Yesterday I finally became a triathlete!! It was quite hard, it started with a horrible swimming experience, but it got fun afterwards and overall it was an awesome day! So here is the detailed story:
Race
Black Bear Sprint Tri on Jun 3rd, 2007, at Beltsville State Park in Lehighton PA
Distance: 750y / 18mi / 3.3mi
Background
I discovered the world of sports and exercise less than 3 years ago and got hooked immediately. At first, I couldn't even run for 5 minutes, then I built up to a first Marathon before I got 30. I did a second Marathon and pretty much all running distances up to that. So I was basically a runner until this year I decided to diversify and train for a triathlon. I didn't know how to swim competitively, other than splash in a pool, so I had to learn that. Never scared of the biking since well... it's something you do sitting down, but I have just a hybrid bike, to which I added thin tires and clipless pedals.
Pre-race
I did the bike course about 2 weeks before and it was scary. All rolling hills, including 2 long exhausting climbs and a few steep "walls". Overall climb is 2700ft. So we went to the park the day before to get my packet... the competition seemed pretty high-tech, all cool bikes, many very expensive ones, and a lot of fun people who looked like they'd done this before. I felt a bit funny with my city bike so I realized that there should be two different categories: race bikes (road or Tri), and amateurs. I was at least hoping to be able to pass as many amateur bikers as possible.
My goals for the race were, in order, to finish, not to finish last, not last male, not last age group and finally, most important, to enjoy it and want to do another one.
The morning of the race I woke up at 5am and drove the short distance to the park (we stayed pretty close to it over the weekend). I'm not a morning person, so it was quite painful, especially since I went to slip around midnight, and couldn't actually sleep very well. After setting up my transition, first challenge came up. Well, I had never worn my wetsuit before the race, except when I bought it and I had never swam in OW. Putting the wetsuit on was a struggle and I finally made it to the water about 5 minutes before practice was over. I was really scared about this, but the few minutes of swimming were surprisingly good, I was able to swim smooth and didn't get freaked out about the stuff in the water (I'm usually a wimp when it comes to live seafood). I also had to listen to DW and my two friends comparing me to Aquaman in that suit, and then to a condom commercial once I put my swim cap on (oh yes, first time wearing a swim cap).
Swim
I went in the water in the last of the 4 waves. I started swimming and after less than a minute, well... I can't explain what happened. I couldn't do anything. Nothing I've learned in the pool was working. I had swum the distance twice in the pool, and swam up to 1500y, but here everything was wrong. I couldn't breathe, I was hyperventilating and there was no way I could keep my head in the water. Just try to run as hard as you can for a minute, and at the end you'd know what my breathing was like. It's weird, this never happened to me before, but I think it was kind of a panic attack. So all I could do was this awkward breaststroke with me head up... A few times I had to go to a backstroke, and still I couldn't breathe. It was like a nightmare, everybody was way ahead of me, only 4-5 people stayed back around me, but except for one guy, they were going very smoothly, even if very slow. I have to try and figure this out before my next Tri, it was definitely psychological. Maybe it was the fact that I was swimming in deep waters, or that I felt unable to keep up with the other people, or just the fact that I could see so far before to my next target. Oh, and the wetsuit was kinda constricting me while the swim cap squeezed my head. I'm not claustrophobic, but it really felt that way. I barely made it around the buoys, several times the kayaks pulled next to me to make sure I'm fine. When I tried to get in my swim rhythm, I couldn't manage more than 10 continuous strokes, and that was with breathing on each stroke. I was so glad to get to the beach.... Took me 28 minutes but surprisingly, I wasn't the last one, 7 people had worse times than mine. Well, I know that I passed at least two people with different colored caps.
T1
Taking off the wetsuit was a lot easier than I thought. But I learned a lesson here, nobody ever told me this. Bring some sandals to the beach! Here it was quite a long run to the transition area, through the sand, on asphalt and then on grass. Many people had the sandals waiting for them, for me it was not pleasant, especially when I tried to clean my feet to put the socks on.
