9 Months to Tri

So, I kind of lied, and there’s a lot to tell. 

The lie is that I was supposed to do the Tri in September, but a number of things kept it from happening, not the least of which was a money crunch. So, I didn’t go. I think I was also very burnt out on the whole ‘tri’ thing. September would have been my 12th month, and I was getting a little sick of it, I think. 

I was also sick of the gym. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do thru the rest of the fall and winter, but I was VERY sure I didn’t want to spend the rest of my summer indoors.  I was tired of spending 2-3 afternoons a week in the gym when I could be outside biking, running or even indoors swimming, so I decided that I would take a break from the regular workout schedule and just enjoy the rest of the summer.  I ran a several times a week and hit the pool, but just skipped the strength workouts.  In all, it was very enjoyable, and in fact, now that its 30 degrees outside and threatening snow, I miss it quite a bit. 

Next Challenges 

Anyway, as you may know from earlier posts, including this one, two smaller goals that I had had were to drop to 250 lbs and to be able to do at least 50 push ups in a single set.  I had come close to the weight by hitting 266 at one point, and even closer on the push ups by knocking out 45 in a single set, but ultimately, had failed in both. 

Push Ups 

I was thinking about how I could refocus on both of those goals when I got back into the gym this fall when I heard about the 100 Push Up Challenge that several of my twitterati had come across.  I liked the idea of being able to do 100 push ups at the end of 6 weeks, and I decide that I would start on October 1st. That would give me several more weeks to enjoy the sun, and bring me back into the gym as it got cooler.The more I thought about the challenge, though, I began trying to figure out how to fit this into my next workout designed by Mike. I really liked the idea of the push ups, but I wasn’t liking the idea of integrating this workout, which uses 5 sets and focuses on very narrow muscle groups, with a workout of the type I had been doing.  It didn’t seem like they would be a good fit.

Then, I had an uneducated brainstorm.

See, I figure that push ups are a pretty core exercise. Without using any tools, you simply lift your own body weight off of the ground as many times as you can. It works your chest, shoulders and triceps. Not to mention it works a lot of the rest of your body as you endeavor to keep yourself straight. So, what if I picked a handful of exercises that would each target a different area of my body and only used my own body weight as resistance? Could I make them fit the program too? Could I also be doing 100 pull ups and 100 crunches in 6 weeks?  Well, now THAT I wanted to try.

Weight Loss

Also, I’m looking to drop the weight and get more of a handle on what I’m eating. One tool I wanted to get into, but didn’t have time for before, was using a calorie counting tool. I’d seen several online, but never made time to get set up and really use any. I had started once last spring at http://fitday.com/, but the tool really bugged me, so I had bailed on it early. I had also run across several others, but never bothered trying to set any up.

So, this fall, I’ve set up an account at http://Livestrong.com and I’m using their Daily Plate tool to track my food intake.  Turns out I can also track my workouts and a number of other fitness related activites. I’ve got from Jamie a calorie goal, as well as protein, fat and carb goals.  The idea here is to start dropping weight, of course, and also to focus more on my actual nutrition. Last year I was more focused on the exercise and didn’t have extra time to look at the food. For now, since I’m just doing the core exercises and some cardio, I’m taking the time to focus on diet a bit more, but especially on really seeing in-depth what I’m eating.  To be honest, its really eye-opening to see it all laid out in numbers. One meal or poorly chosen snack can really throw a monkey wrench into the plans. On the other hand, its easy to see how eating healthy can make it impossible to get fat. On a good day, I can easily under-eat my calorie goal by 500 to 1000 calories. But on a day when I eat poorly, the calories and fat can add up quickly with a couple of poorly chosen snacks.

Set Backs

I had all of this planned to start on October 1st, but I got sick with some sort of  chest cold the last week of September, and it hung around my chest so that I couldn’t work out at all without hacking up a lung for the first couple weeks of October.  So, then I decided I’d start the 1st of November.

In mid October, I got a solid week of workouts in, but my wife’s grandmother began dying in earnest the last weeks of October. She didn’t last long, but between being there for my wife and kid for that, and a visit from my own mother right on the funeral’s tail, we were basically too occupied to try anything new right thru into November.  Once everything cleared up, I decided that I’d better just start, since waiting around for December 1st might be a bad idea.

After 3 months of no weight training and at least 5 weeks of no real exercise at all, it felt like I was starting almost completely fresh. My max pushups had dropped to 30 and I was several pounds heavier than I was for the race in August. And boy did I feel it the day I walked back into the gym for my initial weigh in and counts.

