Step 1: Finish Olympic Triathlon. Check

The First Triathlon

The day finally came for my first triathlon.  The race started at 7:00 AM at Echo Reservoir.  What is interesting about this race is that the parking for the race is 2 miles away.  That means that you have to park your car and pack everything into a backpack and ride to the race.  The 2 miles wasn't a difficult ride, but I might have brought more stuff if I had room.  I also would have worn warmer clothes.  I learned a lot about triathlons that weekend. I mostly learned that I had no idea of what to expect.

 The Swim

The swim started in "deep water" aka deep water start.  Normally this would have sucked treading water while waiting for the starting gun to go off.  This time however I was wearing a wetsuit that floated really well.  I guess that has something to do with why it is supposedly faster.  Even if it wasn't faster I was glad I had it because the water was coooold.  Both of my friends that were in the race told me to find someone fast and stay on their toes.  It sounded like a good idea in theory, but once everybody started swimming it was impossible to distinguish the fast from the slow in the begining of the race.  Looking back at it now, I wish that I had started closer to the starting line of the race.  I had to crawl/swim over a lot of guys to get in a place where I wasn't crowded.  Once I finally separated from the large group I ended up being about 2 -3 minutes behind the lead pack and 2-3 minutes ahead of the second pack.  Basically like usual I ended up swimming alone.   I had been warned that the wetsuit was "supposed to feel tight"  and that in the beginning it might be hard to breath.  Well they weren't kidding, it was hard to breath.  It also didn't just last for the beginning of swim it lasted the whole time.  I also felt like the right sleeve was too far down my arm and it was preventing me from getting a good reach in my swim.  When I got out of the water I literally felt like I was going to be sick.  I think it was due to the lack of oxygen.  I ended up being 1st in my age group for the swim.  A short lived lead that was about to be lost.

T1

I am pretty sure that most of the other athletes ran as fast as they could to there bike and were on their bike within a few minutes.  Me on the other hand, I did run most of the way but I was still feeling sick from the swim. I was really slow getting my shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and gloves on.  Oh wait, I left the gloves on the ground.  Shoes and socks with wet feet was a challenge of its own.  The seasoned athletes all brought a small towel for their feet.  That was a good idea, wish I had thought of it.  After about 4 and 1/2 minutes of fumbling around I eventually grabbed my bike and ran to the bike exit.  It was interesting that you had to carry your bike out of the transition area.  I eventually made it on the road and was off.

The Bike

The first part of the bike I spent fumbling with my GPS.  I didn't think to turn it on before I got on the bike, so it had to find the satellites before it would start recording.  Once it finally started recording I noticed that I had it set up for running.  I decided at that point that I didn't care about the GPS and just concentrated on biking.  I had one person pass me almost immediately on the bike and the next person didn't pass me for about another 5 miles into the bike.  After that it seemed to be a steady stream of people passing me.  I knew that the bike was my weakest sport, but it was difficult to be reminded again, and again, and again.  The ride itself wasn't very difficult.  It was an out and back race, with the first half a slight hill the whole way. I felt comfortable on the bike but not very fast.  It wasn't until after the race I learned that comfortable meant 2nd SLOWEST in my division.  I had a GU about 5 miles into the bike and another one in the same spot on the way back.  My legs felt pretty good and I eventually finished.

T2

The second transition was supposed to be an easy one.  You would think that I could remember where I was supposed to put my bike, but I couldn't find my spot.  I eventually found that another racer had put their bike in my spot and that is why I couldn't find it.  Again, I spent WAY too much time in the transition.

The Run 

The run was trail run that ran parallel  to the bike course.  For some reason I had forgotten that it was a trail run and I brought my super light road shoes.  The good part was that the shoes are fast.  The bad part is that they are thin on padding so rocks in the trail weren't my friend.  Like the bike I felt pretty comfortable on the run.  Like the bike, comfortable also meant slow.  One thing that I noticed was that there were a lot of people wearing hats.  It took about half of the run to see why.  After all the riding, and now running, it was hot.  I found myself wishing that I had a hat to keep the sun out of my face and perhaps the sweat out of my eyes.  The aid stations were about every mile or so and they were giving out water and HEED.  I tried the HEED and about 1/2 mile later my stomach started to ache.  I decided to not try the HEED again.  Overall the run was ok.  Looking back I could have pushed it harder, but I felt ok about it.

What I learned

• I didn't really know what to expect and I was dumb for not asking my triathlon friends more questions.
• I like the wetsuit, but not that brand.  I am too fast in the water to feel sick because my wetsuit was too tight.  I will rent another one that is larger or buy a bib john before my next race.
• I wish I brought a small towel.  That would have saved me at least a minute off my time.  I ended up using a spare shirt that I had, and it didn't work very well.
• I need to be organized BEFORE I come into T1. Maybe if I strap the gloves to my handle bars they might actually make it on the ride with me.
• Start the GPS BEFORE the swim.
• I suck on the bike. I need more training and aero bars.
• I am too fat.  I didn't actually learn this on the race, I already had a pretty good idea that I was too fat.  That being said it became very clear that the real competitors were in a lot better shape than me. 

Final Thoughts

Earlier this week my daughter started the "pre" swim team.  It is basically just training without any racing.  After the first day she said to me that she was the slowest, and in the "slow" lane.  She was pretty discouraged and didn't want to go back.  I told her about how when I started swimming I to was in a "slow" lane but I took it as a challenge rather than a bad thing.  I explained that I would pick a person that was just a little faster than me and try become faster than them.  Once I was faster, I would pick the next fastest person.  Eventually I became the fastest in the pool.  She like the idea and said she would go back.

I have made it my new goal to approach biking like I did when I started swimming in school. I am going to make it my strength and not my weakness.  My first goal is to average 20 + MPH on the bike on my IronMan.  August 7th is coming fast and I am riding like crazy.  I will post more about my biking progress another time.