Triathlon posting

First I need to start by apologizing to my friends D&J. My comments from last Friday's post were unnecessarilly gruff. And yes, I am aware that D reads my postings and I was insensitive in my comments. I realize that the kids come first and I have never had a problem with that. I am the classic Inspector Javert type character (Les Miserables) . . . . I live and breathe order, to my own detriment . . . . good guy turned bad. Anyway, I am sorry.

Now that that is done . . . .

I did my first triathlon this morning. It was for beginners, a sprint distance. 200m swim, 8.5 mile bike ride, and 2 mile run. As most of you know the running is no problem. The biking I have taken to nicely and was not concerned about. It was the dreaded pool that had me waking up last screaming, dreaming I was drowning! My training buddy Susan also did this one and it was her first as well. She's the one that talked me into trying it . . . . . bit thanks (yeah, right)!Susan started well in front of me in the swim since she is a swimmer. I think she got about a 25-30 minute head start on me. She was concerned about going slow on the bike and run but I kept telling to pick an easy even pace and save a little bit for the end. Her swim looked good and she was off and running to the bikes before I was even put in line for the swim. I figured I'd catch her in the second half of the bike ride.

The swim. I survived it. Actually, I thought I did decently. The swim was sort of a mess . . . it was 8 lengths in the pool at the local Y . . . . down, under the rope, back, under the rope, down . . . . you get the idea. No passing unless you were near the end of the lane. I only passed one person and no one passed me so I guess I was okay.

Swim: 4:55

Transition . . . I practiced it a couple of times but until you're actually there, you have no idea. I opted to put on socks for the biking and run. Wet socks don't bother me but putting them on is difficult. Funny to see folks hopping around the transition area on one leg trying to put on socks. I just sat on the ground, turned them inside out and rolled them on . . . it seemed to work okay.

Swim to bike transition: 3:50

The bike ride. I was looking forward to this. Several big hills and though I am not an experienced biker, I am figuring out that I may be better than average at climbing. I had done a 35 miler earlier in the week and was having bottom bracket noise. I took it to my bike shop Bike Link http://www.bikelinkbham.com/ and my main man Craig fixed me up. It just needed tightening up and he knew I was doing the tri so he jumped on it quick. 8.5 mile bike ride went rather nicely I was continuously passing people which is a big confidence booster. I was only passed one time during the ride. I did have my first wreck (sort of). While nearing the top of a climb, the road was about to level off and I decided to grab a quick drink of water. When I reached down to grab the bottle, I did the little old lady thing and ran off the road. Fortunately, it was a steep bank going up and not down. The bank was covered in ivy so it was sort of a quick, gentle deceleration. Unclipped, and ran with my bike to the top of the hill where I could get some momentum back and get clipped in. I had to pedal hard and fast in order to catch Susan. I had promised her that I would come back after the run to finish up with her during her run. The assumption being is that I would pass her on the bike ride. By mile 6 I figured I'd be seeing her soon. Mile 7 . . . where is she? Did I pass her and not see her or did she quit? About 7 1/2 miles I spot her! SHE'S ALREADY ON THE FREAKING RUN!!!! The girl has been holding back on me! She was already a third of the way done with her run. I hammered the rest of the ride and thought I'd run her down since she CLAIMS that she is not a strong runner.

Bike ride: 31:36

Bike to run transition. I was energized from the ride and I actually did pretty well. I was able to get unclipped right at the timing mat and picked up my bike and ran back to my location at the bike rack. Shoes off, glove off, helmet off, swig of water, running shoes on and back on the road.

Transition time: 1:23

The RUN. Finally, my sport. I am not fast but since most of the folks were beginners I figured I might have an advantage on them . . . . I did. I had decided last night that I was going run hard and try to come in with a good time. I flew onto the course passing people. I've got to catch Susan . . . . the further I went on the run, the better I felt knowing that I was closing the gap on her. Suddenly at about 2/3 of mile into my race I saw her coming back towards the finish line (out and back course). CRAP . . . I won't catch her but she looks like she's having fun and is running strong. That is what it is all about . . . having fun! Very nice. I ran faster than I had hoped, especially after the bike ride.

Mile 1: 6:21
Mile 2: 7:02

Total time: 55:07. Beat my goal of 1 hour!!!!

Where's the next one?????
have a great day