Come Find Me

Since this particular project is not really related to triathlon training, for the next 6 weeks or so, I’ll be blogging over at http://www.livestrong.com/profile/aithene/.  If you belong to Livestrong or decide to join, feel free to send a Friend Request. After that, I’m going to come back and get ready for next year. This time it’ll only be 6 Months to Tri. I’m looking forward to the Winding Trails races again. They run June thru August and I would really like to run that trail again.

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I took the time to visit my doc and he had some updated blood work done on me. I know I had a ’screening’ at the gym about 3 1/2 months back, but even the technicians said it was only an indicator of the real numbers and I should have my blood work done at a proper lab if I wanted the real numbers. So, here they are:

Optimal blood pressure is 120/80.
My initial blood pressure was 150/100.
My screened blood pressure was 136/90.
My current blood pressure is 132/89.

Optimal total cholesterol is 150 mg/dL or less.
My initial total cholesterol was 238.
My screened cholesterol was 223.
My current total cholesterol is 208.

Optimal HDL (good) Cholesterol is 40mg/dL or higher
My initial HDL cholesterol was 42.
My screened HDL cholesterol was 46.
My current HDL cholesterol is 44.

Optimal TC/HDL Ratio is 4.5 or less
My initial TC/HDL Ratio was 5.67.
My screened TC/HDL Ratio was 4.85.
My current TC/HDL Ration is 4.73.

Optimal LDL (bad) cholesterol is 70-129 mg/dL.
My initial LDL cholesterol was 152.
My screened LDL cholesterol was not measured.
My current LDL cholesterol is 123.

Optimal Triglicerides are 35-135.
My initial triglicerides were 220.
My screened triglicerides were not measured.
My current triglicerides are 205

Optimal Glucose is 100 mg/dL or less.
My initial glucose had no number, but was rated as ‘normal’.
My screened glucose was 90.
My current glucose is still ‘normal’.

Electrolytes, Kidneys and Blood count are all normal as well.

Oddly enough, my Liver enzymes are a “TINY bit off” and the doc wants to look at those. I only mention these here because he tells me that this might just be due to exercise OR due to Advil or Tylenol intake. Now, while I haven’t taken a lot of these medicines, I have take them more often than normal. Even so, we’re talking once every couple of weeks (whereas before, we’d be talking once every couple of months). It might also be due to my diet. The paper says “especially alcohol”, but I don’t drink so that’s not likely to be it. If it turns out to be due to the training or diet, I’ll be sure to mention it here.

—- Update —-

I got the test results back from my liver enzymes, and the doc said no problem. They were on their way down. Something had caused a spike, but since they weren’t dangerously high to begin with, and since there was an obvious decline, he chalked it up to a diet or environmental factor that has since dissipated.

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So, my day-job is working for ESPN as a Web Designer. I do mostly internal and B2B projects, so no, you probably haven’t seen much of my work.

Anyway, early last week, this ad came through on our intranet and I immediately wanted to share it with everyone. I just really liked it. I almost posted it immediately, but then decided I wasn’t sure if it would cost me my job or not, so I started asking around. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who liked it, and finally, we got permission to post, print and share the ad.

So, a quick bit of history. As you know, the Olympics were covered here in the US on the NBC network, not ESPN. As you might guess, a good majority of the people who work here at ESPN love sports. Now, I like sports, especially if I get to play, but the guys we have around here blow me out of the water. Spouting stats. Up to the minute news about who’s doing what and for whom. Opinions on any team in any sport and in any country. ESPN’s brand is “We are the world’s biggest sports fan,” and working here for almost 3 years, I can attest to the truthfulness of that statement.

In true fan-boy manner, the week after the Olympics, ESPN spent I-don’t-know-how-many dollars to run this full-page ad Sunday in the New York Times and Monday in the USA Today to congratulate U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps. I love how it honestly points out that not only did ESPN NOT carry the Olympics, but that when we got home at night, we also didn’t flip on SportsCenter, but instead we all flipped on NBC to watch live Phelps and the other athletes competing from around the world in Beijing. We’ve all heard that sports transcends culture and politics. Sports apparently transcends networks, too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this ad as much as I do.

On a side note, has anybody else noticed themselves picturing those races as they’ve done laps in their local pool? I have. Did it again today, in fact while pretending I have a gut as flat as those 20-somethings.

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Post race.

It doesn’t get any more post race than this.

Its Sunday; its been five days since the race. Physically, feeling much better, though I’m up too late tonight, and will most likely be tired tomorrow.  The initial effects of the race are already starting to drift away. The unease of the swim. The pain of the bike. The cramps and worries about being stuck in the woods during the run. They’re all starting to fade to the back.

