Triathlon Week: My first tri - race report - Triathlon Week

Swam the rookie triathlon in New Braunfels, TX this weekend to
consummate my first six weeks of training.

A few weeks ago I practically died trying to finish a 5k run, but a few
weeks before that I don't think I could've even finished it, so I'm not
complaining. Since the end of March my resting heart rated has dropped
from 72 to 60 and I've put on 5 lbs, which I only wish was fat so that
I could be more buoyant, but somehow my lower body just doesn't want to
stay up when I'm in the water ...

Anyway, the distance was 300m swim, 11.5mi bike, 2mi run. I've been
reading about the sport nonstop, so I think I was as prepared as I
could have been for my first time, but that didn't stop a few mishaps.


Although I'd read about it time and time again, and felt like I was
prepared to NOT panic in the swim, I panicked anyway. I think I was
all ready to go, but then once we got in the water we stood around for
a while and my eyes started to hurt so I took off my goggles. Then
they started counting down immediately after the national anthem, and I
couldn't get a seal because the rubber had come undone, so I had to
quickly try to fix everything, only to wind up with water slowly
filling up my left lens. Then I looked back and noticed nobody was
behind me, and THAT's when I really freaked out.

By the time I got out of the water 10 minutes later, I couldn't move my
legs - not exactly the status I was looking for. We had a little jog
to the transition area, which got my blood flowing again, but then I
couldn't get my shirt on because the carbo gel I'd put in the pocket
had twisted the shirt around. Managed to get my shirt on, but ripped
the number tag in the process, so had to re-pin that and ended up with
a 3:16 transition time.

Still better than it could've been, I suppose - I knew exactly where my
bike was, and had everything laid out the way I wanted it, so like I
say, I think I was as prepared as I could've been, considering I've
never done this before.

I managed to pass a bunch of people on the first hill, but lost my
chain at the top, so had to stop to reset it. I continued to pass
people throughout the rest of the bike, though, and after a grueling
ride I was very happy to have a huge downhill for the last mile where I
think I cleared 30 mph.

Unfortunately, between the over-sweet gatorade and the over-sweet carbo
gel I was so thirsty coming out of T2 that I decided to drink the water
they handed us, only to find it sit like a lump in my stomach. I
managed to ignore it as best I could, and by passing up the water at
the halfway point I felt great for the second mile, managing to finish
the run in 14:40, which I'm very happy with.

Final time was 1:13:30, which was exactly where I was expecting to
finish. The two biggest lessons I think I learned are that I need to
work on my swim even more than I thought (I joined a master's swim
class this morning), and that I need to dilute the gatorade a whole lot
more than I did. Oh, and cage pedals suck.

I did have a good time, and the event was very well organized. I'm
really glad that I had something like this to get me prepared for
what's to come.

"metallifried" wrote in
news:1115655368.106163.127180@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> I did have a good time, and the event was very well organized. I'm
> really glad that I had something like this to get me prepared for
> what's to come.
>
>

Congrats on completing your first event! You'll really benefit from the
master's group if it's like any I've participated in. And yes, pedal cages
do suck.

So, what excatly is to come?

I'm probably going to end up in a sprint race on July 4th weekend, and
then the big one we're training for is an olympic distance in Las Vegas
on September 25th.

What I'm really looking forward to, though, is completing the same
event next year and coming in under an hour. I'll keep you posted ;-)

metallifried wrote:
> Swam the rookie triathlon in New Braunfels, TX this weekend to
> consummate my first six weeks of training.
>
> A few weeks ago I practically died trying to finish a 5k run, but a few
> weeks before that I don't think I could've even finished it, so I'm not
> complaining. Since the end of March my resting heart rated has dropped
> from 72 to 60 and I've put on 5 lbs, which I only wish was fat so that
> I could be more buoyant, but somehow my lower body just doesn't want to
> stay up when I'm in the water ...
>
> Anyway, the distance was 300m swim, 11.5mi bike, 2mi run. I've been
> reading about the sport nonstop, so I think I was as prepared as I
> could have been for my first time, but that didn't stop a few mishaps.
>
>
> Although I'd read about it time and time again, and felt like I was
> prepared to NOT panic in the swim, I panicked anyway. I think I was
> all ready to go, but then once we got in the water we stood around for
> a while and my eyes started to hurt so I took off my goggles. Then
> they started counting down immediately after the national anthem, and I
> couldn't get a seal because the rubber had come undone, so I had to
> quickly try to fix everything, only to wind up with water slowly
> filling up my left lens. Then I looked back and noticed nobody was
> behind me, and THAT's when I really freaked out.
>
> By the time I got out of the water 10 minutes later, I couldn't move my
> legs - not exactly the status I was looking for. We had a little jog
> to the transition area, which got my blood flowing again, but then I
> couldn't get my shirt on because the carbo gel I'd put in the pocket
> had twisted the shirt around. Managed to get my shirt on, but ripped
> the number tag in the process, so had to re-pin that and ended up with
> a 3:16 transition time.
>
> Still better than it could've been, I suppose - I knew exactly where my
> bike was, and had everything laid out the way I wanted it, so like I
> say, I think I was as prepared as I could've been, considering I've
> never done this before.
>
> I managed to pass a bunch of people on the first hill, but lost my
> chain at the top, so had to stop to reset it. I continued to pass
> people throughout the rest of the bike, though, and after a grueling
> ride I was very happy to have a huge downhill for the last mile where I
> think I cleared 30 mph.
>
> Unfortunately, between the over-sweet gatorade and the over-sweet carbo
> gel I was so thirsty coming out of T2 that I decided to drink the water
> they handed us, only to find it sit like a lump in my stomach. I
> managed to ignore it as best I could, and by passing up the water at
> the halfway point I felt great for the second mile, managing to finish
> the run in 14:40, which I'm very happy with.
>
> Final time was 1:13:30, which was exactly where I was expecting to
> finish. The two biggest lessons I think I learned are that I need to
> work on my swim even more than I thought (I joined a master's swim
> class this morning), and that I need to dilute the gatorade a whole lot
> more than I did. Oh, and cage pedals suck.
>
> I did have a good time, and the event was very well organized. I'm
> really glad that I had something like this to get me prepared for
> what's to come.


Congratulations.
I freaked out on my first tri too, when the gun went off and everyone
surrounded me as I jumped into the water at a pace I was not intending
to swim at. I still feel the anticipation as I wait in the water and
while I am setting off for the first few minutes in my swim.

You are now an official triathlete.