Bike
I started strong with my bike, since I had already lost a lot of time. Soon after I started, a guy on a road bike passed me (a bad swimmer, of course), and that's the only guy that passed me over the 18 miles. I started to pass other hybrid bikers one by one. Well, I'm slow and unexperienced, but I'm still very competitive. In all my races I fight for every position as if I'd fight for the lead. The rolling hills were criminal but at the top of each hill I had the satisfaction of having passed another 2-3 bikers. Well, soon the top half-iron bikers (which started their swim 15 minutes after my wave...) started flying by, but I won't count them. They had really cool bikes, though. Then the first huge hill came and it was a big struggle, since I had tired my legs quite bad in the beginning. But I saw the first people on road bikes ahead and I pushed real hard to pass them. It was unbelievable to me, even if they were in my swim wave, they must have had quite a big head start on the bike, and they had actual race bikes.
After passing more amateur bikers, I got to the second and biggest bad hill and by here, people were walking their bikes, even two ladies with aero bars and all the good stuff. It was killing my quads, and the switchbacks were going higher and higher, like they'd never end. I really thought that running with my bike would be faster than my slow pedalling, but I said to myself that I won't get off the bike. I made it to the top and soon a long downhill started. Here it was exhilarating. I was all alone, and for two miles I didn't see anybody else but the volunteers. I went faster than I ever went, and I think the maximum speed was 38mph. So fast that at a tight turn I almost went off the road, and that would've been a very nasty spill at that speed. Then with about 3 miles to go I see my cheerleaders at a turn close to the finish line. Good confidence booster, but not as good as taking that turn on to a short but extremely steep hill. Something like a 30% incline for about 2-300 feet, and it was full of people walking their bikes. Amateurs, road bikes and Tri bikes all together. DW told me that they'd seen a few people actually falling off their bikes as they tried to downshift, and a few smarter ones who avoided the fall by turning back downhill and climbing back. And again, I managed to climb it in my seat. At the top I couldn't feel my quads anymore, but so were the other riders too, so I kept passing and passing. I was sure there are no more hybrid/mountain bikes ahead of me, since I was going past very competitive bikes by now. The final 2-3 miles were the best part of the race. It was all unbelievable to me how I was flying past bikes which looked so much better than my crappy ones. Two more turns, one at a high speed, inside a group of bikers, where I actually felt my rear wheel sliding away and I managed to unclip my left foot to put it down and avoid the fall. Then it was the final flat mile, where I was supposed to start resting my legs. But I saw a group of 3 riders in aero position ahead of me and I guess they were resting, so I took advantage of this and flew past them. I hit about 22mph and I don't remember ever doing that before in a flat road sprint. I felt the end is near and only the run is remaining, which is my strongest sport. I felt a tear and I'm not sure if it was from the wind blowing at my face, or from the joy of getting the swim and bike out of my way.
On the bike, I was 188 out of 277 which was well over my expectation. I was 270 of 277 after the swim, which means I was faster than 82 other people. And by looking at the transition area before the race, I don't think there were more than 20-30 non-race bikes over there.
Run
I obviously pushed way too hard on the bike, so the run was far from my potential. I did many bricks before and I got to the point where this was not an issue, but however the first mile was an ordeal. Everything was cramped up, especially calves, quads, lower back and that bad stitch in my abs. On that mile I passed only a few people, and got passed by the only runner who went by me over the 3.3 miles. Very scenic course, through the woods around the lake and then to the end of the big dam. After a mile, everything got better and I was again flying past other racers, especially on the uphill. I had a half mile battle with a very Kenyan looking guy and I used all the race tactics I knew until he finally dropped back. But I had nothing in me for a final kick and finished only 155 out of 277 with 8:55/mile.
Final comments
Even if the run was worse than I expected, I justify it by the extra efforts I put on the bike. And well, the run pace is about what I was able to do in a 5K race less than 2 years ago. The swimming was the biggest disappointment but at least I know what to expect next. My transitions were reeeeally slow, but after the swim I was winded and had to rest for a few minutes while after the bike I had to stretch a bit, plus I forgot my race belt so had to run back from the exit and grab it. The bike average is very slow, but the course was extremely hilly. I heard comments before the race from two people who did the IMLP and they said it compares to that...