I’m already making plans for the next race. Plans. From training to gear to food. Schemes? No, we’ll call them strategies.

One thing I wanted to clear up is about the Tuesday night races at Winding Trails. I WOULD have been doing them all along, except that Tuesday nights my family and I go as a family to a bible study. Its something we’ve always done. We do it as a family and as its part of my worship, I haven’t been willing to simply disregard it so I could race. However, we did make the decision to skip it for one week and we came as a family to watch me get my butt kicked.

Next year, our study will be shifting to Thursday night, and I’m going to see about rearranging the rest of my schedule so that I can do at least 5 of the 10 races. I’ll do that mountain bike route in 25 minutes. Just wait and see.

What have I learned?

• Train for the course you’ll be racing on.
• Go swim in a lake before you race in one for the first time. If possible, swim with a handful of buddies and ask them to swim right on top of you so you get a feel for it.
• Make sure you’ve got the right gear for the course you’ll be racing.
• Wear the gear during your training, not breaking it in new for the race.
• Even after training for 9 months, 268lbs is a LOT of weight to lug around. Working out and training is fine, but diet can’t be glossed over.
• Even though I wasn’t training daily with my colleagues, having them ride me until I actually SIGNED UP for a race was very helpful. My head has been so out of it, that I might not have actually done it.
• I enjoy the gym in the winter, but abhor it in the summer. I’d rather be out running/riding in nice weather. Spring and Fall can go either way depending on the actual day.
• 9 months is a long time to stay motivated about anything. Just ask your wife.
• Blogging takes a lot more time than I thought it would.
• Video podcasting takes even more. Especially if you’re going to do actual editing.

What am I going to do next?

• Well, I’m ordering road tires so I can race in the Lake Compounce Sprint Tri on September 21st.
• While exercise seems to be well underway, I’ve got to admit that diet has been slipping. I still eat much better than I used to, but not as healthy as I should be.
• After talking with Jamie, we also discussed the difference between eating for health and eating for weight loss. I’ve more or less been doing the first. I’d like to drop another 50 lbs, though, so we’ll be switching it up.
• I’m not sure what will become of this blog after September, but I’m going to continue training. Its worked out well for me, and kept me going to the long winter months.

So, what would I LIKE to see happen to this blog?

• Ideally, it would be great if someone else would step up in October and start their very own 9 Months to Tri experience, and document it in their own way.
• I will most likely continue to document training changes, diet, etc. along my course, but it would take back seat to someone who is starting their own 9M2T challenge.

Finally, what kinds of improvements have I seen overall during the last 10 1/2 months? Has it REALLY changed my life?

• Well, I dropped between 20-25 lbs.
• I’m wearing clothes AT LEAST 1 size smaller.
• I’ve successfully integrated regular workouts into my daily life, something that had vanished many years before.
• Between eating healthier and working out, I’ve increased my overall energy levels.
• Its been a while since I’ve had strain-related pain in my hips or legs.
• I actually CRAVE healthier foods now.
• I can do 45+ push-ups in a row.
• I no longer get these moments when my heart starts racing for no reason whatsoever.
• Focusing on all of this has FORCED me to reassess my work habits. I’ve stopped working evenings entirely, which has allowed me to get more rest, eat less, and has eliminated a lot of stress overall, I think.

Best of all, I think, is the impact that I’ve had on other people in my life that are important to me:

• The improvements that my wife has seen in me have inspired her to get back into shape. She’s joined a local gym with the goal of getting back to the mountain bike trails next spring.
• Without pushing her, or even mentioning that she SHOULD, my daughter has asked if next year she can run the Kid’s Tris at Winding Trails next year. She wants to start doing this with me. She’ll be 8 in a couple of months, so I’m not worried about her health. She’s active and enjoys playing. But wanting to compete is something else entirely, and its something I hope she decides she likes and will continue to pursue. Within reason.
• My mother, who has always been very keen on fitness, has renewed her recently waning determination to stay fit.
• While it was these other three, Brett, Mandy and Erik, that inspired me, as a group, I think we’ve also inspired other members of our team at work. My boss has been walking a lot more, eating a bit healthier, and in general seems to be more fit himself. Several people have been more active, using the gym and joining us at swimming.

So, that’s it. I’ll stick with you thru September, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

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56:51 - 1:47:42

Well, its Friday night. The race was Tuesday. Its getting harder to remember the little details, but I’ve still got enough to finish this up, I suppose. First off, while I went for a 5k run today at lunch, my muscles seem to still be wiped out. It was just very difficult to get things going. I finished the run in about 47 minutes, and stopped several times to shake my legs out.

