I tri-ed

Welp, I am now a world-famous triathlete.

The day was forecast to be hot, humid, and all of that fun stuff.  I actually woke up to clouds and a slight sprinkle.  Score!

I made it to the race site about an hour before the race.  Wow.  Hardly anyone there.   This was the "first annual" of this triathlon, so perhaps the word didn't get out.  Apparently, since our city was marked as one of the cities with the highest obesity rate in the U.S., this group decided to do something positive about it.. they made this triathlon, with distances that anyone could do.

Truthfully, most everyone there looked like they had done a bit of triathlon work before.  I think I had one of the three mountain bikes there. lol

I got marked up, set up my gear in transition, and just milled around for a bit. The time went by really fast, in all seriousness.

So.  225 yard swim.  The swim was done in 7 minute waves in the pool.  OK.   I'm in the second wave.  Cool.  "How many lengths are we doing?". .. Oh.. 9. Got it.

The first group got out, and we were told "you'll be going in 2 1/2 minutes".  OK, sweet, I'll hop in.  Holy cow, that time flew by.  The lady I was sharing my lane with apologized in advance if she crashed in to me.  The look of panic on her face when I told her I hadn't swam in 3.5 years.... chuckle

And, like that, it was go time.  Holy shitballs.  This was it.

I went off strong, trying to have reasonable form and all of that.. up, and back.  Wow, I'm tearing it up!  Wow!

Oh, damn.  I've gone a bit too fast.  I'm winded now.   Alright Superman, slow it down.

Well, I made it through the swim.. The first lap was by far my strongest and my best form. I actually got out of my swim wave 3rd in the group, less than a second behind #2.

Off to transition.. That sounds so hard core.

I dried my feet off, threw on my Garmin and clothes and all, and headed out.

Of course, with all of the prep work I did, I made sure to scope out the course.  Not.   The road was to be marked with red arrows for the bike ride, and white arrows for the run.  Plus, some volunteers at "key intersections".  Ooookkaaayy.

Well, the first bit of the bike ride was fine.. Up and down, left and right.  And then we went up a hill.  One big f'in hill. I actually passed one person here.  (And was passed by a whole bunch).   I was playing leapfrog with a guy.. He'd walk his bike, and I'd ride by.. Later, he'd ride by me until he walked.  Repeat.

(When I say "I'd ride by", it makes it sound so fast.  lol)

That's what the elevation chart looked like.

At about 2.5 miles, those red arrows disappeared.  I caught up with a pack that had gone right, when evidently the course went left.  This part was all relatively flat, but still.

We made it back, and if I hadn't seen someone make the final turn, I would have missed that myself too.

Pace wise, here's where I was:

I'm really not comfortable going down the hills.. Probably wise on this one, since it was full of potholes, but still, that's something I need to work on.

All in all, the bike part sucked.  I was 6th in my wave (of 7).  I think I was slightly short of the 5 miles, due to missing part of the course, but I was pretty close.  That was 24:40 on the bike.


OK, back to transition, dump my bike, and off for the run.   White arrows.. Got it.

I was heading out, and one of the volunteers said "watch the hill with your pace".. I looked at my watch, and I was doing about a 6:20 mile at that point... Wow, the brick work I have done actually seemed to help.

The course was hilly, but not terrible:

I managed to pick off a few people here that had zoomed past me on the bike.  One guy (one of the winners) blazed by me at the mile mark.

There's my pace chart (the spike to the left is where I went inside after forgetting to shut off my watch).

The leapfrog guy from the bike was ahead of me, but within striking distance for most of the run.. I slowly worked on getting to him. At about a quarter of a mile left, there was a hill, and that's when I made my move.. I got past him, and the lady in front of him.  I know this wasn't an "A" race for me, but this was going to be my hard workout for the week.  Why not?

We ended with a slight hill down into the driveway.. I coasted in, and the guy I passed snuck in at the last minute.  Damnit.  Run finished with a time of 14:47.


Results were done with a bizarre spreadsheet.  The best I can tell is my times were:
Swim (225 yards): 4:36  (~11/24)
T1: 2:54
Bike (~5 miles):  24:40 (~16/24)
T2: :49
Run (2 miles): 14:47 ~ (2/24)

Overall, 15th of 24.


So, I finished.  I wasn't last.  I am walking today (with tight hamstrings, but healthy at least).  I call it a win.

Takeaways:
Swim: Not bad, for not having swam.  Some time in the water working on pacing would benefit me greatly.
T1: Not terrible. I could use to get my feet drier.  I don't know where that 3 minutes went, but I think that went well.
Bike:  I need more bike time.  It's my least favorite of the three, and the one I need to work on the most.  If I'm going to get into this sport, since the bike takes up the most time, I better become comfortable with it.
T2: No complaints here. I rocked that one.
Run: No trouble here either.

All in all, what a blast!  I have a sprint tri at the end of the month, and I'm trying to figure out what other ones are do-able.  There's another micro on the 4th of July which I'm on the fence about.  It's very close to home, but it's very early in the morning, and only a few days after the sprint.

After that, it becomes a logistical nightmare, as the next closest ones are 2-2.5 hours away.

I'll definitely do more of these.. Whether or not they're this year or next, it was a superb workout, and perfect for a guy like me.. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Keep on rockin!