Results
Overall: 2:19:02, 222/277, AG 15/24
Swim: 0:28:47, 270/277, AG 22/24
T1: 5:20
Bike: 1:12:42 (14.6 mph), 188/277, 12/24 AG
T2: 2:46
Run: 0:29:27 (8:55/mi), 151/277, 11/24 AG
Chris
Race
Black Bear Sprint Tri on Jun 3rd, 2007, at Beltsville State Park in Lehighton PA
Distance: 750y / 18mi / 3.3mi
Background
I discovered the world of sports and exercise less than 3 years ago and got hooked immediately. At first, I couldn't even run for 5 minutes, then I built up to a first Marathon before I got 30. I did a second Marathon and pretty much all running distances up to that. So I was basically a runner until this year I decided to diversify and train for a triathlon. I didn't know how to swim competitively, other than splash in a pool, so I had to learn that. Never scared of the biking since well... it's something you do sitting down, but I have just a hybrid bike, to which I added thin tires and clipless pedals.
Pre-race
I did the bike course about 2 weeks before and it was scary. All rolling hills, including 2 long exhausting climbs and a few steep "walls". Overall climb is 2700ft. So we went to the park the day before to get my packet... the competition seemed pretty high-tech, all cool bikes, many very expensive ones, and a lot of fun people who looked like they'd done this before. I felt a bit funny with my city bike so I realized that there should be two different categories: race bikes (road or Tri), and amateurs. I was at least hoping to be able to pass as many amateur bikers as possible.
My goals for the race were, in order, to finish, not to finish last, not last male, not last age group and finally, most important, to enjoy it and want to do another one.
The morning of the race I woke up at 5am and drove the short distance to the park (we stayed pretty close to it over the weekend). I'm not a morning person, so it was quite painful, especially since I went to slip around midnight, and couldn't actually sleep very well. After setting up my transition, first challenge came up. Well, I had never worn my wetsuit before the race, except when I bought it and I had never swam in OW. Putting the wetsuit on was a struggle and I finally made it to the water about 5 minutes before practice was over. I was really scared about this, but the few minutes of swimming were surprisingly good, I was able to swim smooth and didn't get freaked out about the stuff in the water (I'm usually a wimp when it comes to live seafood). I also had to listen to DW and my two friends comparing me to Aquaman in that suit, and then to a condom commercial once I put my swim cap on (oh yes, first time wearing a swim cap).
Swim
I went in the water in the last of the 4 waves. I started swimming and after less than a minute, well... I can't explain what happened. I couldn't do anything. Nothing I've learned in the pool was working. I had swum the distance twice in the pool, and swam up to 1500y, but here everything was wrong. I couldn't breathe, I was hyperventilating and there was no way I could keep my head in the water. Just try to run as hard as you can for a minute, and at the end you'd know what my breathing was like. It's weird, this never happened to me before, but I think it was kind of a panic attack. So all I could do was this awkward breaststroke with me head up... A few times I had to go to a backstroke, and still I couldn't breathe. It was like a nightmare, everybody was way ahead of me, only 4-5 people stayed back around me, but except for one guy, they were going very smoothly, even if very slow. I have to try and figure this out before my next Tri, it was definitely psychological. Maybe it was the fact that I was swimming in deep waters, or that I felt unable to keep up with the other people, or just the fact that I could see so far before to my next target. Oh, and the wetsuit was kinda constricting me while the swim cap squeezed my head. I'm not claustrophobic, but it really felt that way. I barely made it around the buoys, several times the kayaks pulled next to me to make sure I'm fine. When I tried to get in my swim rhythm, I couldn't manage more than 10 continuous strokes, and that was with breathing on each stroke. I was so glad to get to the beach.... Took me 28 minutes but surprisingly, I wasn't the last one, 7 people had worse times than mine. Well, I know that I passed at least two people with different colored caps.
T1
Taking off the wetsuit was a lot easier than I thought. But I learned a lesson here, nobody ever told me this. Bring some sandals to the beach! Here it was quite a long run to the transition area, through the sand, on asphalt and then on grass. Many people had the sandals waiting for them, for me it was not pleasant, especially when I tried to clean my feet to put the socks on.
