Just did my first Tri on Sunday!! (pix too!)
05-26-05, 09:07 AM
#1
gentleman of leisure
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SWIM:
35:03
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION:
6:39
BIKE:
1:32:30
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION:
2:23
RUN:
1:01:05
FINISH
3:17:37
So the pix are just of run and post race because my friends would have had to come really early to see the swim and the bike was out and away from the race site.
my strategy worked great for me i think: i was all about taking it easy. i was thinking - especially after finding out only a week or two ago that the bike and run for the columbia tri in maryland are quite hilly - that the thing to do was just let my body do what it could do comfortably and then improve that with training in the future rather than trying to pretend i'm faster and stronger than i am on all the other days of the year.
swim:
i started at the back and let all the other male 30-34 age group get in front and i brought up the rear. i ended up mixed in with a low density group of back of the pack swimmers and it was nice to not be stressed since i've never done an open water swim before. the full sleeve wetsuit that i rented from tribonzai.com for $25 was perfect - i was colder walking through the damn grass at 7 in the morning than i was swimming at 7:15 and that put me at ease right off. the swim was blissfully uneventful - i need to get better at sighting, but just as importantly i need to get my streamline sorted out and get some more experience so i can do the oly distance without rolling over to breath every now and then. still, i popped out of the water thinking "wow - this isn't so bad!" and that was a good feeling.
transition 1:
obviously i'm clueless and not even in that much of a hurry. i did this event with and because of my friend lucas and he is in my age group and was right next to me changing out of his wetsuit and it was good to have a friend with some experience close by. my favorite thing about thinking back to this point in the "race" is that i was most concerned coming into this event with the early morning-ness of it all. i was unable to get my sleep pushed early enough so i was afraid i was going to be feeling like crap and just dragging ass because i only got four hours of sleep. but the swim woke me right up and since i'm most comfortable on the bike i was just tickled to be saddling up. not only that but the chilly morning was giving way to what became a perfectly gorgeous day.
bike:
lucas and his fiance had driven me around the bike course the day before and i thought the hills looked a bit rough. but again i just granny geared it and had fun and had no mishaps and no alerts from my body or anything. i idled my time away eating gels (following the fuel advice from one of the members here) and watching calves of the men and boys passing me and thinking things like "nice one.. 42 - that guy looks great". i treated the whole bike thing more like a ride than a race - even stopped to give a guy my only tube when i saw him on the side of the road with a flat about the 5 or 7 mile point. that was probably dumb but whatever....
lucas was out first on the bike but i ended up catching up with him and we road the last five miles or so pretty much together. it was beautiful the whole way - a great ride any day of the week really. like anything else about the race it was organized beautifully and wherever you looked there were friendly faces making life easier for you.
oh - at one point i got passed by a 42 yr old guy with baggy shorts, white tube socks, toe clips and dirty new ballance sneakers. still - the ride was a great time.
transition 2:
my biggest worry was wishing i'd worn my cute singlet in case any of my friends who came took pictures +)
run:
hilly hilly run course, but i had been saving up for it since the start and once it was there i wasn't trying to give it my all or anything. slow and steady may not win the race but it sure does make it more fun for someone of my temperment and experience level. i jogged the whole way except when i took a few cups of water because i tried to drink while running at the first aid station and just about choked =)
just past the 5 mile marker my friend sandy found me and she spent the last half mile or more running ahead and then taking a picture, telling me i looked great and the whole thing was great and then running ahead and doing it again a hundred feet later. she's so sporty and bright eyed and i had fun just watching her dash around.
i had my hrm in my zone 2 (if they're even set right) - and until my mini kick for the last few tenths of the run i tried not to even let my hr get into the 160's. i'd hear it chirping and i'd settled down a bit trudge up the hill a bit slower whenever i'd hear it on the bike or the run.
so thanks to everybody here at the forum - i've gotten tons of great advice about gear and training from this place and it definitely helped me prep for this my first big event. to anybody who's getting ready to do a tri or thinking about registering for one i'd recommend it wholeheartedly. i only signed up for mine as a way to get into running and swimming this winter, but i had such a good time - i'll definitely be doing other races - and probably that same one next spring just to see how my performance has changed or improved.
good luck and have a great season everybody. =)
(my apologies if you've seen this post at trinewbiesonline.com - i spend more time at bikeforums.net and i wanted post here too)
35:03
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION:
6:39
BIKE:
1:32:30
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION:
2:23
RUN:
1:01:05
FINISH
3:17:37
So the pix are just of run and post race because my friends would have had to come really early to see the swim and the bike was out and away from the race site.
my strategy worked great for me i think: i was all about taking it easy. i was thinking - especially after finding out only a week or two ago that the bike and run for the columbia tri in maryland are quite hilly - that the thing to do was just let my body do what it could do comfortably and then improve that with training in the future rather than trying to pretend i'm faster and stronger than i am on all the other days of the year.
swim:
i started at the back and let all the other male 30-34 age group get in front and i brought up the rear. i ended up mixed in with a low density group of back of the pack swimmers and it was nice to not be stressed since i've never done an open water swim before. the full sleeve wetsuit that i rented from tribonzai.com for $25 was perfect - i was colder walking through the damn grass at 7 in the morning than i was swimming at 7:15 and that put me at ease right off. the swim was blissfully uneventful - i need to get better at sighting, but just as importantly i need to get my streamline sorted out and get some more experience so i can do the oly distance without rolling over to breath every now and then. still, i popped out of the water thinking "wow - this isn't so bad!" and that was a good feeling.
