I survived.

Well, I survived a sprint triathlon over the weekend.  And I'm happy to say that it went really well. 

Here's the back story.  I  started a new job and my new boss basically asked why I  was such a lazy ass.  I tried to explain that I was coming of a long season of COD and it was a pretty intense schedule that didn't leave much time for other things  (except beer and corn chips).  So, 2 or 3 months ago I started running a little bit.  And I do  mean little.  Even now, I average about 5-8 miles per week.  That's not great considering most training programs want you at 20+.  I have completed a few 5k races between 26/27 minutes.  After the last one I decided that just running was a tad boring and I  wanted to try something else.  I found a sprint triathlon a month away and decided to go for it.

This was a great idea since it gave me a reason to keep training.  I knew that I was still in crap shape and it  scared me enough to get out  of the house and do something.  I  still wish that I had put  a little more time and effort in.  I used my  wife's stationary bike a few times a week and I kept up my sad running rutine.  I  couldn't find a place to swim without changing gym memberships and paying out the nose.

All that said......

It was pretty cool.  I  got there at about 7am on Saturday, just as the rain started pouring down.  Including relay teams there were almost 350 people in the race. After checking in and getting marked up and my timing chip I  went to look at the swim course.  Wow, 600 yards is a lot longer than I remember!  I started to think I  should have  paid the money for a new  gym.  The gun went off at 8am and the first wave of 150+ swimmers took off. 

About 1:30 into the swim I began to have a minor  panic attack.  I was sucking wind and crapping out.  The water wasn't to rough but enough that I was drinking more than my share.  I swiched over to a relaxed breaststroke until I could calm myself down and then found a slow but consistent stroke.  It wasn't a fun 15 minutes.  If you decide to do one of these, definately practice swimming a little. 

As I hit the beach and tried to start running to the transition I nearly fell over.  Trying to keep my head above water for 15 minutes had left me beat and my legs were rubber.  I got to my bike, snapped my helmet, pulled on a tank top and slipped on my nike frees (great shoes if you don't like socks. I used elastic lace locks so I didn't have to tie them or fumble around).  I want to remind you that it is still pouring right now.  Ran the bike out to the road and got  started.  I don't actually own a bike so I had to rent one.  Glad they let me have the $3500 all carbon fiber Felt z25.  This bike was a godsend.  It let me comfortably cruise at nearly 19mph for the 13 mile ride.  I passed a bunch people who beat me on the swim but got  passed by a bunch of the uber hardcore time trial bikers who passed me like I was standing still.  I could have pushed the bike a little harder but I wanted to save some energy for  the  run.

I'm glad I held back a little.  I got  back to transition and ran my bike  back to  the rack.  I biked with  my running shoes already on  so I passed a few of the bikers who had to change shoes.  Not to worry,  most of them caught  me on the run.  My  tank was empty and I was crapping out.  Those 5k races that I did were only 3 miles and I did those fresh.  This was 3.5 miles and I just wanted to  lay down.  I  kept picking places ahead and was like "ok, that's where I'm going to start walking."  But I never felt bad enough to do that.  I kept hoping that  I'd twist an ankle or something manly that would allow me to walk.  Didn't  happen, so I  was forced to keep puttering along.  Average pace 8:44/mile, blah.

Before telling you my finish stuff let me say this:  the week before the race I looked at previous years results and kind of guessed what I thought I  could do.  I worked out that I could shoot for  1:27 finish which would put me arouund 150-175th.  Well, amazingly enough, I finished in 1:26 flat and was 109th out of  the 286 individual racers.  I can go home happy with that.  It's not a world record but it is an awesome feeling of accomplishment.  I would highly recommend a sprint tri to anyone who is looking for an entry level challenge for  themselves. 

My goal now is to get into better shape for an olympic distance tri next spring.  That would be .75 mile swim, 26 mile bike and 6 mile run.  After that may retire, who knows.  Questions, Comments? 

Peace & love.