Saturday, May 30, 2009

SDRC Splash & Sprint Triathlon

As I push through life I have found that I expect a lot of great things from myself. Getting to that point is never clear or something I'm willing to do at the moment. A triathlon has been a goal of mine for quite a few years now. Why has it taken me so long to compete? I rode a bike as my main form of transportation for 21 months on my mission. Clocking in over 35 miles a day, 110 degree weather...in a suit. When I returned home I didn't want to look at another bike. I finally overcame my hatred by burying it deep inside me and found myself on a road bike. To my surprise it is actually quite enjoyable.
To move on with this story, I found a local triathlon to cut my teeth on. Started training. Then came race day. Anticipation is high. Had I practiced my transitions enough? Was I physically ready? Typical triathlon race order is SWIM, BIKE, RIDE. Something I didn't expect was the mental game I had to play. Not with others but with myself. You see in competing in one event is bliss cause you know when you are back, you are done. A triathlon is like crossing the finish line and everyone saying, oh, just kidding...twice. Very incredible but I felt very tenebrous at times.
Swim: because it was in a swimming pool we swam a serpentine swim pattern. This means we had to swim in the pattern of a snake throughout the pool. Underneath lane lines. We had to submit our swim times to be placed in order of fastest to slowest. We were spaced 10 seconds apart. I ended up passing about 4 people in the pool.
Transition 1: I had just got done swimming 400 yds and jogged to my bike. As I sat down I thought to myself, I wonder if anyone would notice if I stopped now. Then I heard everyone cheering so I strapped on my helmet, grabbed my bike and started down the road.
Bike: The bike race is 13 miles. They didn't stop traffic so we had to dodge cars.
Transition 2: very simple. Put on your running shoes, take off your helmet (if you want) then take off running.Run: 5k. Depression sets in about a 1/4 mile into the running portion when you cannot hear anymore cheers and its just you and the road. Thoughts came into my head like "what are you doing?" and "seriously, why are you still running?"
Crossing the finish line is like no other feeling. To know I just finished 3 events and don't have an ounce of energy left is incredible. Absolutely SENSATIONAL. I feel like a comedian on an emotional roller coaster.
I don't have the split times yet. I came in with a time of 1 hour 17 minutes and 29 seconds. I now have a base to build upon. Anyone care to play?

4 comments:

Jenny said...

That is so awesome. Great job, maybe I could do that...

anne said...

Congrats, man! Are there such things as tandem races? I'm no swimmer, but I could the run part....

Justin said...

I am in the same boat as Anne...I'm no swimmer. Will you teach me how to swim well enough to compete. Then, I would love to try a triathlon.

Congrats! That's a huge acheivement. Now you have a Triathlon and a Marathon under your belt.

Justin said...

And... The clean up job on those pictures look great! I'm having a hard time loading Lightroom onto my computer. Will you help me?