Jackson County Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This part of the race was special for me because everyone that knows me knows about my fear and anxiety I have over open water swimming. I was determined to have a somewhat decent swim. I also was dedicating this race to Kevin Hunt who lost his life in the swim portion of a Triathlon this past June. It was his first triathlon and went under 50 yds from the finish.

I positioned myself in the back towards the outside to avoid the crowd and hoping that would calm my anxiety. It did!!! I waited about 20 seconds before I started to really start swimming. At first it was a little hard to get moving through the water but after the first 100 yds I started to really feel like I was moving and slipping through the water. I also noticed all the boats and life guards in the water and that totally calmed my nerves and I really started to swim.

I noticed only a couple of people passed me. In fact, I remember passing about 7-10 swimmers so I was excited.

Nothing! I went out to an open water swim with LindaKC and KCGuy earlier this month plus I swam the beach area of this lake twice before the event. I felt very prepared. If anything I would have swam more to the inside because I felt I was going off course a little.

Felt time was slower than usual in T1. I did have to wash the sand off my feet with an extra waterbottle I had which may have slowed me down a little. I also drank some gatorade when I had a bottle on my bike.

Skip the drink and drink on the bike.

Felt good as I left T1. About 1.5 miles into the course it got very hilly and tough. I averaged just 6-8mph on the hills. I knew I had not trained hard enough for the bike and I was paying for it on the hills. Once passed the hills I did great. The dismount before the bridge really hurt averages. I think my real average was more like 15mph rather than the 14.4 that is recorded.

Train Train Train Train Train .....Need I say more :)

T1 was alot better. I told Kevin's brother in law, Dan, that I would wear the Kevin Hunt foundation shirt so slipped that on and forgot to take off my other race shirt that I wore for the bike. That would cause problems later, but still worth it.

Maybe drink a little more gatorade.

I wish I had taken off my other race shirt and just wore the tshirt. I was pretty hot for the first part of the run. My pace felt good but I had a hard time pushing harder because the bike ride really took alot out of me.

Do more bricks.

Ate an orange and drank an energy drink and diet coke :) Met up with my wife and kids.

Met up with other BTers and visited.


About 3 weeks ago we decided to put my house on the market so that really hurt my training since I had alot to get done around the house. I think had I trained harder on the bike I would have done alot better, but I am really pleased with ending the season on a good note.


I was impressed with all the lifeguards in the water. That really helped me to relax and allowed me to focus on swimming. The only thing that disappointed me was no pizza :) I was starving after the race!

All in all I felt this was a great race venue and I will definitely do this race again next year!