again on a smaller hill and had enough cushion on the riders around me that no one passed me that time. The third time I dropped my chain (this time again on a steeper hill when I was trying to go from big ring to little ring while pedaling hard on the hill), I had several riders pass me and I wasn't able to catch all of them. One of them was a woman wearing an All3 outfit and she was the one I marked. I didn't catch her on the bike but did on the run (turns out she had a real strong bike leg and would have likely passed me even if I didn't have to stop and fix chain). After the third dropped chain incident, I stayed in the big ring the remaining miles and just mashed my pedals and stood up for the remaining uphills just to avoid having to switch between rings. Each time I dropped the chain I think I used an expletive and then just got the chain back on and kept going so I didn't waste a lot of time but overall, dropping a chain multiple times on a ride is bound to impact your overall time so it's hard to know exactly how much time I lost. I was less cautious on the downhills on the ride, and gave myself a pat on the back for that. I even managed over 37 mph and didn't completely freak out. I was bummed when I got warning from a race volunteer that a turn was coming up and did have to slow down to make that. The other great downhill section had a bridge at the bottom of it, so I did slow down a bit on that one because I wasn't sure how big the lip was going to be between road and bridge but I was less cautious and maintained better composure than I do on the Roswell Ride. As far as nutrition goes, I took one GU on the bike and drank one full aero-bottle of water.

I was watching people ride the hills and noticed most were able to get in a gear and spin to the top, while I was having to mash my pedals a bit even in the lowest gear I was able to get my bike into (I have one additional gear that I can never seem to smoothly get into... I had a tune-up last week hoping that would allow me to get into that gear easier, but no such luck there); so I'm still left debating changing my cassette to a 12-27 which would give me at least two lower gears than I have now, but it would impact my higher gears too so I can't decide.

I need to figure out how to best approach hills and prevent the dropped chain. I also need to practice more cornering so I don't lose so much speed and momentum on the turns.

An efficient transition. I had no trouble finding my rack and getting bike racked and getting out to the run. I had a good transition location for easy/fast exit to run. I was 4th fastest among all women.

Nothing. I beat the 45 seconds I set as my goal.

I had a decent run... coming in right about where I expected. I was a bit slow on the first mile, and was feeling the race and was a bit worried about how the run was going to turn out, but I was able to pick up the pace and felt better in the middle miles. I normally love some off-road running but on both sections of the trail run was just wishing for some pavement. By the start of the second loop, I was having discomfort in my forefoot from the incorrect lacing of my shoes. I put some new laces on my shoes and never had a chance to test them out, so I was curling my toes on my left foot to try and get feeling back in my forefoot. I don't think it impacted my pace too much, but I figure I might have been able to go a little faster if I wasn't changing my stride to try and bring feeling back to my foot.

Don't try new laces without testing them first.

Continue speedwork to try and improve run.

Watched those I knew still on the course finish; and chatted with those already done and other spectators I knew. Drank a bit of water and just hung out around finish line. I was wearing the Goody Orange and was being chased by a bee so I headed to car and put on a white shirt and waited around for results. I predicted a 4th place AG finish, and without pulling out the Top 3 Overall Females, I was fourth. I moved up to 2nd and won an award after two of the top females in my age group were the overall 1st and 2nd place finishers. After reviewing the overall race results, I feel I got lucky getting an award at this race. There are some very competitive local athletes at the Tri the Parks races, and I was 5 minutes behind my goal for this race. I know I can improve my times, and feel I need to if I want to be competitive in my age group. The overall female finished the race 24 minutes ahead of me and she is in my age group. Even the woman in 1st place in my AG was 10 minutes ahead of me. I need to work to get faster.


Lack of swim racing experience, dropping my chain multiple times on the bike, and probably the lacing issues on the run.


Another great Tri the Parks event. Tri Blue Sky does a great job with their race series. The state park, a bit of a far drive from Atlanta, was beautiful. The course is by no means easy, but it is a great, scenic course. The race is an International distance event, but is not what I consider the standard Olympic distance length so is probably a great distance for those trying to move to longer than sprint races. I think I got lucky with the weather this year being overcast, because the bike and run courses could be brutal in hot, sunny conditions.