Tri the Parks - Indian Springs State Park - TriathlonSprint

We were to keep the buoys to our left, so I was hugging them pretty tightly which meant I was in a high impact zone. There was lots of contact with other swimmers. I ran into the slow swimmers from the wave before and was dodging them. I got swam over and pushed under water by a girl in my wave, and kicked and hit by many others. It was just a very busy swim. I believe I started the swim more aggressively than I have in the past, but just don't have a strong enough pull to start seeing my swim times come down. I spent a good bit of time sighting to ensure I wasn't off course, and it was breaking my form so I just need to keep practicing and see if I can figure out how to keep form, sight, breath, and swim faster (develop a stronger, more consistent pull) in open water. Swim time included a run across some sand and then up a hill on a mix of gravel and pavement.

6/23 in Age Group
39/127 for Females
190/484 Overall

I like the idea of being able to hug the buoys so I'm not lengthening my swim, but it means I need to become more aggressive with my swimming so I'm not having as much contact with other swimmers.

Just keep swimming to try and lower swim times.

The transition area was long and narrow, winding and on a bit of a hill, so it wasn't a great transition layout for real fast transitions. This race was also much larger than the other two Tri the Parks races I had done, so the zone was big and crowded and meant it was a bit tougher to find my rack. I went sockless again, which saved some time but I fumbled a bit getting bike shoes on. Once I was at mount line, I didn't waste time trying to clip one foot into pedal, and actually just got on bike and then clipped. I have no idea why I haven't taken that approach before. It worked out well and probably saved a few seconds on total bike time.

3/23 in Age Group
9/127 for Females
65/484 Overall

Just continue to practice the swim to bike transition so getting equipment on is fast and efficient and allows me to get on the bike quicker.

Try to leave bike shoes on bike and get into shoes once on bike at mount line.

It generally takes me a few minutes to get into a groove on the bike, and this race was no different. I got passed by a few riders who have better bike handling skills and stronger legs before we even got out of the park. I held my own on the long hill, and then got into a nice groove when I settled in for the ride. I got caught behind some vehicle traffic and slowed pace a bit until I decided I was going to have to go around them unless I wanted my bike time to really suffer. I'm not sure what the USAT rules are about passing vehicles while on the race course, so I passed them on the left because they weren't leaving enough shoulder room for me to stay to the right. I was a bit concerned the vehicles would come left (and into me) as they were trying to get around the other cyclists, but thankfully that didn't happen and I was able to pass them and then pick up my pace again. I got caught behind a long line of cyclists that weren't keeping the required spacing between bikes. When I did attempt a pass, riders weren't letting me cut back over to the right so I was forced to either sit behind the line-up or try to overtake several riders at once. I decided to pass the riders and was really pushing it and got around the riders, only to have the riders create a draft pack and overtake me again. I was a bit mad about that, but knew it was difficult to keep the no drafting rule when there were so many riders on such a short course. I was able to pass some of the riders back and was able to stay ahead of them through the finish of the bike. Overall, I was happy with my bike performance, but still need to gain some bike handling skills and strength so I can lower bike times. Even with my tentative bike handling skills, I really enjoy biking so the 12.8 mile distance just didn't feel like enough of distance for me.

7/23 in Age Group
32/127 for Females
212/484 Overall

Be more aggressive on bike from start to finish.

Gain ability and confidence in my ability to handle the bike on corners and turns.

Again the crazy transition set-up and length kept this from being a super-fast transition. I don't waste much time in transition but I always seem to fumble just a bit with helmet and/or getting shoes off and on.

6/23 in AG
19/127 for Females
87/484 Overall

This run was a lot harder than I was expecting. It was hilly. I don't like the tight go-around a cone turn arounds because they are always tough on the lower legs and cause me to break my stride and slow. This course had one fairly early. The course was just generally hillier than I was expecting. I'm not a big fan of running through campsites because you can always smell the campfires and food cooking, and the two loops through the campsites definitely had lots of campfire and cooking smells. You'd think I'd know when to start picking up pace at the end because we had to pass the same parts of the course on the way back in, yet I was a bit cautious of starting to pick up pace too early and not having enough at the end. I did manage to pick up pace and had something of a sprint at the finishline, which leaves me thinking I should have been running harder on the earlier parts of the run.

3/23 in Age Group
14/127 for Females
102/484 Overall

Race harder so I leave everything on the course and can't sprint into the finishline.

Walked through finishline, grabbed a water and then headed down to meet Ron, the girls and the babysitters. Watched the finishline for others I knew finishing, and then went in search of band-aids for the bleeding blisters I re-developed because I went sockless on the run again, and missed Felix crossing the finishline. Took time clearing out transition and talking with people and then headed to car. Our babysitters were a bit antsy to leave so we didn't stay for the awards. I felt a bit bad for not sticking around but didn't want the babysitters having to wait around just so I could see the awards. We went and had lunch at Fresh Air barbeque and refueled.


My cautious nature.

After reviewing my splits and doing my analysis of everyone's rankings and splits, I have decided I need to pick it up on the bike more than the swim. The swim is definitely a slow event for me, but I don't think it is harming me as much as I thought. If I can pick up some more speed on the bike which is an event I really enjoy, I can off-set my swim a bit. My running continues to be my strong event. I don't think I've reached my max on the run yet, but I am happy with my running times and hope to continue seeing good results there.

Finish Ranking:
4/23 in Age Group
21/127 for Females
137/484 Overall


Another decent race by Tri Blue Sky. This race was more crowded then Fort Yargo and Richard B Russell and that actually lowered my enjoyment of the race a little bit. The layout of the transition area, and even the chip and packet pick-up area just seemed too crowded; but Tri Blue Sky still has these races organized and efficient.