But, enough about today’s run. That’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re talking about a 5k that I had to run after I had been going full out for an hour already, right?

So, after finishing my bike ride 25 minutes over my target, I headed out towards the trail. However, I’m declaring the run at least mostly ‘On Target’, since even tho the bike had blown the race for me, I still finished the 5k run within a few minutes of the 40-45 minutes I had allotted.

As I passed Mike on the way out (that’s him, in the black shirt behind me in the photo above), he said in his best coaching manner, “You can do it Chris, just remember, pace yourself.” I almost laughed. Pace myself? I’d be lucky if I didn’t walk the entire course. My lower quadriceps, all around the top of my knee, were burning with fatigue. There was no way I was going to get up to a 10 minute mile pace. I’d be happy at 12.

As I headed out of the transition area, there were several boys manning the hydration station. “Water! Want some water?”

“Gatorade?” I asked, wanting something with a little more kick.

“You can close your eyes and imagine its Gatorade,” one kid said. What a wiseacre. I grabbed two small cups of water, downed them, and headed on out to the trail, crossing the wooden bridge to the trails.  I had only planned on a quick drink at this juncture.  Of course, my plans had been to hit the water station 25 minutes earlier, but I didn’t’ think that this might be a good time to start changing plans.

The run started on the same stretch that the bike ride started on. And a few dozen yards in, I came to the same hill I had had to walk my bike up. The first of many, actually. I ran up it, but realized that I would have spent less energy and still climbed it at the same speed if I had just walked it. I remembered that for several other hills along the way.

After the hill, I walked. That first climb had been too much. I thought about going back. I even walked backwards, looking at where I had come from. I couldn’t see anyone. No one could see me. Maybe I should just quit and go back.

I began reasoning on it, and in the end I realized that if worse came to worse, I could walk the course in an hour. I was at least going to keep trying. My body wouldn’t let me walk, tho. Every time I stopped to walk to catch my breath, my body would start bouncing, so I gave in and just kept jogging, even tho I could have walked at roughly the same pace. The next day, Erik would inform me that they call this “yeah, I look like I’m jogging, but I’m barely moving” form of running the “stupid shuffle”. Not because its stupid, but because you’re just so out of it that YOU are stupid.

This part of the race I actually had mile markers for. They were the jeep trails for the electric lines. Every time I crossed one, it was a mile. So, at about mile 1, the first signs of cramping started in. I had to stop and stretch my quads. I did this again about half way to mile 2, then again at mile 2. I began recalling Brett’s story of his triathlon when both of his legs cramped up and he couldn’t even stand under his own power. I looked around. I hadn’t seen anyone coming up behind me, nor had I caught up to anyone. What would happen if my legs locked up while I was out here? How long before my wife and kid talked the race coordinators to come looking for me?

The good news is that, while I was really muscle-tired, my breathing had recovered from the bike ride, and I was actually very awake and could jog without running out of air.

I also noticed that while I was on the trail, it was getting dark. When I got to the jeep trail for mile 2 and entered the clearing tho, I saw that it was actually pretty light, so I figured I was OK. At this point, I was over half-way thru the course, anyway, so it made no sense to go back now, cramps or not, light or not.

Then I reentered the woods. As the trees blotted out the sky, it became MUCH darker than the jeep trail. But it was just an illusion caused by the trees, right? It looks dark out, but the sun is still there. So, on I went. I think I stretched one more time about a quarter mile in, but fortunately, that was it for the cramps. However, the trail was getting darker. I could no longer make out details, just contrasts between light and dark. The signs were white with dark arrows against dark trees, so they were easy enough to see. The dirt of the trail was lighter than the ground around it, so I was able to see the boundaries of the trail well enough.

I started noticing how bright the lights inside the homes whose back yards bordered the woods were. “At least, if I cramp or can no longer see the trail, I can go to one of these homes and call my wife on her cell”, I told myself. Then, my pacing actually got stronger. I was actually able to run. Apparently enough of the fatigue from the bike ride had worn off, and I was able to pull out a nice strong pace. Still probably not a 10 minute mile pace, but far better than the jog I had been going at.

The light dropped drastically over the next 5-10 minutes, to the point that I was now just following signs.  The woods were too dark to see into.  Then I saw the blue arrows that showed I had just merged with the bike trails. I knew the finish was just ahead, and I refused to jog over those darned timing plates. I picked up the pace to a full on run.

