Georgia Veterans Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Since this was my first time I now realize there is really no way you can prepare in a pool for the reality of a wave start in open water. By the time I got to the first bouy I was wondering if I would finish. I don't think I took more than a couple strokes without being hit from all 3 directions. Had to do a lot of breast stroking and was gasping for air and making rasping sounds. But when I got to the buoy I saw a couple guys hanging on for a rest (?) so I actually got encouraged that I was still at least moving. The cross section and the return section were a little better in terms of unwanted contact but I think I had wasted so much nervous energy getting to the first bouy that I still was gasping the whole time. Ended up breathing on every stroke which I never did in the pool but was just happy to see that "swim finish" banner coming into view. But as miserable as it seemed, when I got out I looked at my watch and saw I was still under 8 minutes - I couldn't believe it. 8 minutes was my goal but I thought it felt like 10 or 15. Later I found out my swim was 7th in my age group and was just really thrilled (and surprised) with that.

SWIM WIDE in all 3 sections even if it means another 200 yards. All my training swims had been at least that long so I probably would have stayed a lot calmer and maybe shaved a few seconds off. At a minimum it would have been less stressful.

4 minutes plus - dead last in my age group. Since I don't have bike shoes and pedal clips I just put on my running shoes here so it took a little longer. Plus I just trotted up the hill and into the parking lot (couple guys from my wave sprinted past me but I didn;t really care I was just happy to be on dry land). I had practiced putting my socks and shoes on with wet feet (Body Glide helped) so that part went OK I guess. I had also tried out some yankz a few weeks ago but did not like the way my shoes felt during the run so I switched back to laces beforehand. I think my slow time resulted from not running hard into the area, trying to dry off my feet, slipping on some running shorts over my swim suit, and putting on a shirt which got stuck on my wet back. Also no running start on the bike. I knew I would be weak at this since I had never done a real race before but didn't expect to be dead last here.

Practice more ahead of time; run faster into the area; rethink clothing options. Of course if I ever get a real bike I will be doing a lot of things differently.

Wow, I thought this would be my best segment but I was exactly wrong. My bike is >20 years old and belonged to my wife in college. I had to raise the seat and the handlebars way up just to ride it comfortably. But it is a road bike and thus better than the Schwinn I trained with for most of the last few weeks. I don't have a bike computer so I can't measure cadence - I just use my watch to check my pace on mile splits. Even though I got passed by a lot of nice bikes and lower calf numbers I thought I was gonna do OK. I went back and forth with a guy from the 35-39 group a couple of times between the ~4 and 10 mile marks, but I think I finally passed him. The course was almost dead flat and I never changed gears the entire team once I got on the road - just kept it in high gear so I thought I would have a real good time. I'm sure a fancier bike would have helped but I guess I shoulda been pumping a lot harder - I had hoped to break 40 minutes.

Short of spending big bucks on a real nice bike, I guess I could invest in a computer to better monitor my cadence and help me push my pace. I guess I just got too comfortable and could have pushed it harder. Maybe retrofit my pedals and add an aerobar but I hate to spend any money on this old bike. If I do a few more races (as I hope to do) then maybe I can justify a better investment.

Here I made up a little time (10th in AG instead of last) since I already had my shoes on and thus didn't need to do much. I remember fumbling around with the bike a little bit but don't really remember why...maybe because the rack was full of bikes when I got back? :-(.

Not too much as long as I keep biking in my running shoes.

This was pretty surprising - all my traning runs had been on about a 9:00 or 9:30 per mile pace over 4 or 5 miles. I was hoping to use some race day adrenaline and maybe get to about an 8:30 pace so when I saw I ran 8:14 and was 6th in my AG I was psyched about that. I was trading places with a 58 year old the last half of the race and he used his cagey experience to blow past me right at the end (my Dad was there and snapped a picture of me getting passed :-(. Anyway I wish I had held him off but when I saw I finished at 1:22 I was just thrilled - my goal had been 1:30 or maybe 1:25 at best so to beat that by 3 minutes in my first race was just great.

Do some interval training and speed work to try to get to 7:45 or 7:30 pace.

walked around and gulped 2 waters; ate bananas; passed on the hot dogs.


I had a slow 1st mile but that was kinda my plan. I felt like my fastest mile was the 3rd which was really great to have a nice strong finish.


A great intro to Triathlon. August of last year I was having spinal surgery to remove a tumor. That's why I decided on this particular race to be my first. I look forward to my next Tri (Emerald Point?) and to coming back next year to Lake Blackshear with the wife and kids.