9 Months to Tri

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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