The trail was near the parking lot, and anything I could see was illuminated only by headlights and flood lights at the transition area. A lady getting into her car to leave spotted me and yelled “keep going! You’re almost there!” I kicked it in with whatever I had, crossed the wooden bridge, crossed the timing plates and there was Mike, Steve, Mandy and my wife and kid. I was wearing a big grin and they were all clapping. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was. Not just because i had finished, but also because everyone had stuck around and waited for me. Mike said, “We were getting worried. Thought we’d have to send a search party for you.” I laughed.

My time was 1:47:42. I asked, half jokingly, if I was last, dreading it would be true. They said I was. So, I asked, “does that mean I was the last one in on the bikes? Because no one passed me on the run.” But it turns out that I was the last person to start the run. They stopped letting people go because they were afraid they’d be stuck out on the trail in the dark.

So, officially in last place of those who finished. Nice.  Another few minutes on the bike trail, and I might not have been allowed to finish, either, so I’m very glad I slipped by.

“There’s Gatorade over there,” someone said, and I immediately began downing several paper cups of the stuff. They were asking me how I felt, how things went, and I answered them, telling them about my cramps and how I had been getting worried because it was getting so dark.

There was a big cookout that night, since it was the last race of the season for Winding Trails. But my little girl was SOOO tired, and there was a very long line for food, so I just changed, said goodbye and thanked everyone again, and we left.

Of course, we were still VERY hungry, so we treated ourselves to Bertucci’s. I downed an entire bottle of Gatorade from my duffle on the way, and once at the restaurant, I ate just about anything I could get my hands on. It has been a LONG time since I’ve been that kind of hungry. If it wasn’t for my wife and the fact that I could feel myself getting full, I would’ve just kept on eating. Salad, pasta and broccoli and chicken. And of course, several of their rolls.  My wife wisely counseled that if I ate too much I might toss it all back up. So, I stopped, wishing I could keep eating.

At home, the muscles around the sides of my lower back were killing me. I even got the hiccups on the way home, and each one cause jolts of pain up my sides. I popped 2 Aleve, took a shower, jumped on Twitter for a few minutes to let everyone know how I had done, then hit the sac. I couldn’t breathe too deep, or my back would get stabbed with pain. I couldn’t get comfortable on my stomach or sides, so I had to lay flat on my back.

Then, I was out.

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Time: 7:51 - 56:50

So, this is where I lost my race. And my spirit. And possibly my mind. Totally.

But first, its now been two complete days since I finished. I was hoping to write posts 3 and 4 tonight, but it isn’t going to happen. I am just far too tired. I can’t believe I’m even awake and writing this. Between capturing the images from the camera last night, choosing the ones to use and then writing the first two posts, I got to bed about 2 a.m. last night and then got up again at 6 a.m. Stupid, I’m sure.

Anyway, besides being just generally tired (I decided against working out today) I’m still sore. Some muscles are more sore today than yesterday. Its that whole “second day” effect at play. But nothing abnormal. All is fine. I just need to finish this and hit the sac. Lack of sleep can’t be helping my recovery.

So, OK. The bike ride. Right. This is where I totally lost it. I guess it was just stupidity on my part and a real overconfidence in my abilities. Also, I feel like I got some bad intel on the bike course. When questioning folks and trying to find out what kind of trails I’d be riding on if I chose the 5 mile mountain bike route (as opposed to the 8 mile road course), I got the picture that it was a lot of fire roads and jeep trails, mixed in with a little bit of non-technical single track. Boy, was I wrong. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t hyper technical riding, but it was almost all rough single track. Lots of bumps, hills (my eyes popped out of my head when I saw a few of the climbs; I swear some of them were 40 to 45 degrees) and switchbacks. Lots of slowing and going.

Now, let’s look at my ‘training’. Besides a few rides I had actually taken on my own bike on non-technical firetrails and riding paths, most of my riding was done in the gym on a stationary bicycle. My training was geared for a road race. Straight ahead and 100 rpms. Not slowing, speeding, gear-shifting or climbing. I was also apparently SO unconfident on my bike that I couldn’t even take full advantage of the downhill portions; riding cautiously and watching for a trail that I’d never ridden before.

I was actually supposed to have a new, non-ten-pound bike this year. My wife had saved up for one for our anniversary, but economics being what they were, I ended up telling her is was OK to spend the money on some more essential items that came up unexpectedly.

So, 10 minutes into the race, I was dead. If I’d been in the least bit prepared, I could have at least put road tires on my 18 year old mountain bike and done the 8 mile road race. I SHOULD have been able to finish that in 24-30 minutes. In fact, that had been my original estimate.

