Triathloning

While I was out of work, I decided I had no excuses to exercise, and chose the cheapest form around - running. I have never been a runner, and thought I just wasn't built for it. But I discovered something called "couch to 5k" on the 'net, and realized I was just going about it all wrong. I did the 'ease-in-to-it' method espoused by the program, and within a couple of months I was up to 5k with no problems, then worked on speeding it up a little. I'm by no means a runner still, but at least I can run decent distances without ending up massively winded.

Then I decided to join a new masters swim program at the local rec center, since swimming has always been my favorite form of exercise. I had been swimming solo for a while, so I wanted to give a coached workout a try. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was 100% triathletes, most of which are from a local triathlon club.

After moving up the ranks in the workouts, I decided to give a swim/run a try. It was a 750m swim and a 5k run at the Aurora Reservoir. I did great in the swim in spite of the awkwardness of the wetsuit, and finished first out of the water. Then I got what I now know is called 'side stitch' immediately on the run, and had a horrible time, getting passed by 3 other guys to end up finishing 4th (it was not a big event, there were probably only about 30-40 people there).

Despite the painfully bad run, I decided I wanted to try a triathlon. After pushing it off a few times due to work getting busy and not feeling prepared for the bike, I finally signed up for one of the last ones of the season, the Fall Frenzy here in Parker (500yd swim, 11mi bike, 5k run). I would have liked to have done a longer swim, and not a pool swim, but I thought it'd be fun to do the big local one, in spite of a lack of bike training.

This triathlon was heated from slowest to fastest by swim time, so I started pretty late in the morning (second to last heat). I was put in a lane at the pool where I was the fastest seed time, and I ended up catching up (lapping) to the last guy in our lane about halfway through the swim, but instead of trying to pass him, I for some reason decided to hang back and just conserve some energy for the bike and run... so my time was a little slow, a 7:39 out the door (so probably about 7:19 for the actual swim).

The annoying thing about triathlons is that being a swimmer isn't that great of an advantage. Most of the guys I beat in the swim ended up passing me in the transition from the swim to bike anyway, since I took about a minute or so longer than most being a little clueless my first time. Then I hopped on my mountain bike (with slick tires to help somewhat with the equipment disadvantage) and made my way around the bike course. It wasn't pretty, as expected since I hardly got any bike training in, but I got through it, and moved on to the run. It took me a pretty sorry 44 minutes to go 11 miles, and I hardly saw a soul the whole time since I was in one of the last heats. One of the only people I saw was the second place female finisher who whizzed past me on a several-thousand dollar racing bike and a swoopy aerodynamic helmet.



I knew from a couple of 'rehearsals' that running after biking feels really awkward, like your legs weigh 100 pounds each. So I stretched on the last part of the bike and tried to wake them up in the run before getting up to full speed. I finally started seeing some other competitors and confirmed I wouldn't be the very last person to cross the finish line. Despite not feeling like I was running very fast, I still somehow managed to knock out the 5k in 25 minutes, which, albeit not blazing fast, was actually faster than I had planned. Jenna and Laina were waiting for me at the finish line, but I had to make a beeline past them straight to the bathroom.

So my total time was 1:23 for the whole shebang. I finished 119th overall out of about 480, and 17th/30 in my age group (30-34)

I'm not sure where I'm going with this triathlon thing, but it was actually kind of fun, and I could definitely see getting a lot better at it. I was pleasantly surprised that I pulled it off without any problems, and am thinking of taking the biking part a little more seriously next year. Had I biked as well as I ran, I would have placed pretty well. I'm currently looking for a bike trainer (a device to make your bike stationary) to do some morning basement workouts over the winter.

The only part that I was really not prepared for was the ice-bath afterwards. I was pretty exhausted and my legs were feeling pretty overworked. Jenna heard from a triathlete friend that you need to take an ice bath after these things to avoid severe soreness. I did it, and I think it worked, because I felt great the next day!