Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Never did an OWS. So we jumped in and I figured I'd push off the bottom. Oh, the bottom is 15+ feet? Well then, maybe I'll just drown right here. I wasn't cold in the water (thank you fat!) I was uncomfortable with having to tread water for any amount of time.

So the horn goes off, I put my head in the water and... completely freak out. I can't see beyond the tip of my hand?! I can't see below me, I can't easily tell how I'm oriented in the water, this is bad for a control freak. So I side stroke, I breaststroke, I plod along a hundred meters. I almost quit when I reached the first lifeguard. I was 50 meters from the first turn and heard the next wave go off. By the time I grabbed onto the kayak to fix my chip strap I had been caught by the next wave. No problem, I'm staying outside anyway.

So I plod along doing breaststroke. Did I mention I haven't practiced any breaststroke in over a decade? But it was the only thing that was symetrical that kept me at the surface and comfortable. I tried a few times do freestyle but I just couldn't get past the darkness. Something about it just was under my skin.

Grabbed the next kayak and tried to clear up the cramps in both my sides and flex my left hand a bit. We rounded the turn and MERRY CHRISTMAS, you can't see! I managed to spot some obelisk thing behind the exit and just focused on that. Almost got swam over by some guy in a purple cap. That's two waves that caught me, for those keeping score at home. So I finally got to the exit and put my feet back on solid ground. I didn't drown and I didn't quit, so those were the happy parts.

Workout, train for the triathlon. Do something to prepare for an OWS and maybe figure out what my reaction would be. If I could have gotten past the darkness and just relaxed I would have been fine. I could have shaved a solid 5-6 minutes off my time, but I couldn't get past it. The one time I got close I was concentrating on my stroke and thinking about the Popov video I kept watching. I could have gotten myself in a very meditative state if I'd been able to relax.

I walked from the exit to T1 and I'll tell you why. I was tired. And there was this massive (to me) hill I had to walk down in my bare, wet feet. My wife got her one picture of me coming out of the water. Nothing like a big fat hairy dude wanting to die on a hillside. I'm gonna frame that one :)

Washed my feet off with my spare water bottle and got my bike shoes on. As far as getting stuff on it went very smoothly, it was just slow because I was so tired and was still thinking about quitting.

Waddled out to the mount line and actually had an easier time than others getting clipped in, which surprised me.

Train more so I'm not too exhausted to jog. Have a bucket of water to just step into and then an extra towel to dry my feet off quickly.

Coming out of the parking lot, first thing is a hill. When I made the first turn onto Ridge, I almost quit right there. Seriously, there was a USAT offical right there and I almost just called it a day. I was disgusted with myself and I hate hills. But I kept going and at 6 mph went up that next hill.

Once up that hill it flattened out a little and I managed to catch my breath for a moment. Once we turned onto ElDorado and crested into the downhill I was happy for a moment. Hit like 27 or something and then had to climb back up that long incline. I hate hills.

Finished the first loop and hit 31 passing transition, so I liked that. Then back up those God-awful hills. Struggled up them. I mean struggled. Once I got back onto Stonebridge I figured I was almost done with the bike and could walk the 5k, so I would at least finish. Then cresting the hill past Glenn Oaks I tried to shift too many gears and my chain jumped sideways on my rear deraieur. I was doing almost 30 trying to pedal the chain back on because that big hill just before Virginia was coming up. I figured if I had to stop I might not get back on my bike. Luckily I managed to force it back on just in time to struggle up the hill.

I pulled myself out of my shoes after the turn and coasted into transition (at 30 mph). I was planning on a running dismount but the guy in front of me actually stopped, unclipped, eased off the seat and ever so slowly climbed off his bike so I had to slow down a lot so I wouldn't hit him. That was a good thing since my adductors just about seized up at that moment. Clearly my body was not happy with what I was doing to it.

Train. And especially train some hills. If it had been flats I would have been okay I think. But those hills ate my lunch.

The racks were full once again and the guy right next to me was there getting his stuff on. So I had to maneuver past him and rack my bike. This wasn't a bad transition either, I was just slow because I was hurting again. Took the long, ridiculous route to get out on the run and began walking.

Nothing really. My pain slowed me down but technique wise I was pretty smooth.

I walked and I ain't ashamed to say it. I was worried, not just about my ability to finish the race but also my knees and the steel in my ankle. I wasn't happy about having to navigate all of the people already done at the beginning and I wasn't sure I was on the right part of the course initially.

But I finally got past all those people and got going. Having not run in a year my senses were out of whack as far as judging the distance travelled and what was left, which made this seem much longer.

I didn't get water at the aid station on the way out because I figured the turnaround was close and I'd be right back in a minute or two. Ten minutes later I was hating the world even more. So I had two cups on the way back. Passed a young lady with a charlie horse who was struggling. I encouraged her and then kept going.

I tried jogging at a few spots, but stopped fairly quickly when my knees flared up. Coming back in I had to dodge lots of bikes and people on the path heading for their cars, which I didn't really care for.

Saw Aaron and Haley at the end and they got me to sprint the last 25 meters, which made me laugh. And then I was done.

Train. My body was least prepared for the run and I was at least smart enough not to try and push it.

Waddled for a minute, then went looking for pizza. They were out. No more burrito-ey stuff either. So I had 1/2 a bagle and an orange slice. I had visions of Scotty P's dancing in my head, so it was not big deal.


Haven't you been listening? I didn't train! Oh yeah, and I'm fat.


I learned something about the real nature of endurance events; at least for people in my kind of shape. I trained 3 months for my first tri last year and did it without any doubts as to finishing. This one, I wanted to quit a number of times and even doubted my ability to physically cross the finish line at some point. What kept me going was someone's tag line or quote I've seen here: "You can quit and no one will care. But you will always remember." I have enough ego that that kept me going and I'm old enough now that I truly paced myself to ensure I didn't just physically give out. I count that as more of a victory than anything else.

As far as disappointments I found my reaction to the water a real downer. I had heard others mention that before and had dismissed it. But it was a real problem for me that I couldn't overcome. I had to work around it in the race and that actually hurt my confidence the rest of the day. It was, however, a learning experience and that lessens the blow.

I would have liked it if there had been more light during setup in transition. I was fine, but there were other areas that were completely black. People needed flashlights just to get their bikes racked.

I also would have preferred better crowd control on the run course. I was annoyed at having to dodge people and the mean part of me would have been fine to clip a couple of them if I had been actually running.

Oh yeah and more pizza! The slow fat people need it more!