My First Tri!

Coming over the timing mats 3:15:33 for my first ever tri!

I can officially say that I’m a triathlete. I completed my first tri today! I haven’t yet gotten my official times, have to wait for them to be posted, be sure that when they are I’ll edit this post to reflect the times. But I was in the 3 hour range.

3 hours 15 minutes thirty-three seconds to be exact.

I was a little nervous this week about hitting the tri this weekend. I’d been sick at the beginning of the week, and knew I hadn’t had enough swim and run time in. To top off matters, the weather decided to dump buckets of rain in the morning. I spent the day prior on the bike, 75 miles of hills with around 5000 ft of climbing. I didn’t hammer to much during the ride, so I was still feeling fresh after the ride. After getting home from visiting with Rob (he just returned from Tasmania) I took to getting my gear in order for the next day. I packed up all my gear into my mountain smith cube, worked out perfectly. I made some whole wheat tortellini and headed for bed at about 9 pm.

Click the image to see what I had packed

I woke up at 5am to the sound of rain. I wasn’t about to let some rain stop me, so ate some breakfast and loaded up the box.

I got down to Ashland by 7am. I parked, checked in, went through body marking, and then back to the car to get my gear prepped. I layed out my transition area, covered it with half my towel to attempt to keep it dry. As I was getting into my wet suit, Katie showed up with Pat and Cindy! I had thought that I wouldn’t have needed a cheering section, but I was SUPER glad they showed up.

We all walked the quarter mile down to the water, and I slipped on the mud! I got into the water, which was surprisingly warm, and took a few practice strokes. I was feeling good! the start was a wading start, so I got off to the left of the pack and got ready. I’m not comfortable enough with open water swimming yet. I had a decent stroke and felt good for the first 1/4 of the swim. After I rounded the first buoy I got into trouble. I got hit a little by faster swimmers, and took on some water. This threw my breathing off, and I never fully recovered. A spent some time on my back trying to get my heart rate down, and never did get it back in check. As I rounded the second buoy, I had my first ever cramp while swimming. Luckily it was ‘just’ my left calf, it hurt pretty bad. I spent some more time on my back, and finished off freestyle. I got out of the water, popped a Gu and hiked up to the transition area. I fell WAY to the back, I knew my swimming wasn’t strong. After the race, Katie let me know that I was 6th to last out of the water!

Ah, now for the bike! I knew I could make up some time there, the course was a little hilly but I liked the hills (as 5000ft of climbing the day before proves) I got on the bike and felt AWESOME. I settled into a nice pace, easily spinning up the hills, and bombing down the wet slick roads! I passed a bunch of people once I got out on the bike, and cheerfully talked with them as I passed! the course was great, I averaged 18 mph, with a top speed of 32. Never felt my heart rate spike, I popped a Gu at the 13 mile mark, and at the transition.

As I started the run I was still feeling strong, a little to strong. I looked down at my Garmin, and I was WAY off pace. I reeled back in a little, but the damage had already been done. At about mile 3 I felt my left calf acting up again. I walked a ways, stopped and streteched it on a tree, and walked a half mile or so. I tried convincing myself that after mile 4.5 I was going to run no matter what. But my calf had a different idea! I walked a little bit and ran. I ended up trying to conserve some for the last leg so I didn’t look defeated when I got in to the finish. i walked up the final hill, and then hit the last mile running, just not fast. My own timing gives me a 1:02 time, with a 10:28 pace. I NEED to run more. I finished up strong, came in to Katie, Pat and Cindy screaming and cheering. Katie had even made a sign that said “Go Joe!”

I crossed the finish line, and threw my arms up in a V for the photos! I was smiling, I survived, and now can call myself a triathlete. I grabbed a water, drank it, cleaned up my transition area, and walked over to the car, and popped a Sam Summer! nothing like a nice cold beer post workout! My next Tri is about a month away, and I’m planning a lot more open water swimming, and running. Since I now have some numbers to beat!

Special thanks to Katie, my wonderful wife! Thanks to Tasha, for putting the thought in my head to do this! Thanks to Pat & Cindy for cheering. And thanks to everyone who has been supporting me through this crazy endevour!