My Next Tri - Lake Lanier, Georgia 6/7/08 - TriathlonSprint

I jogged down the beach and waded into the water with about 60 other triathletes in the first wave. I was towards the rear of the pack, got off to a relaxed start in the water, I was left behind by the mass, and began passing a lot of people on the way out to the first buoy. When I got to about 300 meters I realized that a person next to me was doing the breast stroke and he and I were moving at the exact same speed! I was doing freestyle, generally a much faster more efficient stroke. I picked up the pace and left him behind. I got to the beach and started jogging up to the transition. It is about a third of a mile run up to get on your bike from the water.
I kept it at a slow jog and got to the transition area in short order.

Unlike last year, put my bike helmet on facing the right direction! but then I had to immediately take it off so I could get my shirt on. I got on my triathlon bike shoes, and jogged my bike towards the exit.

Put my shirt on top of my helmet, so that I can't get confused.

Starting on the bike my heart rate was already at around 180 BPM. I pedaled a relaxed pace for a bit to get my heart rate down. The road was under construction and was dirt and gravel for a mile or so, not optimum conditions for a triathlon, pretty squirrelly on a bike with narrow road tires. Other than that It was a pretty uneventful ride, I was at the turnaround point before I knew it. I spent a lot of time in the aero bars and hit 43MPH on a couple of the downhills. Right at the end of the bike I was barreling downhill and approached a sharp turn right before transition, "passing on your left" I shouted to a guy in front, but he gave me absolutely no room and he was all the way to the left of the road on the bike, I locked up my brakes, went into a skid, and the photographers were right there, they went to jump out of the way. I let of the brakes at the last second, my tires caught traction and I shot in the direction of the turn avoiding both the photographers. Maybe they got some good shots of the action! I pedaled up hill and stopped at the transition entrance to dismount.

Got into transition and quickly switched out of my biking gear and got on my running shoes. The elastic laces definitely made it a quick transition compared to last year.

Nothing

The run starts with a steep run downhill followed by an incredible steep uphill from the lake. I walked a few steps near the top of the hill to catch my breath and I was off on the course. I kept a steady pace and was at the turnaround in short order. Unfortunately they had no water stops out on the run course and it was starting to heat up. I walked briefly up one other extremely steep hill and then headed for the finish. I crossed the line in 1:26 minutes overall. A ten minute improvement from my time last year! I tried my best to stay calm and never let my heartrate get too high this year.


Bring my own water since they had no water table on the run. I definitely slowed down as a result. Need to pick up on my run training. I was sick for about two weeks after the ING and my run training has fallen apart since then.

Overall I am very pleased with my time improvement from last year. I took it easy during this race since I have an Olympic distance next week and still had a good result. I have recommended this race to many others, some of whom I saw at the race this year. Based on the course conditions on the bike and lack of water on the run, I will not recommend to any beginners in the future. However I still had fun, it was convenient to home, and good practice for me. I will probably be doing it again next year.