Black Bear Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Yes, you are reading it right. It took me a freaking a half an hour to get through 750m of water. I told you I am not a good swimmer. I'm built for speed (on the ground) and strength and in the water I tend to sink. Even the wetsuit did not help.

I was in group 4 of the Sprint Tri. Although the HI athletes were starting 15 minutes after us, I was fully confident that they would reach me well before I am even close to the end of the swim.

The first three groups were off swiming and my group gets in the water. The horn sounds and we're off. I had no problem with the people kicking and swimming all around. I kept up for about the first 100m or so. I even reached the first buoy without drowning. But boy was I tired. I was dead tired and had only completed about 1/8 of the swim. I kept going and was trying to maintain my free style form, but within a few more meters, it all disappeared and I was swimming in any way or fashion I could think. In fact, I may have even invented some new swimming styles never seen before by anyone on this earth. As I was swimming, I kept bumping into another competitor (her and I were the last ones from our group). She made me laugh because she said we have to stop meeting like this. Soon enough, I saw the yellow buoy, which marked my last turn to head to the beach. I dug deep and pushed myself very hard and made it out of the water (well, only after trying to feel the bottom with my feet too early and drinking a bit of water).

As I took my first few steps on the beach, my girlfriend began screaming and yelling. She was cheering me on, despite my ability to only beat one person on my group out of the water (except for the ones that did not finish). Aren't the loved ones great?

As if though the swim was not difficult enough, I now had to run up Mt. Everest to get to T1. It took me a few seconds to get my heart rate down and get my feet moving. And just like that, I get to T1 and my swim was over. For the first time in my life, I swam 750m non-stop. Wow, I was impressed...although no one else was.

Keep swimming hard and getting better at it.

T1 was uneventfull. Everything went smoothly, except for my breathing. I was so out of breath from the swim that I needed a few extra seconds to get my heart rate down.

Get out of the water in less than one half hour, so I don't have to take a break on T1.

Yes, as others have said, the course was hilly. Got bless those in the HI that had to do two loops. Now imaging doing that course when you weigh 225 lbs. It was definitelly a challenge, but a good one.

As I ran out of T1, my legs were shaking and my breathing was way off. To make maters worse, the surrounding vegatation flared up my allergies and I could not breath through my nose. The first few minutes on the bike were rough, but I kept telling myself that I need to catch up and make up for my terrible swim.

So, off I went. I kept passing people and told myself that I was not allowed to get off the bike despite how steep the hills got. And boy, did they get steep? But I kept the promise to myself and kept going, and going, and going. And kept tpassing people all along, even some that had started the swim in the earlier groups.

As I was riding, an older gentleman and I kept passing each other. He'd pass me on the uphills and I'd pass him on the downhills. As we'd pass each other, we gave each other words of encouragement. That made me think, "what a wonderful race where competitors encourage each other."

Eventually I approached my left turn that would take me back to the road that we started on (Pocohono Dr.). That meant I was almost at the end of the bike course. But, just as I getting to the left turn (I think it was Green St.), the people regulating traffic let through 3 cars, which cut me off. So, I slammed on my brakes so I did not end up on the bed of the Ford F150 Pick up that was the last in that line of cars. We approached the stop sign to make a left on Pocohono Dr., and I had to wait patiently while the cars made a right turn. I could not pass them on the left because there were cars coming on the other direction. So, I wasted a couple of minutes there, counting my blessing that my brakes on my bike worked well enough to prevent me from becoming that F150's bumper sticker.

I finally got back to T2. As I was going into T2, I once again heard my girlfriend cheering me on. She screamed that I had made good time on my bike. I had no clue. All I knew was that I had worked very hard, had passed a few people, and my calfs were hurting. All I had to do now, is run.

Work on my swimming so I am not so exhausted when I get on the bike. Get aerobars for faster time on downhills.

I have to admit that at this point, my legs were burning. I knew that I still had to keep going and I took a few seconds to load up on water. I was pretty thirsty from the bike ride.

Change my socks because the ones I wore while cycling were wet.

I start running with my glasses and a bottle of water. Within the first 100 meters, I threw the glass and bottle to my girlfriend because I immediately knew I had to shed all unnecessary weight. I began running and my legs felt ok, but a bit tired. I had wasted most of my energy on trying to catch everyone on the bike.

Within the first one half mile or so, I approached a very steep hill. I kept my head down so that I would not get discouraged. As I got half way up the hill, all of the sudden, both my of calfs cramped up. The excrutiating pain made me realize that the next couple of miles would be difficult. I stopped to massage my calfs and try to loosen them up, to no avail. So, I decided to make it in whatever way I can. I walked up the rest of the hill and began running once passed it. A few people passed me and I kept trying to keep up with them. I realized that my long swim had taken much of my energy and am now feeling the consequences. I walked a couple of more times until I reached one of the water stations, where one little girl handed me a cup of water and screamed "keep it up, you're doing so great." Even though in pain, her words made me smile. I kept running and at one point, the trail approached the lake. I wanted to jump in so bad. Only an hour before, I couldn't wait to get out of the darn lake, and now I wanted to jump back in. Ironic!

As I made the turn an older lady passed me. I stayed within a couple of yards of her the rest of the way. As we approached the finish line, I felt a burst of energy from within. My first thought was to sprint and pass the lady that had passed me a couple of minutes before. But, I changed my mind. I don't know why, but I felt like she deserved to finish ahead of me. If she was doing this at her age, the least I could do was to give her a finish without having some younger guy show off. So I finished right on her coat tails. As I was crossing the finish line, all I could think about was whether the NJ State Triathlon had any spot left open for me to sign up.

At the finish line, my girlfrind ran to me, gave me a hug and told me how proud of me she was. My friend who had finished a couple of minutes before me, gave me a high five. Also, an older gentleman came up to me and said "I have to congratulate this guy." As I looked at him, I realized that was the older gentleman whom I had passed and who had passed me on the bike numerous times. We both smiled and congratulated each other.

I couldn't imaging what people meant when they said that the feeling was so great when crossing the finish line. Now I know. It's something you must experience to know the meaning.

Get shoes other than Nike Shox; drink more water; do more bricks.

I stretched a bit and drank a lot of water. I also ate some delicious water ice. It felt soooooo good because I felt so heated up.


My weak swim made me expend too much energy too early.


CGI does it well! Keep it up!

I am going NJ State Triathlon (Sprint) on July 22. See you all there.