My First Triathlon

Yesterday Sunday November 4th. I competed in my first Triathlon, and it went well. The venue was the Temple Terrace, Top Cop Triathlon. The course was a slightly undulating sprint course with a 1/4 mile pool swim, 8 mile bike leg, with a pretty nasty hill for us florida folks that you had to do twice, and finished off with a 5km run, which is 3.1miles.

You really couldn't asked for a pretty day for this race, the weather was wonderful, clear blue skies, no wind to speak of and it was cool, mid to high 70's, perfect. I showed up to the race to find out that i am in the first heat, so i don't get the benefit of watching anyone else, being that this was my first Tri, i didn't necessarily know all the rules. I thought i did but it would have been nice to see some people before me, but at the same time i was glad that i got done in the first group.

The race started with a 1/4 pool swim. Two people where assigned to each lane, i got hooked up with this guy who last year finished the race in 56min. that was a pretty good time. The race director announced, Swimmers on your Mark, then the horn blew and we got started and i was pulling pretty strong, i have to tell myself to slow down, but i just couldn't seem to do that, i was way to focused on getting to the next portion, and i didn't want to be the last person out of the water. as i make it to the other end of the pool for the first time, i did a flip turn, then over the next two laps i did flipturns at the end of each of them. That is where i started freaking out, lap four. I couldn't see anyone else doing flipturns, i was starting to think man, maybe your a not allowed to do flipturns in triathlons, i decided that i might have all ready DQed from my first Triathlon with in the first 30 seconds of the race. I decided to just keep going, and keep doing flipturns, i would finish the race no matter what even if they say that i DQed. I was still swimming quite hard and now i had another dilemma, while i have been thinking about this flipturn conundrum, i have not been keeping count of my laps, so the next three laps instead of concentrating on my stroke i was trying to figure out how far i have gone. I think i am getting close to getting done, and the lady in my lane counting for me tells me i have two laps left. so i really start to move, by this point i have already lapped the guy in my lane and my heart is really going, i get out, and run to T1.

Transition one, time to get on the bike i throw on my socks, heart rate monitor, shades helmet and shoes, grab my bike and head to the line where i am told i can get on the bike, and i am off. My heart racing, still trying to put my gloves on realizing that i am sitting on my GU gel, hoping that it is still on my bike b/c i was going to need it soon. luckily it was still in the hole of my seat. i take that out put it in my riding shorts and get going. My time coming out of the pool was right at about 7 min. i think i am about the 7th person out of the pool not to bad.

On the bike i was ready to be passed by a bunch of people who where in a lot better shape than me, but that never happened, sure a couple of people passed me, one of them my swimming partner, but i was really able to hold my own. There was a hill climb about 2 miles into the ride that really got my heart racing, the course was a 4 mile double loop so i knew i would see that hill again, hopefully it was not going to kill me. On my second lap around the course as i was getting close to the end i saw a couple of riders out in front of me who i thought i might be able to catch, and sure enough i was, passed this one 23 year old right on the last turn. I pulled into the transition area, and there where a bunch of people cheering me and us on, people saying i was doing great. got off the bike took my shoes off and got my running shoes on. T2 now complete i was heading to pound some pavement.

Within only a couple of yards that guy i passed on the bike ran past me. but that was okay, my heart was cranking, and i was already nearly running anaerobic. i needed to slow it down, and get into my pace, for the next 3 miles. At about 1/2 mile into the run, i see that same guy who i will find out later that his name is Jim, a recent college grad, who swam competitively for his college, walking. That told me that he just didn't have the mental ability to beat me, that was all i wanted to do the rest of the race. 1. Survive 2. Beat that kid who is walking/running ahead of me.

At about 3/4 of a mile i caught up to Jim, he was walking again, as i ran by him, i told him to keep going, dig deep and keep going. He started to run again, and said that he was going to run with me. He was a road smacker, that is what i call it at least where he really slaps his feet hard on the pavement. we were both breathing pretty hard, but i was really able to get into my zone. I knew i had the mental ability to not stop and just keep going.

The problem with this run course is they didn't have and mile markers, so you didn't know how far we had left. Jim told me at one point we have less than a mile, and i felt that was probably correct, i was really feeling quite good. While running with jim, i found out that he was the second guy out of the water, so that tells me that i made up a good bit of time on him during the rest of the race, that helped me want to beat him even more. He said when we get to the last turn that he is really going to go. Kind of in a way that was to say sorry i am going to have to leave you, i had to laugh inside, b/c i knew there was no way i was losing to this guy. What he did not realize was, that over the course of the last 1/2 mile i had increased our speed to a point that he was breathing very heavy and would not be able to muster up a good sprint to the end.

We made the last turn and he goes to make his move, with about .2 of a mile left, i am just right behind him, two steps at the most, i can see that he is hurting, with about .15 to go, i open up my gate, and really start moving, i pass him, there is nothing he can do and i finish, beating him by about 15-20 seconds. It was a awesome feeling. I had just finished my first Triathlon.

During the race i thought, Who does these things, people who do this must be nuts, then my next thought was i love doings these, and can't wait to do my next one.

I couldn't believe it i ended up finishing 3rd in my age group and about 11th overall. It was an amazing experience and i do look forward to the next one.