I participated in my first (ever) triathlon on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007. The race started at 6:30am, so I had to get up at 5:00am. Here’s what I learned and experienced.
SWIM: To train for the swim (1km), I’ve been swimming roughly 1.1km twice a week for the past few months. I’ve trained as far as 1.5km and a few weeks ago I went for an open water swim in Lake Pleasant (sunny, 84 degree water). About a week before the triathlon I reserved a wet suit rental for the race. The wet suit was definitely a very good idea because the water was very cold for someone living in Arizona at 69-70 degrees. When the race started, I went through one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Specifically, I couldn’t, physically, put my face in the water, I was panicking, and hyperventilating. It was horrible. I felt I was prepared, but I was completely unprepared for the combination of wet suit, cold water, swim cap, and darkness. You see, I had never practiced under race-like conditions. My one open water swim was in warm water on a sunny day without a wet suit. I think my body was just in shock for the start of the race. I started swimming inefficiently with my head above water, but after 100m or so I thought I would have to abandon. Well, I back floated a little to help calm myself down (interestingly, my speed didn’t drop off much), continued to alternate between swimming with my head above water and back floating, and finally about 300m into the race I was able to swim with my face in the water for short periods. The short periods got longer as the race went along, but I would still have to reorient myself every 10-20 strokes. I ran into a fair number of other swimmers, but nothing too serious. If I ever do a triathlon again, I will practice swimming in cold water, in the dark, wearing a wet suit at least 3 or 4 times before the actual race. I was strong enough for the swim, but I lacked the ability to swim under those conditions. In the end, I pulled out of the water after 28 minutes (I had hoped for 20 minutes) very frustrated and in 418th place (out of 600).
BIKE: To prepare for the bike, I would bike to work and back (22 miles round trip) twice a week, and occasionally ride 40 miles on the weekend. The bike part in the race was simply amazing! I loved it! I had some pent up frustration from the swim, but the bike ride was really nice. I was able to pass over a hundred people, which was a big moral booster after the swim, and I felt really good. While I’d never ridden the exact course before, I’d ridden almost all the roads at various times in the past, and I felt really comfortable with the route. The course ended up being a little longer than I expected. Originally, the distance was listed as 28.5 miles, then I got a email saying it was shortened to 23 miles. However, my odometer read 30 miles and the official race results list the distance as 29.2 miles. I averaged 20.6 mph on my odometer (20.3 mph in the official results), which I am happy with considering I was trying to save some energy for the run. One additional item of interest: you are not allowed to draft in triathlons, and I was very careful to maintain distance between myself and the other bikes for the first lap. However, during the second lap the course was packed with bikers from the half-ironman on their first lap and drafting was unavoidable at times.
RUN: First of all, I don’t like running. It just seems so inefficient compared to biking. I had been training for about 3 weeks running approximately 4 miles twice a week. I only extended my training beyond 4 miles twice — a 6 miles run and an 8 mile run, and the race was 6.5 miles. To make matters worse, it was getting really hot by the time I started my run (mid to upper 80’s). I guess the run went well for the most part, and I’m pretty happy that I was able to average 8:48 per mile. I wish there had been one more aid station around the 3.5 to 4.0 mile mark because I skipped the station at 2.5 miles, but that was just a lesson learned (don’t skip aid stations when it is hot).
FINAL THOUGHTS: I broke 3 hrs (just barely) so I’m happy. I would definitely do another triathlon if it involved a swimming pool (instead of a lake) or a relay so that I would only have to do the bike leg. The Red Rock Company that put on the race did an excellent job. There were plenty of police and volunteers to make everything organized, easy to follow, and safe. I finished in 197th place (out of nearly 600) and the final results can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment