Swim 450 Meters
Bike 10 Miles
Run 3.1 Miles
It's race day! Yesterday I picked up my race kit and found out I had a 7 AM swim wave for the triathlon. When I filled out the registration form I said I could swim 450 meters in 7 minutes but in practice it takes 10 minutes. I hope I'm not the last person out of the pool.
I get to the YMCA at 6 AM and rack my bike. As I'm setting up my transition area another guy starts setting up his bike. He has a triathlon bike and said he has done many triathlons. He pulls out his bike shoes and clips them to the pedals. I told him I tried that in practice but it didn't make my transitions any faster and seems risky. He told me he was using tri shoes and pointed out the differences from my bike shoes. Since I was going to buy new shoes this year I'll have to check out tri shoes.
I head over to the pool and find out we are running half an hour late. It's cold and we are all trying to stay warm in the 45 degree weather. I put on my swim cap in the hope it will keep my head warm. My wave lines up at the edge of the pool but there is one swimmer from the previous wave still swimming. That guy is in the last lane so they double us up in lane 6 and fire the gun to start the race. I started out well but dropped back into comfortable rhythm and finished last in my wave. My swim time is 09:46 for the 450 meter swim.
It was so cold outside that I planned to dress warm for the bike ride. I run to my bike and put on my helmet and shoes. I have trouble pulling on my arm warmers because my arms are wet from the swim. Eventually I get the sleeves on, then I pull on two jackets and run out of the transition area. My transition time is 06:05.
The bike course starts out flat and a girl on a tri bike passes me. I catch up to her on the hill and pass her along with four other riders. Once we get out of the hills and back on the flat ground the girl passes me again.
I jumped off my bike and ran to rack my bike. Running on pavement in bike shoes is not an easy task. It would be so easy to slip and fall. Leaving the shoes clipped on the bike would have been faster but I never tried that in practice.
I pulled on my socks and running shoes and took off for the exit. I passed a runner as soon as I was out on the road. I like to use my GPS watch to help me stay on pace but I didn't start the watch before the race and it's having trouble finding the satellites. I'm about one third of the way into the race when the watch finally works. At the half way point we turned around and headed back for the finish line. Another runner passed me and I never did catch up to him. After the race I learned he was in my age group. The lesson I learned is to always check the athletes calf to see how old they are and pass anyone that is in your age group.
My results are not that great but I'm not tired and could have pushed myself harder. This was a good first triathlon and I hope to improve all of my times in the next triathlon.
Bob Gannon
Clock Time 01:15:06
Finished in 77th place.
Finished 69 out of 190 men.
Finished 14 out of 29 in my age group.
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