OK - thought I would give an update on my first Triathlon. I finished! How about that. Here are the details.
The fun started on Friday morning when Gazelle sports and Team Active had Conrad Stoltz out to speak the the Sherman Lake YMCA. I didn't have anything going on and decided that it would be worth the trip. Conrad is a professional triathlete that is slated to win the XTERRA World Championships this year. He also won last year. It was cool to hear his story and how he trains. Pretty inspiring, although his comments about Michigan being 'flat as a pancake' left me wondering...
Saturday evening Christine and I went back out to Team Active to pick up my packet. That was exciting. It was great to be hanging around with everyone as they were getting ready. I felt like I was an out-of-shape old guy for sure!! We went over to the BC Bistro for dinner. I recommend the tuna, it was great! After that I spend some time double-checking all of my stuff to make sure I had everything. Bike - check, wetsuit - check, race numbers -check, etc.
Sunday morning I woke up around 5:30am and had my classic oatmeal smoothie (milk, oatmeal, whey protein, yogurt - all blended together), put my bags in the car, strapped the bike on top and went off to pick up Mike. Oh yeah, it was 33 degrees outside. A little chilly...
We ended up getting out to Ft. Custer around 7:00am, picked up our chip and went to the transition area to rack out bikes, get our stuff laid out and get our numbers drawn on us (I was 313). By this time I am starting to think about this 500m swim I have ahead of me and the fact that it is now a balmy 40 degrees and the water is actually warmer than the air. Around 8:00am the pros and the folks who were doing the longer race started. It was amazing to watch the pros swim. They swam 1000m and made it out of the transition on their bikes in less than 15 minutes. Crazy... We got our wetsuits on and kind of waited around until 9:30, hoping for a miraculous crack in the earths core to warm up the lake. It didn't. At 9:30 the horn went off and we were in the water. Holy crap was it COLD!!!
Even though I had gotten in and swam around for a bit, it was still 'take-your breath-away' cold on my face. Mental games are starting to happen. 'It's not that cold, I can keep going'. That lasted about 100m, and I started to really lose my breath. 'OK Doug, just relax, calm down, put your head back down and it will be OK'. Yeah right, every time I put my head down, my heart would take off and my breath would leave. Looks like I am going to finish this part doing the breath stroke. So, the swim took me around 20 minutes. The whole time I am telling myself that a few minutes won't matter because I will catch up on the ride. That was good until I came out of the water and it felt like my legs were frozen!! Wow, I felt like I could hardly move.
I actually made it through the transition area pretty good (2.5 minutes) and moved on to the bike. Man, it was strange riding with my legs numb. It took about 5 miles to wear off and in the mean time we had to cross 2 knee deep patches of water. Man is this crazy or what. Eventually though I did start catching up with a few people and passed about 10 folks. Crashed a few times too. I made it back to the transition area and left for the run. Finally my feet were warming up, but I felt bad! I ended up walking a lot of the run and a few of the folks that I passed, passed me (Including Craig from Craig Tri's, good to meet you in person!).
Overall my time was about 2:07, a little longer than I wanted, but now I have something to beat! Special thanks to Christine for be so totally supportive through-out this adventure. It means a whole lot to me.
Also thanks to my training bud, Mike, always a riot!! And to Kate and Andy and family who came out to watch. As well as Al Balko and Dennis Bauer, it really made the whole day a lot of fun! So, the question you may want to know is, will you do another one? Of course! Hopefully a couple more this summer, gotta keep it going! Until later - have fun!
Even though I had gotten in and swam around for a bit, it was still 'take-your breath-away' cold on my face. Mental games are starting to happen. 'It's not that cold, I can keep going'. That lasted about 100m, and I started to really lose my breath. 'OK Doug, just relax, calm down, put your head back down and it will be OK'. Yeah right, every time I put my head down, my heart would take off and my breath would leave. Looks like I am going to finish this part doing the breath stroke. So, the swim took me around 20 minutes. The whole time I am telling myself that a few minutes won't matter because I will catch up on the ride. That was good until I came out of the water and it felt like my legs were frozen!! Wow, I felt like I could hardly move.
I actually made it through the transition area pretty good (2.5 minutes) and moved on to the bike. Man, it was strange riding with my legs numb. It took about 5 miles to wear off and in the mean time we had to cross 2 knee deep patches of water. Man is this crazy or what. Eventually though I did start catching up with a few people and passed about 10 folks. Crashed a few times too. I made it back to the transition area and left for the run. Finally my feet were warming up, but I felt bad! I ended up walking a lot of the run and a few of the folks that I passed, passed me (Including Craig from Craig Tri's, good to meet you in person!).
Overall my time was about 2:07, a little longer than I wanted, but now I have something to beat! Special thanks to Christine for be so totally supportive through-out this adventure. It means a whole lot to me.
Also thanks to my training bud, Mike, always a riot!! And to Kate and Andy and family who came out to watch. As well as Al Balko and Dennis Bauer, it really made the whole day a lot of fun! So, the question you may want to know is, will you do another one? Of course! Hopefully a couple more this summer, gotta keep it going! Until later - have fun!
