Lake Murray Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Water temp was really good, right to limit for wetsuits (78). Deep water start was difficult last year because of no wet suit and having to tread water for 3-4 minutes. In the wet suit very relaxing. The water was really rough. Watching the weather channel prior to going to the race saw there was a small craft advisory so I knew it would be a hard swim. Going out on the start was fine. Didn't run into many people at all but I believe it was due to the roughness of the water. Every stroke going to the first bouy was difficult to get arms over the waves, and breathing was hard unless you had gills. I knew that swimmers that weren't very good would have problems with this leg because it's probably my best event and it was difficult to not panic and keep going. Once we turned on the first bouy the wind and current was more with us so the remainder of the swim was pretty normal (aside from the waves) and the only difficulty was sighting over the waves. Felt like an ocean swim to me. In the water I thought I would have been slower but the time was actually pretty good and I was pleased. The water level in the lake this year is much higher so the run to T1 was much shorter this year than last.

I don't think I would do anything differently. I had to do a good bit of breaststroking out on the first leg, but with the conditions I'm not sure I could have prepared any better.

T1 was fine for me. I don't have tri shoes so I have to put them on and run. The wetsuit came off fine, and I've gotten into a routine of setting my shoes up before the race relatively loose so that I can pull them on already strapped up. I can improve on T1, but right now I need to knock minutes off my bike and run and a couple of seconds in T1 isn't a major priority.

Make more money so I can buy additional biking shoes specifically for tri's so I can have them on the bike ready to go.

This is my 6th tri and I've definitely gotten better, BUT I still have a long way to go on the bike. It's fairly demoralizing coming out of the water ahead of so many people only to have them blowing by me on the bike. It seemed like every guy in my age group passed me like I wasn't moving. I cut 6 minutes off of my time last year (first tri ever), but still have a long way to go. I felt like I went as fast as I could go and still be able to run, but i'm a lot slower than most on the bike. I also stayed on the lower part of the handle bars because I don't have aero bars. Overall getting passed isn't pleasant, but I'm doing better.

After the race I was talking to a guy (54 years old and one of the ones that blew by me on the bike) and he told me his training plan for the bike. Because of time (away from family training) most of my training is relegated to spin classes twice a week, and one ride on the weekend. When school is out I will be able to ride outdoors more and should be able to get stronger on the bike. He gave me a good regimen to improve.

I could probably knock a few seconds off just by moving faster but I'm fairly pleased with anything under 1 minute.

Not sure.

I had hoped to be in the 22-23 minute range. Most of my training brick runs have been 22 something so I'm a little disappointed in the time, but I still consider for me anything under an 8 minute pace pretty good. The course didn't have any really long or steep hills, but the whole thing was rolling up and down. The previous two races I've done have been flat so the time isn't that bad. I still have to stop and walk when taking water. I can't drink while I'm running. I can take some water and spit it out, but not swallow. I stopped at the two water stations and took water while walking and on these short races I could probably knock some time off by either learning to drink while running or not taking water at all. I'm not sure about the later as it will only get hotter.

Learn to drink while running and continue to train. I would like to get in the low 22's on the 5K's so that will be my goal going forward.

Got some water and hung out with my family. My kids did a Kid's triathlon the day before so it was fun having them there and they were excited to know what it's like to race. I also was able to cheer for the large group of people that work out at the local YMCA that were competing in this event. I think we had around 35 people. We had a function to get to so I didn't wait around for the awards.


The only thing that limited me today was the rough water, and the fact that I'm still fairly new to these things. I consistently getting better and will still train and hope that I continue to improve.


Setup does a great job putting on these races. Everything runs smoothly. Moes grill had the food which was good, and there was plenty of drinks. This race seems to have a lot of families attend and is a fun one to do. I will definitely do it again next year if I'm able.