GA: Callaway Gardens Labor Day Weekend Tri

I'll admit I don't have first-hand experience at this race, but I've heard a lot of good things about the race. I was buying new running shoes last night and talked to a few other triathletes who said it's a great, well-run race.

I just signed-up this morning, so hopefully you'll get other good responses from those more experienced.

As the name implies, I have a certain trepidation about swimming (completely botched the Carrollton Tri swim leg). The thought of a wetsuit providing added buoyancy is appealing, but wonder if it is appropriate for a 1k swim + water temperature typical of a Labor Day weekend in Columbus, GA.

Your thoughts? Do you plan on wearing one?

I'm not thinking the water temperature will be low enough - it was 80 degrees at my tri this past weekend - so I'm not planning on it.

I was a disaster during my first tri swim too, though. Can you spend some time in the open water between now and the race in 3 weeks? It made a huge difference for me from my first to second (this past weekend) and I feel much more confident now. I'm not sure where you are in GA, but there are several lake swimming locations around the state.

This must be a beautiful race. The venue is wonderful. My grandparents lived two miles from the Gardens and we would always go when we visited them. Good luck with the race. I wish I could do it, but I live in the Miami Area now.

The water will probably be too warm for a wetsuit, but for future reference Fleet Feet has recently started renting Xterra wetsuits for ~$32.00 ... found this out when I was getting fitted for a new pair of running shoes.

I ran the heel plumb out on my old pair - something I had never (been able) done before! The guy reminded me that running shoes ought to be changed out every 400 miles or 6 months.

swimmingstinks,

I'm not doing the race but I grew up near Callaway (used to go about once a week each summer when I was younger). Also, at a race I was at earlier this year, they were advertising that the Callaway sprint was THE perfect race for those that don't like/aren't completely comfortable with the swimming portion of tris.

Since the lake is manmade, the whole perimeter is only about 4 feet deep. Apparently, the entire race will be swum around the lake edge and therefore, you can touch ground if you feel the need to. Might help you feel more comfortable on that portion and ready to finish the rest.

Callaway Gardens is beautiful. Paved bike paths in the park - nice and shaded. I'm sure you'll have a great race. Looking forward to hear how you did.

Rebecca

Okay - good thing we have bicycles on the backs of our vehicles in case we run out of gas along the way.

Seriously, I just traveled back from dropping off a load of generators and supplies to family in Mississippi and did not have a problem once I got outside of the greater Jackson area ... and found gas to be cheaper everywhere (including Jackson) than Atlanta.

As I was gone all week, I have not had much time for even a tapered schedule but should be able to muddle through the course if able to escape drowning.

Who else is in for the race?

I actually have to pull my name out of the list, I am not going to be able to do the race after all. I didn't realize how far Callaway is from Athens and I'll be at the Georgia game on Saturday night. The game starts at 5:30, so best case is that it's over by 9:30. Even if we left right then and hit NO traffic - which is impossible after a game - we wouldn't get to Callaway until after 12PM. So money down the drain, but it's just not going to happen. I know it will be a great race through, good luck to everyone participating!

For the record, this was a FANTASTIC race ... the course was beautiful (and shaded), well laid out and the event well organized.

There was a minor hiccup where some bicyclist knocked over some cones on the run portion that resulted in the overall top 6 finishers running 1/4 mile less than the full 8k ... but, needless to say, that did not affect me!

We rented a cottage (think 1970's duplex) next to the course as there was no room at the Mountain Creek Inn ... but found out that it was right next to the race course. Book early to get a better rate - and a cottage that overlooks the course.

My little girl at the end of the race ran up to me through the crowd at the finish line to say "Daddy, what took you so long!" - which made it priceless!

I did not see it, but my wife said that one guy bonked out some 10-15 feet from the finish line ... his legs crumbled below him. The paramedics ran up + swarmed him before someone rightly yelled from the crowd to let him finish - and, by gum, the guy crawled the next 10' to the finish line . He was carted into the ambulance to applause.

The race results are not in yet, so I do not have each split (I was so nervous at the beginning of the swim that I forgot to press start on my watch), but finished in 2:00:18 for 1k swim/30k bike/8k run.

The bike average mph was 19.1 and the run time was 7:52/mi (according to a guy I paced the run course with) ... both of which were blazing for me! Short of doing the math and guessing my transition times, I am going to wait until the results are posted before doing a full race report.

While I am sure that the whole bonking scenario was not high on that guy's list, the race was well done and one I plan on doing again next year.