First Time

We all have many “first times” in our lives. This year has been a little shady when it comes to that for me. This weekend I attempted another first…and rocked out!!!




The water was 60 degrees, the air temp was about 55, and the sky was partly cloudy. It had rained earlier in the morning, but by the time the race started the roads were dry.



My first triathlon was all I hoped it would be, and more than I expected it to be. I had only been training hard for about 10 days after recovering from my marathon, so I went in with low expectations. My goal time was between 1:25 and 1:35. I hit 1:25:08 and finished 7th in my age group 21st male and 22nd overall. I got chicked by an amazing women who was a repeat winner in the women’s division about 20 minutes into the bike (I had a 3 minute head start on her from the swim wave). Those are the numbers…now for the story.



I had ridden most of the bike course on Friday and had an idea of what to expect. On Saturday I swam off the dock to get a quick open water swim in before the race. The 60 degree water would haunt me for the next 21 hours, until I did my swim warm-up about 10 minutes before the race. I dove in head first off the dock and swam as hard as I could for about 50 yards. I then realized that I needed to slow down and swim back. My chest and lungs had tightened up and I was freaking out due to the cold. I did some breast stroke and swam back to the dock and called that an “experience”. I lost sleep due to that “experience”. With the normal race night jitters I sleep poor at best, add the fear of freaking out during the swim, and you get a sleepless night of tossing and turning. Later on in the day on Saturday I ran most of the run course. The run course is a very hilly and winding road that changes from asphalt to gravel and back many times throughout the 5k distance. I was glad I had run it before the race and knew what to expect.



Race Day: After not really sleeping all night I was less than happy with how I felt race morning. I had to choke down my normal pre-race meal of whole wheat waffles with peanut butter and a banana. I drank my normal cup of coffee and decided maybe I would just do a gel before the race. Pre-race jitters have never been my thing, so having them was not something I was prepared for. The time finally came to go get my timing chip and claim my space on the rack. I racked my bike and set up my transition about 45 minutes before the race meeting. I went on a nice calming warm up jog and then put on my wetsuit. I waded into the water, put my face in it, and blew bubbles. I came out of the water and listened to the pre-race announcements and then went back in and took a swim. My warm-up swim went great. I was way more comfortable in the water than the day before and I felt like I could breathe again. My pre-race jitters went away by the time I got back on the beach.



I positioned myself at the back of the crowed and to the right of the buoy. The gun went off and away we went. I made my way through all the slower swimmers and found my rhythm. I passed a ton of people in the water and set myself up for a great race. My first transition went smooth and I was off on the bike. The bike went well and I was really happy to be inside the top 20 for the entire bike (with 2 turnarounds you can see where you are at in the pack). On my way back towards transition I was taking my feet out of my bike shoes and one of my shoes came off the clip. Luckily I was still holding it and carried it with me up the hill. My speedplay clips are great…but they offer little in the way of surface area when your shoe falls off! The transition went well and I was off on the run. The run started and ended on a grueling hill. I knew I needed more practice going from the bike to the run, and having to go up a long hill to start the run really pointed that out!! I was passed by a guy with about a half mile to go. I tried to stay as close to him as I could to try and take it back from him on the long downhill to the finish. I gave the fans a great show, but came up 1 second short of catching him.



All things considered it was a great first race for me. I had so much fun pushing myself throughout the morning that I eagerly await my race next month. I will have another 4 weeks to train hard and we will see what I can do to improve my time on a much flatter race course.