A few months ago at Crossfit, one of the other guys asked me about
doing a triathlon. The "idea" of doing a triathlon sounded great. But,
while I can swim, I am not a swimmer. I do not own a bicycle, and I am
certainly not a runner. But, the idea was in my head. I mentioned it
to Courtney, my crazy race partner in crime, and she was intrigued
with the idea as well. She started talking to a co-worker who is in a
triathlon club and the wheels were in motion. We learned that there
are many different types of triathlons, sprint, super sprint, olympic,
half Ironman, and full Ironman to name a few. They all start with a
swim, then bike, then run, but they differ in the distances of each. A
full Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run.
Can you imagine, a full marathon after cycling for 112 miles? We were
nowhere near ready for that, so we started looking for a sprint
triathlon. I found one that is being held in August, which would give us a little
time to train. But Courtney had the itch and wanted to do one a little
sooner. She found one called the Y Freedom Tri. It was close to home,
and made up of manageable distances. It started with a 300 meter pool
swim, followed by an 11 mile bike, and finished with a 3 mile run. All
of those distances sounded doable. For me, the only slight problem was
the date of the race. It was being held the Sunday after I got back
from my family's Disney vacation. Disney vacations are not exactly
training intensive, which is why it is called a vacation. But, I
decided to give it a go and we registered. During the registration process, they asked for my 300 meter swim
time. I had no idea. I am not sure that I have ever swam 300 meters.
So, I just put down 8 minutes. It sounded reasonable. That meant that
I needed to head to the pool to find out my 300 meter time. The
following Saturday, I went to the gym after getting off from work (the
gym has a 25 meter pool). I made the mistake of doing some strength
training before heading to the pool. I jumped in and set off for the
other side. By the time I swam the length of the pool, I thought that
I was going to die. I was huffing and puffing like I had just sprinted
400 meters. It was crazy. This was not a good sign. But, I continued
on and swam 300 meters. Each 25 meter length took me about 30 seconds,
so 8 minutes seemed reasonable. However, after each 25 meters, I had
to stop and rest. I felt like a wounded and dying seal in the water
floundering around just waiting to be eaten. I was expending a ton of
energy and not moving very fast or efficiently. This did not bode
well. So, you would think after that swimming experience, I would swim
more often and try to get a little better at it before race day? I
swam one more time before race day, at our resort at Disney World. It
was a 35 meter pool and as I swam the length, A1 swam the width. This
time it was a little better, but not much. After the swim, I put on
some running shoes and ran two miles to get a feel for doing two
activities back to back. It was not too bad, but running after
swimming is nothing like running after cycling as I would find out on
race day. Two days before we left on our vacation, my tri shorts and tri suit
that I had ordered were delivered. The tri shorts look like
compression cycling shorts. They have a pad in them, but not as thick
as cycling shorts. They are designed to be worn for all three portions
of the triathlon. However, the tri suit is a little different. It is
basically a unitard. I tried it on to make sure it fit, and I did not
think that Jen was going to stop laughing. Maybe I should go with the
shorts for my first race? To do a triathlon, you need a bicycle. It helps for the bike part. I
started talking to my resident cycling guru and great friend, Terry.
He gave me some pointers and was a great sounding board for me. I did
some research and this brought up questions and Terry had the answers.
The first thing that I discovered is that bicycles, road bicycles in
particular, are EXPENSIVE. Since this was for my first triathlon and I
was not sure that I would do another or become an avid cyclist, going
a moderate route seemed prudent. However, I like the idea of cycling
to build endurance since it is easy on your body. Unlike running which
pounds your body. Swimming is also great for endurance, but we saw how
that went. I settled on an entry level road bike and purchased it two
days before the race. So, my cycling training before the race
consisted of three 20 minute bicycle test rides. Courtney did not have
a road bike either and after hearing that I had taken the plunge, went
to the same store and purchased the same bicycle in a smaller size. Race day was quickly approaching and Courtney and I gathered up all of
the little things that we needed for the race. A running belt, swim
cap, goggles, etc... I also read a few articles about the triathlon
transitions. These are the times when you transition from swim to bike
and from bike to run. There are strategies and ways to lay out your
stuff that help the process go smoothly. I learned quite a bit and got
all of my gear loaded up into a backpack. Race day arrived and Courtney and I met in the parking area at 5:45
AM. The swim was scheduled to start at 7. There was a 15 minute walk
to the check in area and we did not want to be rushed. I checked the
air pressure in our bicycle tires, we gathered our stuff, and started
our walk. About half way there, I realized that I had left my water
bottle in the car. So, Courtney took my bike and continued walking and
I headed back for the water bottle. We met back up at the bike check
area. After bike check, it was on to body marking. They wrote my race
number on each arm and my age of the back of my calf in Sharpie. We
found our race numbers in the transition area and began to set up our
area. I was lucky, I had an end spot on the bicycle rack that would
give me a little more room during the transitions. Courtney, was in
the middle of the same row. A friend found us and reminded us that we
needed to get our timing chip. So, we hustled over to the pavilion.
