The world of triathlons is a lot different than the world of running. Yesterday, I completed my first triathlon (sprint distance) in a time of 1:32:40. Since I have no idea how to compare this, I’ll go by my overall ranking for the event.
The swimming portion wasn’t as difficult as I thought. My time was 12:36 for 550 yards which is good for me. Compared to everyone else, I was 493 out of 670, which pretty much sucks. I started out slow and steady, got my breathing under control, and made my way to the guide rope. I took the inside position, closest to the rope on my right hand side. I was in the one of the last waves to start and had already witness errant swimmers being tracked down by the safety boats and re-routed back on course. I was not about to let that happen to me. The out portion or the first 275 yards felt great. On the way back though, my goggles started to fog and became hard to see. To keep on course, I had to lift my head more. The tactic slowed my pace, but was a better option than colliding with a Clydesdale, which BTW feel like whales underwater in their wetsuits. I did get kicked and provided some kicks of my own but nothing to serious. Running up the beach out of the water towards the first transition was kind of tricky. My legs didn’t want to move and my body was used to being horizontal.
I did make it out of the wetsuit, into my shoes, and on the bike in about 4 min; the good ones do it in 2 min. I thought I was pushing the bike pretty good. The route had 3 downhills and 3 uphills. I handled the uphills well, but got smoked on the straights. My biggest fear was getting caught in a crack in the road and blowing a tire. DNF would have sucked after doing the swim. I made the 15.5 miles in 51:56 (17.9 mph avg). Before the race, I never thought about the bike time. I guess I was too worried about swimming to care. Out of 670 or so, I was 363rd on wheels. Ehh. I can live with that. I figure, seasoned vets have $ 2,000+ bikes and ride together all the time, usually in matching body suits. I had a borrowed “Panasonic” brand road bike and loose shorts on. From what I hear, the bike makes or breaks your time in a Tri. So if I ever wanted to get a “good” time, I’d have to start here.
Transition 2 was super fast compared to the first; just had to put the bike on the rack, take a sip of water, and head out for the 5K. The first part of the run felt like I had bricks for shoes. My leg muscles didn’t know what was going on. It took half the run or 1.5 miles to get loosened up. By this point, I was passing people left and right, they weren’t any elites around but it still made me feel good. My run time was 23:01 or in the top 22%, and actually felt really good too.
Overall, I was 285th out of 670, for a finish in the top half. I’ll take it considering I didn’t really have time expectations. Not sure if I will do another triathlon soon, but I do know they are pretty fun.
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