Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series - Race #2 - TriathlonSprint

This was my first tri with an open water swim, so i really didnt know what to expect. It was pretty rough for the first 200m or so. There was alot of beating and banging. I decided to lay back a bit so that I didnt get too worn out. After looking at my time and my placing, I wish i would have gone our harder. I thought I did a pretty good job sighting and rounding the bouys. I tucked in close to all of them and swam in mostly a straight line to them.

Gone out faster. I can swim faster than 2:14/100yds. This was only my second tri. It will get better

I had some trouble clipping in once i got on my bike. I think that is has to do with my $16 nashbar road pedals. I have new pedals that I will be installing (speedplay zeros) but they hadnt arrived by the time i left for South Carolina. I did go without socks for the first time. I had socks there but decided that I didnt want to take the time to put them on.

maybe learn mount bike with shoes attached to the pedal. It will come in time

Here is the part of the race that made me a bit angry. In the rules sent out by the CSTS coordinators, it says specifically "Drafting on the Bike is cheating. Anyone considered to be drafting at anytime on the Bike Course will be DQ’d. No warning. No appeals" Hah!!!! If you were out on the bike course where I was, you would have thought this was the Tour de France. The one guy I beat out of the swim in my AG, drafted off of me for about 3 minutes the took off (he ended up beating me by 36 seconds). Oh and as he passed me he said "I am trying to stay legal, but its so hard" BullSh!t!!!!! Then I had managed to pass a bunch of people including a few in my AG. Then a line of about 5 people came flying by me. The left me in the dust. I got really mad and hammered for the rest of the bike. I was never able to catch back up to them which wasnt so bad until I saw how close I was to some of the others. If they would have not been cheating, I would have had a chance to beat some of the people in my AG. It is just frustrating

I am seriously considering writing an email to the race director. It may sound whiney from someone who came in last place in their age group, but it was advertised as a non drafting race. And when you put such harsh words of warning in the rules, you should at least have some people out there to police it. My bike performance was excellent for me, so i am not complaining about that. I just wish i could do something about other people

Time was in run I think. I goofed up and I misjudged how big the loop around the lake was and I got my feet out of my shoes way too early. So I had to mash down on the tops of my shoes for about a 1/4 mile or so.

not do what I just explained.

I thought it went pretty well for me. I ran this 5k faster than any stand alone 5k that i have done so i was pretty happy. I could have ran the first mile faster but my legs werent right after hammering on the bike to try and catch the cheaters. It started raining a bit on the run and I had to take off my sunglasses because there were water spots all over them. There was no good place to put them, so I carried them. It wasnt bad, just annoying. overall i was pleased with my run. Its not fast by others standards, but for me right now it is ok.

Not put my sunglasses on, it was overcast and i didnt need them and I debated about it at T2. I should have left them there.

Jogged around a bit played with my daughter


Inexperience in OWS. It will get better over time. I just have to get out there and do it. I have decided, i need to be a more confident swimmer. I keep telling myself that I have only been swimming for a year and its ok to be slow. No more, I want to be fast, and i am going to work on being fast.


Overall i enjoyed the race, but I was very upset about the drafters. I pride myself on being able to run down alot of people on the bike, but that all gets negated when drafting is tolerated. I was disappointed that I was last in my age group, but I was happy with my bike and run performances. I also know that there were no slouches in my age group and if i can come in withing a few minutes of most of them, thats not to bad for me. I also know that this is my 2nd triathlon ever, so I have lots of room to improve.