The chip went onto a cloth bracelet that we attached to our left
ankle. Then it was back to the transition area to finish our
preparations before the swim. We walked over to the pool and lined up. Even numbers were on one side
of the pool and odds on the other. We lined up by race number. Our
number was based on the swim time that we gave during registration. In
theory, we should be lined up from fastest swimmer, to slowest. That
way, there should be less congestion in the pool. The pool was 50
meters and had 6 lanes. Every 10 seconds, an even numbered and odd
numbered swimmer took off. You swam up and back in each lane, crossed
under the lane marker, swam up and back and repeated, until you
reached the middle stairs and left the pool. You were supposed to stay
to the right in the lane at all times, unless passing. While waiting
to get into the water, we witnessed numerous head on collisions in the
lanes. It looked a little crazy. It took about 30 minutes for me to
finally get into the water. My swim cap was on and as I pulled my
goggles down, one of the straps came loose. Great. I took off and
water was coming into the goggles, but I felt pretty good for the
first 100 meters. The next 50 meters was a struggle and I decided to
stop and fix my goggles. This took about a minute and was a nice rest.
The next 100 meters were not any better, but I got lucky. The guy in
front of me was very slow and there was a constant stream of swimmers
coming the other direction, so I did not have any room to pass. I
walked part of the last 50 meters. Thankfully, the swim was over. I jogged to my transition area, grabbed my towel, and started drying
off my legs. I had decided to wear socks and got them on without too
much trouble. Then I got the cycling shoes on. Next, I put on my
helmet and sunglasses. Then the iPhone went into the iPhone holder on
the bicycle to track my progress. There is an app for that. I walked
my bicycle past the designated line, clipped into the pedals and was
off. Courtney was about 50 yards ahead of me. She had a good swim, she
just took a little longer in the first transition area than I did. It
was nice, that way we could bike and run together. The first part of
the bike course was great. Fast and flat and downwind, which I did not
realize at the time. Drafting is not allowed in triathlons. So,
Courtney and I traded the lead a few times, but always made sure to
leave plenty of room between us so as not to get penalized. We reached
the first u-turn and that is when I realized that we had been going
downwind. The wind slammed into me and I realized that the rest of the
bike course was not going to be as fast and easy. This was my first
time to actually cycle on a road bike. The saddle (seat) was not very
comfortable. About half way through the course, areas around the
saddle started to go numb. But, I made it through and arrived back at
the transition area. I hopped off the bike, racked it, and put on my running shoes. Then I
tried to jog to the exit. Jogging when your groin area is numb was a
new sensation for me. And not a good one at that. There were two
aid/water stations on the run course that provided a nice little
break. In the middle of the run, I turned to Courtney and said, "give
me a mud run any day of the week." We toughed it out and came to the
finish area. There were quite a few people there cheering on the
finishers. They called out our names and numbers as we crossed the
finish line. That was cool. They had volunteers there to take off the
timing chip, give us water, and a cold wash cloth. It was tough, but
we were done. We had completed out first triathlon. We both finished
in about one hour and twenty-four minutes. My parents had come out to watch and to provide moral support. Thanks
Mom and Dad. Dad got a few good pictures of us racing around. In the
pavilion, they had water, coke, bagels, Muscle Milk, and other
refreshments for us. They also had massage tables and therapists there
for us to take advantage of, which we did not. So, how was it? It was tough. Tougher than I thought it would be.
Especially tough was the swim and the transition from cycling to
running. If I am going to continue to do these, I actually need to
train for them a little bit. Some swimming lessons might be in order.
