Jamba Juice Triathlon on Mission Bay - TriathlonSprint

The swim was my worry since I had trouble in some earlier open water swims. I had figured out that I took off to fast and decided to start at the back and start slowly. Worked pretty good even though this seemed like the longest 500 meters. What was cool was I swam faster than my buddy who is a triathlon vet. But in his defense, he had a line going into his arm so he could administer antibiotics due to a infection.

Just continue to work on my swim and get more and more comfortable.

The transition was bad. I had trouble getting my wetsuit off and I actually felt myself being wobbly while I put on my bike shoes. Took way too much time. Practice Practice.

My transition times are put into the bike lane per the event website. Biking is a weakness. Just have not done enough of it. Started biking in late Aug so my bike fitness is sorely lacking. This is where my friend caught me. I held him off for 3 miles but then he blew by me. Where my avg is around 17 mph if you take out the transition times. His was over 21 mph. When he went by all I saw was a red blur and felt the breeze. I had hoped to hold him off for four miles but couldnt do it. I was sucking wind by the time I got close to T2. Luckily there was a down hill portion so it gave me a rest. What is weird is that my bike rank was the best of all three of the events.

Once I got out of T2 which was a decent transition I think, I just tried to hold a decent pace. One of my other friends said Scott was about 2- 3 mins ahead. I guess he thought I might try and run him down. I wanted to but since I never saw him it was not going to happen. Once I got out of T2 I just wanted to get my heart rate down. My main goal on this run was to do the 5k under 30 minutes. After about 1/2 mile I started feeling much stronger. I wasnt breathing too hard and now just concentrated on catching whoever was in front of me. My run rank was not that good but I felt it was the strongest part of the race. I guess since I know how far I have come in my running. I finished the run in 29:28 which I was very happy about. When I started working out in Jan., I ran 13:45 miles. I actually made up some time on my buddy.

This was my first official Triathlon and I loved it. Had alot of friends there who do Tri's all the time. They were very surprised about my performance. You see they all knew me when I was 265 and couldnt breath on a ski slope. Now I have dropped my wieght to 228 and its still coming down. The one friend who was in my group said he was actually amazed that I was pushing him so hard. I saw Tom and Sheila among some others from the Tri Club of San Diego. As far as Tom and Sheila, you will not meet a nicer couple. Plus Tom is awesome in the water. Sheila did great and looked like she was having a blast.
This event was very important to me in regards to my self esteem. It was a gauge of how much work I had put in over the last 8-9 months. I was very pleased with everything and look forward to the 2006 season.