Here I’m going to speculate, but I really think this is how it might have played out, and why I’m just very unsettled with my performance. IF I had chosen to ride the road rather than the trails, and IF I had finished the 8 mile road race at my standard 3 minutes per mile, I’d have finished in 24 minutes. That’s HALF of what I actually did. And IF I had finished in 24 minutes, then I would have started the run 25 minutes earlier, and with a LOT more energy than I had after a 50 minute bike ride. IF I had that energy back, I think I could have knocked another 10 minutes off my run. More about the run in tomorrow night’s post. But seriously, let’s think about that (but not too much, or I’ll get upset again). 30-35 minutes added to my time because of a bone-headed decision. 1:12:00 would have put me in the 190s, not at 262nd.

Well, enough of the fiction. Let’s get back to reality.

What I actually experienced on the trail was VERY humbling. I didn’t pass a single person. Everyone was passing me. I joked to myself that I should have written “On My Left” with a big arrow pointing to my left on the back of my shirt. I certainly heard it enough. The scenery was actually very nice, and the trails were beautiful, but I was too pissed at myself to enjoy any of it.

Another thing I noticed while riding was that I had NO IDEA where I was or how far I had to go. I was just following arrows. Did I have 4, 3, 2 or even just 1 mile to go? No clue. Surprisingly, I found that lack of knowledge to be very discouraging.

In all, I found myself at my absolute LOWEST point mentally during this part of the race. While I didn’t expect that I’d do as well during the bike ride as I did during the swim, I really had expected to hold my own, not watch the entire race crumble around me. It was during this part of the race that I remember thinking to myself that this was insane. I would never do another one of these races again.

Anyway, I finally came into the home stretch, which was by far the most humbling event of the evening. As I guided my bike onto the trail that would take me to the transition area, I found that I was merging with the early runners that were just finishing their race. Imagine that. At roughly 55 minutes, the early finishers had already been done for 10 minutes already, including Mike the Trainer, who finished in 52:04 and who had been done for 2 or 3 minutes. Me, I still had a 40 minute run ahead of me.

I pulled into the transition area, ditched my bike and helmet, and headed out to the trails on foot, completely uncertain as to whether or not I’d even finish this ’stupid’ race. The only bright point of all of this was my little girl cheering “Go, Dad!” Well, sometimes smiles come easy.  :smile:

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Time: 0:00 - 7:50

First of all, I wanted to say that I had intended to complete this part of the race in under 10 minutes. So, at 7 minutes, 50 seconds, I would say the race started well. On target if not a bit ahead of target, in fact.

We started the swim portion of the race in 2 waves. Men first, women second. Some of the race-proven faster women started with the men, but only a handful from what I could see. The swim was a box. We swam straight out from the beach between a dock on our left and a rope on our right to a white buoy (you can see it just above the left edge of the dock in the photo above). Going AROUND the buoy, we would take a left and swim parallel with the beach to the next buoy, then take another left and swim into the beach. Once we hit the beach, we were to run up to the transition area, get geared up and start our ride.

It was only a quarter-mile. 18 lengths of the pool. I can do this in my sleep. Right?

What I had done in training and what I was now doing in practice are day and night. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually been more terrified in my life. I certainly had no idea what I was getting myself into. A swimming pool is more or less placid and clear. You can see the lane lines at the bottom of the pool. Swimmers occupy predefined lanes in which they, and they alone, swim in. And if things get bad, you can just swim to the nearest wall, or if you’re in the shallow end, just stand up. People in a pool, as a rule, will not run you over if you have to stop for some reason.

We all started into the water, swimming in the general direction of the buoy. At first, that’s enough, since you’re dealing with large, manly bodies bouncing off of each other and trying to work out a space. Hands and arms land and slide around your sides and back from time to time, and shoulders bang into your sides more often than not. This was NOT any sort of relaxing swim. This was a quarter-mile sprint, and everyone was going for the gold.

After about a dozen strokes I realized that I would somehow have to ’see’ the buoy, so I lifted my head out of the water, which is NOT a standard swimming move. Egads, I was swimming straight for the dock, and the guy to my right was going the same direction. I needed… he needed… WE NEEDED to start edging right or we’d get stuck at the dock. So, I started bearing right, PUSHING him with every stroke and kick in the direction we needed to go, and him pushing back, probably figuring I was a total jerk.

