5430 Long Course Triathlon - TriathlonLong Course

This was pretty funny. The "Elites" started, followed by the "Dinosoaurs." There wasn't any chance that the "Over 45" crowd was going to catch the Elites, but everyone else was starting after us old goats.

At one point toward the end of the swim, I thought I was being run over by a jet-ski, but it turned out to be some 40 year old guy who must have trained with Michael Phelps. If I had a surf board, I could have just rode his wake back to the beach.

It's sort of cool to come out of the water and see people about as old as my grandparents would be, ahead of me. These little old men and ladies are my heroes. Even so, I didn't really want to be beat by my heroes, and I figured that I would kick them off the road on the bike leg if I had to.

Swam pretty wide around buoys. Could have taken some time off by swimming more directly. I think my swim pace is about as predictable as a Swiss train at this point. Albeit a slow Swiss train, but a predictable one.

Decided to put on biking shorts and shirt for 56 mile ride. Hope the brief shot of my pale white butt peaking out of a Mickey Mouse towel didn't frighten any small children.

Biking jersey started the zip, then split from bottom, so I sort of stood there looking at it for awhile. We worked it out, however, and I was off.

Not much. I think this was pretty good considering I was changing shorts, shirt, socks. I probably could have used a changing room.

Once we were out of the water, the younger age groupers really amped it up and passed the old goats like we were standing still. Dropped the chain at about Mile 33 and really fumbled around trying to get it back on. Probably could have averaged over 20mph if that didn't happen. Anyway, only wanted to average 19mph, so I was really happy with this even as the kiddies whizzed by me.

I regret that I didn't throw rocks at all of the young people passing me. Also, dropping the chain was the result of a brain fart, and I could have done without that little rest stop.

This time in transition I decided to change into running shorts, and I'm afraid that my Mickey Mouse towel really wasn't hiding my shiny white butt very well. If I were younger or better looking, I think that pictures of this transition might turn up on an Internet porn site.

I also changed socks and shirt, so given the fact that I decided to turn this transition into a full wardrobe change, I'm not too disappointed with the time.

If I'm going to be showing skin out there, I think that I should either try to charge admission or take up a collection. I might also go to a tanning salon and do the thing nude so that my butt wouldn't be so pale.

Felt pretty good on this run, and kept track of the time to try to make my sub-6 hour goal.

I enlisted the power of Karma when I waddled past a 20 year old fellow who must have passed me on the bike, and was now struggling with what appeared to be painful cramps. I was running out of gas myself, but I asked him if he would like my Gu, and he took it and was very appreciative. I was worried that without it I would just curl up and die on the side of the course at any minute, but I just kept plugging, and felt good about helping the guy out. I was glad to see him cross the finish line about 40 minutes after me, and hope the energy helped him out.

Had a good energy spurt in the last 2-3 miles that allowed me to pass a couple of cats in my age group. They all shouted, "Way to go!" or something like that, even though they must have been sort of bummed to be passed. Made me feel good, anyway.

I could likely take some time off the run, but I really don't want to tempt the Grim Reaper to come and take me before finishing, so all in all it was a good performance that captured my sub-6 hour goal.

Ate like a fiend. Flopped down in the shade. Enjoyed the freakin' moment.


Dropping the bike chain cost some time, but I think the biggest limiter was all that beer I was drinking in college and grad school. It was awhile ago, but I may still be hammered.


This is one very cool race. It was sort of fun to be passed by younger athletes all day long. Felt sort of like that old Frogger game, and I'm glad to have avoided being road kill.

I'm pleased to have finished Barry's entire 5430 series, and to meet my goals for each race (Sprint under 1:30, Olympic under 3:00, and Half under 6:00).

I'm a bit worried that if I keep doing this triathlon thing, other people my age are really going to have a great advantage over me when I quit to take up checkers, as they're really getting much more practice.

At the end of the day, this really is an amazing triathlon series, and I will encourage anyone interested in signing up for these things next season.