Bike
I started strong with my bike, since I had already lost a lot of time. Soon after I started, a guy on a road bike passed me (a bad swimmer, of course), and that's the only guy that passed me over the 18 miles. I started to pass other hybrid bikers one by one. Well, I'm slow and unexperienced, but I'm still very competitive. In all my races I fight for every position as if I'd fight for the lead. The rolling hills were criminal but at the top of each hill I had the satisfaction of having passed another 2-3 bikers. Well, soon the top half-iron bikers (which started their swim 15 minutes after my wave...) started flying by, but I won't count them. They had really cool bikes, though. Then the first huge hill came and it was a big struggle, since I had tired my legs quite bad in the beginning. But I saw the first people on road bikes ahead and I pushed real hard to pass them. It was unbelievable to me, even if they were in my swim wave, they must have had quite a big head start on the bike, and they had actual race bikes.
After passing more amateur bikers, I got to the second and biggest bad hill and by here, people were walking their bikes, even two ladies with aero bars and all the good stuff. It was killing my quads, and the switchbacks were going higher and higher, like they'd never end. I really thought that running with my bike would be faster than my slow pedalling, but I said to myself that I won't get off the bike. I made it to the top and soon a long downhill started. Here it was exhilarating. I was all alone, and for two miles I didn't see anybody else but the volunteers. I went faster than I ever went, and I think the maximum speed was 38mph. So fast that at a tight turn I almost went off the road, and that would've been a very nasty spill at that speed. Then with about 3 miles to go I see my cheerleaders at a turn close to the finish line. Good confidence booster, but not as good as taking that turn on to a short but extremely steep hill. Something like a 30% incline for about 2-300 feet, and it was full of people walking their bikes. Amateurs, road bikes and Tri bikes all together. DW told me that they'd seen a few people actually falling off their bikes as they tried to downshift, and a few smarter ones who avoided the fall by turning back downhill and climbing back. And again, I managed to climb it in my seat. At the top I couldn't feel my quads anymore, but so were the other riders too, so I kept passing and passing. I was sure there are no more hybrid/mountain bikes ahead of me, since I was going past very competitive bikes by now. The final 2-3 miles were the best part of the race. It was all unbelievable to me how I was flying past bikes which looked so much better than my crappy ones. Two more turns, one at a high speed, inside a group of bikers, where I actually felt my rear wheel sliding away and I managed to unclip my left foot to put it down and avoid the fall. Then it was the final flat mile, where I was supposed to start resting my legs. But I saw a group of 3 riders in aero position ahead of me and I guess they were resting, so I took advantage of this and flew past them. I hit about 22mph and I don't remember ever doing that before in a flat road sprint. I felt the end is near and only the run is remaining, which is my strongest sport. I felt a tear and I'm not sure if it was from the wind blowing at my face, or from the joy of getting the swim and bike out of my way.
On the bike, I was 188 out of 277 which was well over my expectation. I was 270 of 277 after the swim, which means I was faster than 82 other people. And by looking at the transition area before the race, I don't think there were more than 20-30 non-race bikes over there.
Run
I obviously pushed way too hard on the bike, so the run was far from my potential. I did many bricks before and I got to the point where this was not an issue, but however the first mile was an ordeal. Everything was cramped up, especially calves, quads, lower back and that bad stitch in my abs. On that mile I passed only a few people, and got passed by the only runner who went by me over the 3.3 miles. Very scenic course, through the woods around the lake and then to the end of the big dam. After a mile, everything got better and I was again flying past other racers, especially on the uphill. I had a half mile battle with a very Kenyan looking guy and I used all the race tactics I knew until he finally dropped back. But I had nothing in me for a final kick and finished only 155 out of 277 with 8:55/mile.
Final comments
Even if the run was worse than I expected, I justify it by the extra efforts I put on the bike. And well, the run pace is about what I was able to do in a 5K race less than 2 years ago. The swimming was the biggest disappointment but at least I know what to expect next. My transitions were reeeeally slow, but after the swim I was winded and had to rest for a few minutes while after the bike I had to stretch a bit, plus I forgot my race belt so had to run back from the exit and grab it. The bike average is very slow, but the course was extremely hilly. I heard comments before the race from two people who did the IMLP and they said it compares to that...
Results
Overall: 2:19:02, 222/277, AG 15/24
Swim: 0:28:47, 270/277, AG 22/24
T1: 5:20
Bike: 1:12:42 (14.6 mph), 188/277, 12/24 AG
T2: 2:46
Run: 0:29:27 (8:55/mi), 151/277, 11/24 AG
Chris