transition 1:
obviously i'm clueless and not even in that much of a hurry. i did this event with and because of my friend lucas and he is in my age group and was right next to me changing out of his wetsuit and it was good to have a friend with some experience close by. my favorite thing about thinking back to this point in the "race" is that i was most concerned coming into this event with the early morning-ness of it all. i was unable to get my sleep pushed early enough so i was afraid i was going to be feeling like crap and just dragging ass because i only got four hours of sleep. but the swim woke me right up and since i'm most comfortable on the bike i was just tickled to be saddling up. not only that but the chilly morning was giving way to what became a perfectly gorgeous day.
bike:
lucas and his fiance had driven me around the bike course the day before and i thought the hills looked a bit rough. but again i just granny geared it and had fun and had no mishaps and no alerts from my body or anything. i idled my time away eating gels (following the fuel advice from one of the members here) and watching calves of the men and boys passing me and thinking things like "nice one.. 42 - that guy looks great". i treated the whole bike thing more like a ride than a race - even stopped to give a guy my only tube when i saw him on the side of the road with a flat about the 5 or 7 mile point. that was probably dumb but whatever....
lucas was out first on the bike but i ended up catching up with him and we road the last five miles or so pretty much together. it was beautiful the whole way - a great ride any day of the week really. like anything else about the race it was organized beautifully and wherever you looked there were friendly faces making life easier for you.
oh - at one point i got passed by a 42 yr old guy with baggy shorts, white tube socks, toe clips and dirty new ballance sneakers. still - the ride was a great time.
transition 2:
my biggest worry was wishing i'd worn my cute singlet in case any of my friends who came took pictures +)
run:
hilly hilly run course, but i had been saving up for it since the start and once it was there i wasn't trying to give it my all or anything. slow and steady may not win the race but it sure does make it more fun for someone of my temperment and experience level. i jogged the whole way except when i took a few cups of water because i tried to drink while running at the first aid station and just about choked =)
just past the 5 mile marker my friend sandy found me and she spent the last half mile or more running ahead and then taking a picture, telling me i looked great and the whole thing was great and then running ahead and doing it again a hundred feet later. she's so sporty and bright eyed and i had fun just watching her dash around.
i had my hrm in my zone 2 (if they're even set right) - and until my mini kick for the last few tenths of the run i tried not to even let my hr get into the 160's. i'd hear it chirping and i'd settled down a bit trudge up the hill a bit slower whenever i'd hear it on the bike or the run.
so thanks to everybody here at the forum - i've gotten tons of great advice about gear and training from this place and it definitely helped me prep for this my first big event. to anybody who's getting ready to do a tri or thinking about registering for one i'd recommend it wholeheartedly. i only signed up for mine as a way to get into running and swimming this winter, but i had such a good time - i'll definitely be doing other races - and probably that same one next spring just to see how my performance has changed or improved.
good luck and have a great season everybody. =)
(my apologies if you've seen this post at trinewbiesonline.com - i spend more time at bikeforums.net and i wanted post here too)
05-26-05, 09:17 AM
#2
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nice job, boze..... 
always a pleasure reading about other people's races...
thanx indeed for taking your time to write your report and for the pics...
that smile on pics 7 and 8 says it all...
always a pleasure reading about other people's races...
thanx indeed for taking your time to write your report and for the pics...
that smile on pics 7 and 8 says it all...
05-26-05, 10:57 AM
#4
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Great pic's Boze, sure looks like you enjoyed it. My first tri is coming up fast (June 18th), can't wait!!!
05-26-05, 06:46 PM
#5
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Boze, I checked out your pictures and it looks like the perfect venue for a race. Congratulations on your finish. You sound like you had a great time, and that's all that matters, for now. Before you know it, you will be exhitibiting signs of a hard-core triathlete. Here are a few of the symptoms:
1. Buying a sub-16 lb. $6,000 titanium bladed-tubed bike/rocket.
2. Spending over $100 specifically for lightweight running shoes, then getting a gram scale to compare the weights of insoles and laces.
3. When your barber asks how you want your hair cut, you ask,"Can you do anything to make my head more aerodynamic?"
4. You have to buy a lot more razor blades because you shave your legs every 3 days.
5. You use tri-specific jargon and refer to professional triathletes by their first name: e.g. "If Peter had spent less time in T2, he might have been able to catch Normann on the Queen K."
If you exhibit any of the above behaviors, you have caught "the triathlon affliction." Beware, it's an expensive and time consuming sport. Wait, it's not really a sport, it's more of a lifestyle. Some even liken it to a religion.
1. Buying a sub-16 lb. $6,000 titanium bladed-tubed bike/rocket.
2. Spending over $100 specifically for lightweight running shoes, then getting a gram scale to compare the weights of insoles and laces.
3. When your barber asks how you want your hair cut, you ask,"Can you do anything to make my head more aerodynamic?"
4. You have to buy a lot more razor blades because you shave your legs every 3 days.
5. You use tri-specific jargon and refer to professional triathletes by their first name: e.g. "If Peter had spent less time in T2, he might have been able to catch Normann on the Queen K."
If you exhibit any of the above behaviors, you have caught "the triathlon affliction." Beware, it's an expensive and time consuming sport. Wait, it's not really a sport, it's more of a lifestyle. Some even liken it to a religion.
05-26-05, 09:41 PM
#6
Toughen the pluck up!
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Congrats. Looks like a beautiful place for a tri. How long of a tri was it? You might consider getting a number holder. No safety pins and you can turn the number around between biking and running.