Since I bought the bicycle, at least the cycling part will happen
which will help my overall endurance. I need to get after it, the next
one is in August.
doing a triathlon. The "idea" of doing a triathlon sounded great. But,
while I can swim, I am not a swimmer. I do not own a bicycle, and I am
certainly not a runner. But, the idea was in my head. I mentioned it
to Courtney, my crazy race partner in crime, and she was intrigued
with the idea as well. She started talking to a co-worker who is in a
triathlon club and the wheels were in motion. We learned that there
are many different types of triathlons, sprint, super sprint, olympic,
half Ironman, and full Ironman to name a few. They all start with a
swim, then bike, then run, but they differ in the distances of each. A
full Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run.
Can you imagine, a full marathon after cycling for 112 miles? We were
nowhere near ready for that, so we started looking for a sprint
triathlon. I found one that is being held in August, which would give us a little
time to train. But Courtney had the itch and wanted to do one a little
sooner. She found one called the Y Freedom Tri. It was close to home,
and made up of manageable distances. It started with a 300 meter pool
swim, followed by an 11 mile bike, and finished with a 3 mile run. All
of those distances sounded doable. For me, the only slight problem was
the date of the race. It was being held the Sunday after I got back
from my family's Disney vacation. Disney vacations are not exactly
training intensive, which is why it is called a vacation. But, I
decided to give it a go and we registered. During the registration process, they asked for my 300 meter swim
time. I had no idea. I am not sure that I have ever swam 300 meters.
So, I just put down 8 minutes. It sounded reasonable. That meant that
I needed to head to the pool to find out my 300 meter time. The
following Saturday, I went to the gym after getting off from work (the
gym has a 25 meter pool). I made the mistake of doing some strength
training before heading to the pool. I jumped in and set off for the
other side. By the time I swam the length of the pool, I thought that
I was going to die. I was huffing and puffing like I had just sprinted
400 meters. It was crazy. This was not a good sign. But, I continued
on and swam 300 meters. Each 25 meter length took me about 30 seconds,
so 8 minutes seemed reasonable. However, after each 25 meters, I had
to stop and rest. I felt like a wounded and dying seal in the water
floundering around just waiting to be eaten. I was expending a ton of
energy and not moving very fast or efficiently. This did not bode
well. So, you would think after that swimming experience, I would swim
more often and try to get a little better at it before race day? I
swam one more time before race day, at our resort at Disney World. It
was a 35 meter pool and as I swam the length, A1 swam the width. This
time it was a little better, but not much. After the swim, I put on
some running shoes and ran two miles to get a feel for doing two
activities back to back. It was not too bad, but running after
swimming is nothing like running after cycling as I would find out on
race day. Two days before we left on our vacation, my tri shorts and tri suit
that I had ordered were delivered. The tri shorts look like
compression cycling shorts. They have a pad in them, but not as thick
as cycling shorts. They are designed to be worn for all three portions
of the triathlon. However, the tri suit is a little different. It is
basically a unitard. I tried it on to make sure it fit, and I did not
think that Jen was going to stop laughing. Maybe I should go with the
shorts for my first race? To do a triathlon, you need a bicycle. It helps for the bike part. I
started talking to my resident cycling guru and great friend, Terry.
He gave me some pointers and was a great sounding board for me. I did
some research and this brought up questions and Terry had the answers.
The first thing that I discovered is that bicycles, road bicycles in
particular, are EXPENSIVE. Since this was for my first triathlon and I
was not sure that I would do another or become an avid cyclist, going
a moderate route seemed prudent. However, I like the idea of cycling
to build endurance since it is easy on your body. Unlike running which
pounds your body. Swimming is also great for endurance, but we saw how
that went. I settled on an entry level road bike and purchased it two
days before the race. So, my cycling training before the race
consisted of three 20 minute bicycle test rides. Courtney did not have
a road bike either and after hearing that I had taken the plunge, went
to the same store and purchased the same bicycle in a smaller size. Race day was quickly approaching and Courtney and I gathered up all of
the little things that we needed for the race. A running belt, swim
cap, goggles, etc... I also read a few articles about the triathlon
transitions. These are the times when you transition from swim to bike
and from bike to run. There are strategies and ways to lay out your
stuff that help the process go smoothly. I learned quite a bit and got
all of my gear loaded up into a backpack. Race day arrived and Courtney and I met in the parking area at 5:45
AM. The swim was scheduled to start at 7. There was a 15 minute walk
to the check in area and we did not want to be rushed. I checked the
air pressure in our bicycle tires, we gathered our stuff, and started
our walk. About half way there, I realized that I had left my water
bottle in the car. So, Courtney took my bike and continued walking and
I headed back for the water bottle. We met back up at the bike check
area. After bike check, it was on to body marking. They wrote my race
number on each arm and my age of the back of my calf in Sharpie. We
found our race numbers in the transition area and began to set up our
area. I was lucky, I had an end spot on the bicycle rack that would
give me a little more room during the transitions. Courtney, was in
the middle of the same row. A friend found us and reminded us that we
needed to get our timing chip. So, we hustled over to the pavilion.
