First Full Tri season scheduling questions.

Tri the park was my first race last year I did 3 sprints and one Oly

All 3 of my sprints were Tri the Park and my Oly was a REV3 in South Carolina.

I did John Tanner (both races) and first race in April is awesome lot of people showed up 2011 since it was pretty much first race of the season. Swim was counter clockwise and into the sun on the way back but it wasn't bad. Coming out of John Tanner you hit a hill so keep your heart rate down when you get out of the water. Bike is hilly but not too bad, few bad hills but lot of downhills and rollers. Run- first mile is flat as a pancake around the lake and then you get out into the hills, next two miles are very hilly in my opinion and I was struggling.

My next one was Indian State park man that was rough for me I felt like it was all hills and coming out of the park it was about 1.5 miles straight up I felt like puking it was great.

The run was all rollers few straight up smaller hills but it was a very hilly ride. I recommend Tri the state parks triathlon series I had a lot of fun this past year and I will definitly do few triathlons next year too. They also have that Oly in September I'm sure you saw already.

Edin

thanks for the info. so I should expect some hills. lol

Lol yes definitly on the Indian State Park, John Tanner is not as bad if you train on or around here since everything here is hilly. Be prepared to spend some time out of the saddle and huffing and puffing. The races are great though just stick with it and see you out there.

Edin

TTP is a good series overall and many great individual races.  I would check out GA Multisport.  Jim puts on good races and has some great OLYs close to Atlanta.  Also, Peachtree International and Sprint are great races and very well run.

Rev3 Knoxville and Rev3 Anderson have great OLY options.  Lots of people do the Chattanooga OLY.  One last idea, their is a sprint held along with RnR Half.  Great opportunity to check out the scene at a slightly bigger race.  You could even do the RnR aqua bike to get a feel for the front end of a half.

Lots of options.  I would try out some races outside of the TTP for variety.

I agree with thecaptin with looking for other options as well, especially GAmultisports races/venues & PTC Sprint.

Since you are in Columbus, I'd be hard pressed to recommend against the West Point Sprint in favor of the Tanner Sprint, simply because of the travel distance for you for that weekend.  Both are well run races and should have a decent crowd. You can't go wrong with either, with the added plus that the entry fees are a great value.

2010, I did 3 of TTP races and it was pretty cool to have "points" for a series, that kept it interesting and the different venues gave me an excuse to visit different parts of the state (since I had recently moved here).  So there is a certain allure of hitting 3-6 of the series.

Blalock is fairly close to you too, I did the first year and enjoyed that course quite a bit.  Power-rollers on both the bike and run.

Good luck in filling out your schedule, my recommendation is to race often, race as close to home as possible with an occasional overnighter/weekend.  You've got tons to choose from within a 2-3 hour drive.

I'd definitely be signin' up for the West Point races since they're in your own backyard.  Races that are close to home are good because you're more likely to do them each year and can act as a gauge of your fitness.  You're also more likely to have family and friends there to cheer you on. 

Good luck!