As we neared the buoy, everyone who was too far to inside on the left started edging right to try to go around the buoy, and everyone to the right who didn’t want to go way to the outside started edging left towards the buoy, and we all ended up on top of each other squeezing around the turn. I was actually so tight into the buoy that my left shoulder brushed it as I went around. At this point, I was also no longer vertical. I was more or less upright through the turn until I could find room to lay back down again. While I was upright, though, I noticed that several dozen swimmers had cut the corner short. I’d call them cheaters, but realizing that they’d basically be queuing up just to get a turn to tread water around the buoy is reason enough to fudge things a bit. I guess.

The bottom of the lake had long since disappeared into the depths. Any hope of holding onto something was a distant memory. All you could do was keep swimming and hope not to get buried beneath the crowd. I even thought I saw some odd light-colored shape sink into the depths of the lake out of the corner of my eyes and my first thought was “oh my god, did someone just drown?”

I love the water. I LOVE swimming. But at this moment, I felt more exposed, more in-danger than I ever recall feeling in my life. I needed OUT of this crowd, and the only way I knew to do that was to swim faster and leave them all behind. So, that’s what I did.

About half-way to the next buoy, I was in the clear. I wasn’t in the lead, but there just weren’t many of us out here. I stretched out my strokes and tried to get my breathing under control. I started feeling my natural rhythm. It wasn’t exactly a ‘pleasant’ swim in, but I was out of the crowd, feeling much better about things and moving strongly.

My wife, who took these photos, was a first-time spectator. She tried to tell me about the whole thing from her point of view. The entire triathlon was unlike anything she’d ever witnessed before in her life. In fact, she remarked later that she couldn’t believe that no one had drowned. When I told her that people called the beginning of the swim ‘The Washing Machine’ because of the way the water gets all churned up, she agreed whole-heartedly.

You’ll notice that there are kayakers out on the water to the left in the photo above. Also, there are officials on the dock watching for people in trouble. But still, a single head disappearing beneath the water is just far too easy to miss. Seriously, I can’t think about it too much or I might not ever do this again.

Finally, I hit the beach and began running. I was out of breath and felt hardly able to stand, but I kept moving.

We crossed the road into the transition area and I grabbed my tank top (I simply wasn’t going to ride for 5 miles with my gut hanging out) and my glasses. Then I went for my shoes and socks. But my socks weren’t in my shoes where I thought I’d left them. I looked all over, under, and around everything. I couldn’t believe it! Someone had stolen my socks! I didn’t even want to imagine the blisters I’d get for riding and running without socks.

Now, if I’d had a clear head, I would have remembered the cotton socks still in my duffle bag for AFTER the race, but no. So, as I stood there and began to put my right sneaker on, out of the corner of my eye I spied my riding socks sticking half-out from under my duffle.

It was just too much. I was already still recovering from the swim, then almost had a panic over a pair of socks. I sat my butt flat on the ground, put my socks and shoes on, then stood up, put on my helmet and hurried my bike out of the transition area and over the timing plates.

I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around that little bit of information, actually. So, both my swim AND my transition time equalled only 7:50?!? If that’s true, and based on how much trouble I had in my first-ever transition, that swim must have been 6:00 or even less. That’s pretty amazing to me if its true.

Its really late. I’ll write up the bike and hopefully the run tomorrow night along with some more photos.

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As I write this, I have a full day, post-race behind me. I’m very tired. I’m saddle sore. I’m exhilarated at having completed my first tri, relieved that its behind me, and cross with myself for having performed as poorly as I did.

So, let’s cheat just a minute and I’ll give the numbers up front and the finale, just to clear away some of the suspense.

I lost. Or I won. Depends on your point of view. My friends all say “hey, you FINISHED”, which is true. And from what I hear, a number of people didn’t, either because they couldn’t, or because they finished the biking portion of the race so late that the race officials stopped them from starting the run since they wouldn’t have finished before sun down. So, I did finish. But of all the people who actually finished, I came in dead last. About 25 minutes longer than I had anticipated. I know exactly where I went wrong and how to fix it, but that’s the subject of post #3.

I finished in 262nd place (last) with a total time of 1 hour, 47 minutes and 42 seconds. My swim was 7:50, my ride was 49:59 and my run was 49:53.  The race started about 6:15, and sunset was at 7:48, so I finished about 15-20 minutes after sundown. Remember that, ’cause I’ll get back to that in post #4.

Morning
So, race day. I packed my bag the night before. Helmet. Tri shorts. Tank top. Socks. Sneakers. And a pair of running shorts just in case I felt modest. I also packed another set of clothes for after the race. Fortunately, in the shower on race morning, it hit me that I’d forgotten to pack my goggles, so I grabbed those immediately after showering. Whew, that was close. What else might I be forgetting? Stress already, and its only 6 am. 12 hours until start.