The chip went onto a cloth bracelet that we attached to our left
ankle. Then it was back to the transition area to finish our
preparations before the swim. We walked over to the pool and lined up. Even numbers were on one side
of the pool and odds on the other. We lined up by race number. Our
number was based on the swim time that we gave during registration. In
theory, we should be lined up from fastest swimmer, to slowest. That
way, there should be less congestion in the pool. The pool was 50
meters and had 6 lanes. Every 10 seconds, an even numbered and odd
numbered swimmer took off. You swam up and back in each lane, crossed
under the lane marker, swam up and back and repeated, until you
reached the middle stairs and left the pool. You were supposed to stay
to the right in the lane at all times, unless passing. While waiting
to get into the water, we witnessed numerous head on collisions in the
lanes. It looked a little crazy. It took about 30 minutes for me to
finally get into the water. My swim cap was on and as I pulled my
goggles down, one of the straps came loose. Great. I took off and
water was coming into the goggles, but I felt pretty good for the
first 100 meters. The next 50 meters was a struggle and I decided to
stop and fix my goggles. This took about a minute and was a nice rest.
The next 100 meters were not any better, but I got lucky. The guy in
front of me was very slow and there was a constant stream of swimmers
coming the other direction, so I did not have any room to pass. I
walked part of the last 50 meters. Thankfully, the swim was over. I jogged to my transition area, grabbed my towel, and started drying
off my legs. I had decided to wear socks and got them on without too
much trouble. Then I got the cycling shoes on. Next, I put on my
helmet and sunglasses. Then the iPhone went into the iPhone holder on
the bicycle to track my progress. There is an app for that. I walked
my bicycle past the designated line, clipped into the pedals and was
off. Courtney was about 50 yards ahead of me. She had a good swim, she
just took a little longer in the first transition area than I did. It
was nice, that way we could bike and run together. The first part of
the bike course was great. Fast and flat and downwind, which I did not
realize at the time. Drafting is not allowed in triathlons. So,
Courtney and I traded the lead a few times, but always made sure to
leave plenty of room between us so as not to get penalized. We reached
the first u-turn and that is when I realized that we had been going
downwind. The wind slammed into me and I realized that the rest of the
bike course was not going to be as fast and easy. This was my first
time to actually cycle on a road bike. The saddle (seat) was not very
comfortable. About half way through the course, areas around the
saddle started to go numb. But, I made it through and arrived back at
the transition area. I hopped off the bike, racked it, and put on my running shoes. Then I
tried to jog to the exit. Jogging when your groin area is numb was a
new sensation for me. And not a good one at that. There were two
aid/water stations on the run course that provided a nice little
break. In the middle of the run, I turned to Courtney and said, "give
me a mud run any day of the week." We toughed it out and came to the
finish area. There were quite a few people there cheering on the
finishers. They called out our names and numbers as we crossed the
finish line. That was cool. They had volunteers there to take off the
timing chip, give us water, and a cold wash cloth. It was tough, but
we were done. We had completed out first triathlon. We both finished
in about one hour and twenty-four minutes. My parents had come out to watch and to provide moral support. Thanks
Mom and Dad. Dad got a few good pictures of us racing around. In the
pavilion, they had water, coke, bagels, Muscle Milk, and other
refreshments for us. They also had massage tables and therapists there
for us to take advantage of, which we did not. So, how was it? It was tough. Tougher than I thought it would be.
Especially tough was the swim and the transition from cycling to
running. If I am going to continue to do these, I actually need to
train for them a little bit. Some swimming lessons might be in order.
Since I bought the bicycle, at least the cycling part will happen
which will help my overall endurance. I need to get after it, the next
one is in August.
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