Old Hickory Lake Triathlon

It is an easy retangle shaped swim in a quiet cove.  On the downward leg, longside, I get over to the right to get out of people's way and I usually hit rocks.

I missed this race last year, but have done it a good 3 times. The bike portion had (if they haven't changed it) some bombing downhills.

I actually don't mind the 1.5 mile breakup of the run, except the finish is somewhat uphill and it is usually blazing hot by then.

You missed the new race course last year then.  Last year they changed the first run and shortened it I think.  Straight up the hill and in to transition (which was at the YMCA BTW).  Then you biked out and back on the main drag, then finished with a 2 mile run or something like that.

You can see the new route by looking at the race info on team-magic.com   It's not a bad change to the course really.  I just hate seeing courses changed because it's impossible to compare year-to-year then.

Everyone has heard for years that the Cumberland is a cesspool and it's hard to change attitudes.  The river is as clean as you would hope.  The water you would be swimming in is the same water that was in Old Hickory lake the day before.

But there is a current.  Some slow swimmers find themselves going backwards and have to be pulled out. 

Old Hickory lake is a much better swim for a timid swimmer.  On the way down you are parallel to shore only 20 or so yards from shore.  You cut across the cove for only about 50 yards (probably less) then you parallel the other shore on the way back.  Much of that return trip is shallow enough to stand, and if it's not you are only a few yards from shallow water.

There are never any waves whatsoever. 

This was my very first tri in 2009.  And yes the course has changed since then.  I loved it!  I don't swim well in cold water even with a wetsuit so the water was 77 degrees and I didn't have a problem at all.  I had been doing some practice OWS in a lake near my home, but that lake had temps of about 55 and I just never got used to the cold.  I was nervous this lake might be that cold, but it was fine.  A little murky and brown, but fine.  Finally got my breathing rhythm down and finished a little faster than I expected.  I thought the bike course was good and by the time I got to the 2nd run it was really hot, but I was so excited that I didn't really notice it.  And the other competitors were friendly and encouraging.

jami  

Just my opionin, but I would not do (even though I did) Music City as a first time OWS. Not so much abuot the nasty water (it's not) but knowing you are in a DEEP river and the bouys looks like they were a mile apart, instead of 100 yards apart. Get some practice before doing this one. My heart rate had soared and I had a miserable bike/run after that. Plus it is a no wetsuit race. JMO..

Never done OH but a "lake OWS" didn't freak me out as bad as the river and I had 3 OWS practices leading up to last week and a ton of yards swimming this year. (did Mach Tenn last week).

I had the same experience as you with the Music city. I wasn't freak out about being in the river but i think I over thought the speed of the current and went to hard against the current and was pretty much shot for the rest of the race. I did ok on the bike but my run was awful. I think if I had to it over again I would have done the sprint distance first just to get a feel for the current.

Jeff, Andrew and others that have done this race...I've looked at the swim course map online but I'm guessing it may not be to scale.  I swam Caudill Cove on Wednesday with a friend.  The HEAT team was there as well.  It seemed most people (including the guys I was with) swam from boat ramp out to the first boat dock on the right side of the cove, then directly across to next boat dock and left back towards the start point.  This appears the same direction as the OHL Tri swim.  My question is how far does the race swim go on the first stretch before turning left?  All the way to the first dock or is the turn before you reach the dock?  I have no way to measure my swims.  I'm guessing we swam at least the distance of the race.

This was my first OWS.  It did not go very well but was also not a complete disaster in that I covered the entire area but it was slow.  I'm going to try to get in two more swims before registering and hope the race does not sell out.

I just received an email say that there was only a few spots left for this race. Just go on a sign up. You can do it.

There may be a small difference in the actual buoy placement, but what you describe is basically the actual course...those 2 boat docks make up the back stretch of the swim.

I pegged my threshold meter.  The run is very strong out of the water (versus off the bike that is) and I found that I was no worse off once I got on the bike than I usually am coming out of the water alone.

 (edit: you are not allowed to beat me by using my advice!)

I'm sorry I missed you Corey.  It looks like you survived the swim just fine.  Kudos.

The buoys were placed way out there this year.  It was definitely over 400 yards.  I would say over 450 yards.  Actually, must have been more.

Maybe I'll catch you at your next tri.

The swim had to be way long. It took me 12:24 to complete. That's 3:06/100 yds. I'm slow but not that slow. In comparison I did Mach Tenn, which is 1000 yds, in 23:03. That works out to 2:18/100 yds. 

The fastest swim appears to have been 6:54 which is 1:44/100 yds and seems awful slow for the top time.

So how far was it actually? If I use my time of 2:18/100 yds then that would work out to over 525 yds (12:24/2:18 = 5.39). Now let's say I had an off day and only managed 2:30/100. That's still close to 500 yds (4.96).

Agreed.  I have guessed around 500yards anyway.

I swim 500 yards in the pool in about 7:30 but if you take away starting from the blocks and the advantage at the walls, somewhere around 8:00 in open water might be comparable for me.

I would also assume that the fastest swimmer there might be in the neighborhood of 1:10 per 100 yards, but to think it was 600 yards is just too much...because I wouldn't have done 600 yards in the time I got.

Andrew is probably a pretty consistent swimmer.  ADOLLAR, can you guestimate from your time what the distance might have been?

It's really hard to say.  The last two years I thought I killed it in the swim and both times emerged pretty irate with how slow my time was.  Similar to you, in the pool, I can do 500 repeats on a 7:45 without much strain. So I swam something like 7:45 in the race.  Now, I did go a bit off course.  On both stretches I felt like I was being pushed toward the shores.  But I also had a nice pair of fast swimmers to draft off for the last 100+.

If I had to guess, I would say it was around 500. 

(not to you Jeff)  Here is the take away that we all need to keep in mind.  And I PREACH this to my athletes.  Remember, comparisons are tough to do in triathlons.  Year to year things change.  Swims are nearly impossible to compare because of all the variables involved (measuring, currents, entries/exits).  The weather plays an even more significant role in race outcome.  Last year was nice and cool.  Saturday was miserable.  I went 2 minutes slower this year.  I attribute 50% of that to the heat and humidity. 

But at the end of the day, we all need to remember that everyone had to do the same course.  So if it was 500 yards then it was 500 yards for everyone. Try to not get bogged down in making comparisons.  I know we want to see quantifiable gains, but such comparisons are often worthless.