Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I was passed by everybody. This is just my 3rd year of swimming and 4th open water swim race. I started out and the first 100 yards had a hard time breathing. I finally got into my rhythm and it was going great until the last bridge. It felt like a huge boat went by with very strong currents that were pushing me sideways instead of down the river. I remember seeing a guy 6 feet away to the side of me and the next thing I know I'm swimming on top of him.

More open water swimming.

I was a little dizzy coming out of the water. Had a hard time getting my shirt on. I got passed by 4 people on the way to the transition. Took another gel in T1.

I've heard to put wax or silicone in ear to prevent dizziness. I might try it next time.

I train a lot of hills and I use the downhills to recooperate. I just didn't have it in this race. It felt like my brakes were dragging on the downhills. I was passing like crazy uphill and toward the end my calves and left hamstring were cramping and my right knee was aching. It felt like a pretty good headwind on the way back. Riding a road bike wasn't helping with the wind. The bike was a little longer than a 40k. Took my last gel at mile 23.

Get on my tri bike this winter and ride the fool out of it and be ready next year.

Racked my bike, shucked my shirt, swapped my shoes and was off. Then ran back for another drink of cytomax. I don't know why I did that!!

Pretty good transition.

I ran the first half of the run as I expected and then the bottom fell out. I was hydrated very well before this race started. I had gotten dry mouth so I stopped and drank 2 cups of water at the turn around. My stomach got rock hard. As I continued to run I almost puked so stopped and burped 3 times. Ran a little further and had to stop again. The 3rd time I stopped I didn't burp. Took forever to get from mile 4 to mile 5. I remember slightly jogging to mile 6 and walked up the big hill and then a half a$$ed effort to the finish. I had been training at 48 min. 10k so was disappointed with my time.

I think I bonked at the halfway point of the run by not getting enough sleep the night before and my body not using the fluids I put in.

Drank a bottle of water. Tried to eat but my stomach wasn't cooperating. Loaded up the car and drove back to Crossville. Felt really bad until Monday morning. I think I was motion sick coming out of the swim.


I thought I had trained enough for this race but still need more base for this length of race.


Once again Team Magic put on a great race. This was my biggest race to date and maybe was a little more than I wanted. I'll be prepared next year knowing what I know now. There are a lot of great triathletes in the southeast region and every race I get to meet more of them.