So you start with just hanging around the UTC practice football field. The swim is done in a time trial fashion and they rank order by expected swim finish time. I told them 21:30 based on a guess of current fitness and water current. That gave me number 75. They have you slide into the water and move forward to the edge of the dock, which is when you start. Missed the start button my watch, or hit the back button because I got out and my watch hadn't started. But got into a good strong pace and had a lot of open water. Was passing a lot of people, which I thought was odd because we are all supposed to be similar expected swim times. I was off the to the left and didn't have many if any people around me, but could see a lot of people off to the right. But I kept sighting and felt like I was on a good line, so just stuck with it. Got under the bridges and felt like I was very far left again, but was only 5-10 feet from the spectator area, which gave me a short turn into the exit stairs. Was upset that I didn't have a time as this would have set a positive tone for the race.

Nothing

This is a long transition run. You come out of the water, then have to run up some stairs, and by some I mean a lot. Fortunately, I practiced this the day before so was comfortable running up them. Was also getting my watch going so I could get a bike and run split. Once you enter transition, you have to run all the way to the other end before actually entering the grass area. My bike was easy to find as I had a good position. Got shoes on and then helmet and sunglasses and was off. Had a short run with the bike to mount line.

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Started out and felt like I could hear my brake rubbing. Tried to do a quick check and saw nothing. Opened front and back, but no change, so I stopped caring. Start out with a little climb before getting onto some flats. The first loop was fairly open because there were so few people on the course at that point. Head over several train tracks so I made sure to sit up and have better control of my bike. No issues going over any of those. Coming back towards transition you fly downhill and into the turn for the 2nd loop. This was good because it gave me an idea of where I wanted to get out of my shoes. 2nd loop was more crowded but still not bad. Felt like I put a solid effort in for the bike. Definitely, need more strength training on the bike.

Nothing

Got out of the shoes at a good point. Made the final turn to the dismount line and jumped off right at the dismount line. Got over the curb with no issues and right to my rack. I put socks on with the shoes and this still takes me longer than it should. But got it done and headed out.

I need to practice this more.

Went in with the goal of somewhere about 48 mins. So the plan was to hold just under 8:00/mile pace. Got out and saw I was averaging about 7:50 and it felt good. Updated my plan to stay at 7:50 on the way out and try to push a little more on the way back. That didn't work too well but still had a good average pace.

1: 7:48, HR: 153
2: 7:50, HR: 152
3: 7:51, HR: 154
4: 7:55, HR: 156
5: 7:45, HR: 153
6: 7:49, HR: 152

Nothing

Walked around, talked to a friend and look over results.


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This was a bucket list race for me. 17 years ago, as a student, I volunteered for the Chattanooga Dam Triathlon and thought this tri thing was pretty cool. Loved the course and everything was well organized.