1st Triathlon

It has been a very busy two months for me, thus the long pause in blog posting. I don't see how some people find the time to do this regularly...

OK, so last weekend I completed my first triathlon. I enjoyed the overall experience, even though the conditions were terrible. At 5:00AM as I left the house, it was already 79 degrees and humid. I knew then it was going to be an interesting day.

My swim started off a little rough, first time in a wetsuit and i felt the extra weight on my legs just 200 meters into it. Once I got past the mental challenge of that, I found my rythym and began to swim well. Until the cramp anyway... Just a couple hundred meters from the end of the swim, my right calf locked up like a rock! I lay on my back screaming in pain and trying to "rub" out the cramp. Fortunately, there was a person with a flotation device next to me so I had some additional bouyancy while I worked out the cramp. Even with the 3 or 4 minutes lost, I still swam 5 minutes better than I had expected.

The first transition went well for me and the bike ride was nice. With the temps pushing 90 and heat index in the mid to upper 90's, the wind felt great. Being in teh last wave to start, I had the opportunity to pass a number of others on the 20 mile course. I came in feeling good and ready to run. (so i thought)

This was supposed to be where I shined. A 6.9 mile run that surely would allow me to pick up anywhere from 10-15 minutes on most of the field. Not on this day. I felt great when I left the transition area, but only 1/2 a mile into the run, something wasn't right. My heartrate was racing, my stomach was cramping and I couldn't catch my breath. So I walked, then jogged a little, repeat. We had water stations every mile and a half, I dumped two cups of water and drank one at every station, but could not get my body temp down. I had overheated and it seemed that 10 minute miles were all I was going to see today, yuck. It was at mile 5, just past the third water station that I began to cool down and was able to maintain a reasonable pace. 4 minutes later, a storm moved in and dropped the temps 25 degrees, REFRESHING! For the last mile and a half, I felt great and finished feeling strong.

2 hours and 44 minutes was my official time. 14 minutes slower than my goal, not bad considering the conditions and my first time out on this type of competition. I will definitely do it again. I enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the physical aspect of the race. Thanks to all the supporters and congrats to everyone who went out and did their best. Thank you Lord for keeping me safe and allowing me this experience.