Hey guys and gals...so I did my first Int'l length tri in 18 years (and 75 lbs) last Sunday (4/17). For those of you looking for a good event, I recommed this one (Palm Springs, CA)

The swim is in a resovoir that is about 4 ft. deep the whole way around...so for those of you afraid of the swim portion, it's not very threatening...just stand up if you get freaked out. Also, the swim leg is a bit short, only 3/4 of a mile instead of 1.5K. The bike leg is very flat and on nice roads. The run is two laps of the resovoir and although it's a little bumpy in a few places, I thought it was good...at least no concrete.

So CJ...how did you do??? Glad you asked. Please keep in mind that I'm 37 years old, 5'8", and about 225-235 lbs. Last May I was in such horrible shape that when I climbed the stairs in my own home I would get winded. I did a sprint at the end of July that took me 1:55:00 and in my 2nd sprint in September I was hit by another cyclist while going 30 mph and ended up with a broken shoulder in two places...obviously that set me back a bit. OK so on to Palm Springs...

The water was about 62 degrees so most people were wearing wetsuits. I was in the 3rd wave at 7:36 AM and took off at a steady pace. The water was clean but very murky and I found myself zig-zagging a bit. Certainly not my fastest swim but I felt pretty good when I exited the water in 25:42 which had me in 242nd place out of 324 (finishers). I jogged to the transition and didn't really hurry through it but I don't think I was too slow. My T1 time was 3:22 and as it turns out I picked up 12 spots as I was in 230th once I mounted the bike.

At this point I realized that I made my first stupid mistake of the day Immediately after exiting the transition, there is a short but fairly steep hill. I mounted my bike and found that I was in 39/12...the day before I cleaned and lubed my chain with one of those chain cleaning tools and I forgot to put the bike in an easier gear for the race...duh. Oh well, I mashed up the hill and hit the course. My plan was to keep my cadence level high and not burn myself out for the run...and for the most part, I did what I wanted to. A few times I noticed that I was spinning at 110 rpms so I made the necessary adjustements...overall, I probably averaged between 90-95 on the flat and fast course. My avg speed was 19.0 mph in a time of 1:15:36. My elapsed time of 1:44:40 (200th fastest) had me in 211th place. Still looking pretty good. A 1:54 T2 and I was out on the run still in 211th.

And then there was the "run". Within about a 1/4 mile I had major stomach cramps. I should have mentioned that I didn't feel well at all on Saturday morning and it continued through race day. Let's just say I was spending a lot of time in the bathroom...it wasn't nerves as I really didn't have any expectations about going fast. I tried to overcome it but I couldn't get into a rhythym so I did a lot of walking. The 90+ degree heat didn't help. I'm embarrassed to say that the 10K took me 1:17:10 (12:51/mi). Believe it or not, I was actually faster than 11 people (poor bastards) and on top of that, I'm sure that at least a dozen people only did one lap instead of two (the fastest recorded 10K time was 24 min...4:00/mi).

When it was all said and done, I finished 288th in 3:03:44. I was a little bummed because I wanted to break three hours and I really, really tried...the engine just couldn't pull it off. What the hell...at least I wasn't DFL and I even beat two guys in my age group.

Hopefully this will be inspirational to some of you out there who are worried about doing your first tri or stepping up from sprints. If a big fat guy like me can get out and do this stuff, anyone can.

cjbruin: Way to go! You came very, very close to making your goal. I'd bet without stomach problems you would have easily made it! Next go 'round make your T1 time a bit faster and you'll be that much further ahead than the rest of the pack.

So when is your next triathlon?

Way to go! That's awesome and very inspiring! Didn't you say you were planning on doing Carlsbad in July? I'll be there too, for my very first tri! I love to read first-person accounts of races, so keep em coming.

Nice one, CJ! great effort!
I always really enjoy reading about other peoples races, like H20chick. it's always inspiring and a good way to learn a couple of things (like makins sure you have the bike in the "right" gear).

keep it up!

Zach, next up is Newport Beach (sprint) on May 22nd. I wasn't going to do it because I'm worried a bit about the bike course (three laps...sounds a little tight) but it's the only tri around that I can ride from my house to warm-up. The race start is only six miles away.

H20Chick, Yep, Carlsbad is also on the calendar...though I haven't signed up yet. Sounds like it will be fun.

cjbruin, don't wait too long to sign up for Carlsbad, because I hear it sells out. Not to mention it gets more expensive each month (at the first of the month).

Great job. Keep us posted on how it's going.

Excellent read! I'm in the same boat as you. I'm 41, 5'8", 240 lbs (16% bodyfat?), just starting triathlon although i've been biking for a while. I'm a longtime weight lifter so I hope to drop at least 30 lbs of muscle and fat.

Way to go CJ, must be nice to be already starting the season. H2O chick don't u know money is no object to CJ he can just sell one of his GPS/cappuccino/with the optional death ray trinkets that also make a cappuccino and has the death ray option.

Well said, psychofish.

OK, OK, in my defense...I haven't bought a Garmin Edge 305...yet.

But you know you want to order one... go ahead, we won't tell.

It's a nice unit; mine (HR + cadence) arrived while I was out of town this week, and I set it up tonight. After charging it for a few hours I turned it on while sitting on my couch (at least 20 feet from a window) and it got a weak lock on 6 satellites, and it's location error bounds were under 30 feet (this is as good or better than my Garmin 76C gets outdoors). It comes with mounts for 2 bikes, and the mounts can be rotated 90 degrees so that the unit can be mounted on either the stem, handlebars, or aerobars.

The batteries in the cadence unit were installed backwards (I've seen this reported a few other times on the Garmin Yahoo email list). Rumor has it this is intentional, in that it saves battery life until the unit is attached.

Still a few bugs in the death ray, though. Some are mistakenly aimed to the rear and vaporize the rider instead of the competition in front

Way to go.
My first race is not until late May and that is a Duathlon, I am very jealous.

Not to minimize cjbruin's awesome efforts (I'd never do that)... but the obsessive/compulsive in me can't help but point out that the thread is from last spring... I know you all think Irvine is sunny and beautiful 365 days a year (and frankly, it just about is) but they still do have an off-season there... Without the off-season, how would cj find the time to beef up his artillery of hi-tech gadgets?

Great job!!! and it was very well detailed!!!! proud of ya!

May here too triguy! and it seems to far away, dont it?