I threw my bag into my car, tossed my bike onto the bike rack, and went to work.

Day
At work, I had butterflies all day. Anytime someone would mention the race, I got nervous. I didn’t know why. I wasn’t trying to win. Just finish, and I KNEW I could do that. I talked to Mandy several times about questions I would come up with last minute, and she would answer them. Erik was home sick, fever and all; there was no way he was going to make it.

About 2 pm, I started getting small adrenalin rushes. It was hard to type. I couldn’t keep my mind on my work. Mandy just kept laughing at me and telling me it would be alright; she could see I was nervous. After a while it hit me what I was feeling. This is how I always had felt in high-school between heats at a swim meet. Now, if you’d asked me on any given day how I felt, I would have told you ‘yes’, and started to describe being anxious and excited. But I would have been wrong. There’s no way to really remember this feeling unless you’re going through it. Then you start to remember all the different times you felt it.

[Actually, just remembering yesterday has got me all on edge right now. My fingers are starting to jitter and my heart is beating faster. Typing is becoming a problem. Wow.]

By 4 pm I was exhausted. Its like I was coming down from my adrenalin high. But, finally it was time to go. My twitter network sent a number of goodwill wishes and my colleagues all wished me well. My wife picked me up at 4:30. I’m really glad I didn’t have to drive. On the way, I downed a peach and half a clif bar.

Registration
Next up was registration. We took my bike and gear up to the registration area, signed the waivers, paid my $15 (great price! a lot of races will charge $50, $75 or even more) got my number written in marker on my arms (691, its still there, even after 3 showers and a mile swim at lunch today), got my chip, parked my bike, and went to the changing room to get ready. While all of this was going on, the kids were finishing up their triathlons. Winding trails has the great program for ALL ages. Kids tris, tiny tris and full sprint triathlons.

After that I ran into Mandy, who kept giving me helpful advice, and made sure I had set up my transition area so that I could change quickly. Then, on our way to the beach, we both ran into Trainer Mike, who was surprised to see me there, since apparently I hadn’t told him I was racing. Perhaps I was leaving room to back out? An easily forgotten pair of goggles would have done the trick.  :smile:

At 6pm we got in the water to warm up a bit. No problem I thought as I swam out to the dock and back. The lake was wonderfully warm, and while it was a bit choppy, it didn’t seem too difficult. I was calming down and was feeling ready. It must have been another adrenalin rush, because I no longer felt exhausted. Tired, maybe, but not exhausted.

The race coordinator called us out onto the beach and went over the rules. “Be nice” was the rule of the day. It was the last race, and a lot of folks were going for their best times, but there were also a bunch of us newbies who didn’t know the course and would likely be feeling our way through it. So, “be nice”.

As you can see from the photo above, I’m still a large guy. In fact, according to my wife, there was only one guy there who was heavier than I was. She guessed that he probably had a good 30lbs on me. This is generally just a more fit crowd than I am who participates in these things.

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So, as a side note, my wife’s grandfather is the old-style gentlemen. Whenever he visits, he never comes empty-handed. Since we have a 7 year old daughter that he loves, he often brings things that she likes. So, there’s a constant influx of items like Goldfish crackers, English Muffins, Cape Cod potato chips, Pepperidge Farm cookies, Cracker Jacks, and various Stop and Shop baked goods. Oy!

So, in order to keep such copious amounts of white flour and sugar goods OUT of our home, we tend to give a lot of it away. My daughter’s friends often go home with a bag of Goldfish or a tin of brownies may end up at work.

At home, we call it whatever it is, but with Grampa at the beginning. I.e., as I left for work today, I told my wife, “I’ll take the Grampa brownies to work today and share them with everyone.”

Then, EVERYONE is happy. I’m happy because I don’t have to eat them all or throw them away. My wife is happy because she doesn’t have to keep telling our daughter “no”. And the folks at work are happy because they get free brownies.

Yes, we’ve tried to talk to Grampa about bring so much junk over, but it only lasts a few weeks and then it starts again. So, we just let him do it now.

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Well, spent some time today ordering some gear for the upcoming Tri. If it gets here on time, I’ll be running this coming Tuesday. If not, I’ll race the following Tuesday.

So, I’ve got a new bike helmet on the way, and some Tri shorts. The Tri shorts may be a problem, though, since I’ve still got a 48 inch waist and most of the charts say that an XXL has a max of 42-46 depending on the manufacturer. So, let’s hope they fit.

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