Triathlon - First Tri - I went all the way

I just completed my first tri. The CDA Ironman. I was given a bunch of crap for making an Ironman my first, but "oh well". Here is a brief account of what happened:

Swim - 2000 people mass start into lake Coeur d'Alene. Two 1.2-mile laps. Temp was in the low 60s. As I guess most mass starts are, it was chaos. I swam OK - the first lap was good, a bit of thrashing and contact. The second lap sucked hard - I followed a group off course wasting a bunch of time. Time - 1:19:57 - 1160th (out of 2000)

T1 - Slow, I was lost - 7:04

Bike - 112 miles - I like to ride. Very technical course, many turns and small hills. I past people the entire time. I can honestly say I was never passed once. 5:21:16, average of 20.9mph. Placing changed from 1160th to 299th

T2 - a little better - 4:36

Run - 26.2 miles - My strategy was to run 9-minute miles and finish sub four hours. That was very difficult - right when I started the run I was passed by at least 50 people running much faster than I. I kept saying to myself "I'll get them on the second half". That proved true, the last 5 miles I passed a ton of people. 3:59:56 (I know, I cut it a bit close) 9:09 average - overall placing 238

Total time 10:52:49
I learned much - next time I'm going to go for sub 10.

Wow!
Great job!
Very very impressive times. Especially for your first ironman.

nice job!

excellent news for me and a boost for morale since i'm doing my first tri in 2 weeks: IM Germany! ;)
but then again i can honestly say that i am not nervous at all. (yet?)

that is truly amazing.
much to be said for the triathlete, incredible accomplishment.
I will always be in awe.

Congrats dude.

Great job especially for your first! Awesome effort.
I have yet to crack 11 hours in 3-Ironman races, but then again I claim no natural talant or skill. Also, Mother Nature has not been kind to me in my trips to Kona. Although my 1/2 IM (completed 9) PR is just over 5-hrs. so I know a sub 11 is possible. Right now I am running out of time (age wise) and chasing PR's in the Marathon, still looking for a 3:10 which I am planning on this fall in Detroit.

What is next on your race schedule for this year? Tri's? Marathons?

Holy cow, great race.

Thanks for all of the positive comments.

Right now I am just a big bag of sore.

As for other tri's this year - I plan on doing a tri called lake to forrest in Sandpoint Idaho (olympic) and another in CDA (olympic as well).

Later this year I will probably do a marathon (Sunday was my first) and a couple other small running races.

First thing is to get back on my mountain bike - my favorite type of riding - and try to get some of the acid out of my legs.

nice job!

excellent news for me and a boost for morale since i'm doing my first tri in 2 weeks: IM Germany! ;)
but then again i can honestly say that i am not nervous at all. (yet?)

Good luck.

Be sure to look where you are going in the swim - study your transition areas (don't get lost like me) - remember the race starts at mile 80 on the bike, don't push too early too soon - and finally, have fun it was a great experience.

dude, congrats, very impressive.

Bike - 112 miles - I like to ride. Very technical course, many turns and small hills. I past people the entire time. I can honestly say I was never passed once. 5:21:16, average of 20.9mph. Placing changed from 1160th to 299th

Run - 26.2 miles - My strategy was to run 9-minute miles and finish sub four hours. That was very difficult - right when I started the run I was passed by at least 50 people running much faster than I. I kept saying to myself "I'll get them on the second half". That proved true, the last 5 miles I passed a ton of people. 3:59:56 (I know, I cut it a bit close) 9:09 average - overall placing 238

Total time 10:52:49


Wow .... amazing times, especially the bike! Talk about picking up a few spots!!! Being you had never done a tri or marathon before, where does your endurance level come from? Training alone, or another endurance sport?

i'm guessing his signature are bikes he owns....so he must have years of cycling and thousands of miles under his belt.... :) especially with a time like that bikesplit.

Insane!

Wow, I am impressed. Very good job.

Wow .... amazing times, especially the bike! Talk about picking up a few spots!!! Being you had never done a tri or marathon before, where does your endurance level come from? Training alone, or another endurance sport?

I really do love to ride - I do all types of riding, road, mtb, DH, SS, etc.
I have done a few long races -
In 2003 I did the Cascade CreamPuff - 100 mile off road race with 19,000 feet of climing.
In 2002 I did a hilly double century race (actual 209.5) on a SS and averaged about 19 mph
I just started running and swiming about 8 months ago - I figure if I can improve on those I can have a really good IM finish.

I just got some really good pics of the race, I'll scan and post in a day or two.

AWESOME!

That is impressive and inspiring! Sounds like you were well prepared physically and mentally, and that despite the situations during/after the swim you kept your cool and just took care of it.

Nicely done!

Congratulations.

This one's been on my radar for a few months as where I want my first Ironman to be. I'm going to sleep on it a bit more, and I'll probably be registering for 2006 in the morning. It came down to this, or Lake Placid. I kind of wanted Lake Placid for personal reasons (my brother lives near by, I could take a side trip to NYC and ride street for a few days, Lake Placid was the first Ironman I'd ever seen {on TV** and in all actuality is the reason I'm in the sport of Triathlon). In the end, I decided to place Lake Placid in the far far future, having too much respect for it to make it my first attempt at an ironman.

The timing (where it is in the calendar) is great, I love Idaho and having an Ironman as an excuse to return would be excellent. All I have is a dozen or so sprint distances, and an international distance to my belt. It's great to hear someone with little triathlon experiencing doing so well. Bodes well for me, as I also come with a strong cycling background.