First Post! 3rd Triathlon Sunday! (Maumee Bay Sprint Triathlon)

I don't know how many Tri's you have to do before you're not considered a beginner, but yesterday was my 3rd triathlon.

I'm 6'2" 320# and I have been doing triathlons for right about 2 months. I did walk racing before that (power walking, not speedwalking), and had done that for about 2 years, but I wanted to find something of an additional challenge.

My first two races had very short indoor swims swims (400M, and 300y, respectively), and very short but difficult bike portions (the hilly part of southeast ohio, a couple good sized climbs and lots of rollers on both) with relatively easy 5k courses at the end.

This race was a 750M outdoor swim, a 23k ride, and a nice flat 5k.

The swim was interesting. I had practiced open water swimming but had no idea of what to expect from the wave start. Being in the open water, and not wanting to waste energy treading water to rest (I take breaks between laps in the pool), so I just switched strokes to help regulate breathing, and then just kept on going. My time yesterday (23:20) was over 10 minutes under my personal best. it was really amazing. I'll definitely be putting in more laps, and looking at putting in practice on the butterfly to help with my spotting.

The bike was really nice. very flat, country roads, light traffic. The road conditions were so so in spots. I really worked on the bike prior to this race, and found it really paid off. My time (53:37) for 23k was far faster than my previous races for a shorter duration. Yes, the difficulty of the ride made a difference, but going from 10MPH previously to 16MPH wasnt just the hills. I am much better on the bike now, and I can't wait to get even faster.

The 5k sucked. I am a walker, because I worry about starting running and the strain on my knees. I jog/sprint the last 50 or so yards every race, but im nervous about doing much more. That said, my time for the 5k was almost exactly the same as the last 2 races after a lot more energy expended in the lake and on the bike than in previous races. The part that makes it suck is that almost all the people I passed on the bike, and some i held off from passing me on the bike, got me on the 5k.

They're still adjusting the results, to fix a few individuals timing issues, but I can be sure I beat 8 people overall. If I could run say just a 10 minute mile, (at my top end i am a 12 minute /mile walker, and I was 4 minutes slower than that), I'd have beaten 12 more people!

All in all my 2:08:52 time was very successful and I did place in the XL3 division (but there were only 2 of us! LOL), so I am not bragging about that very much. It's still better than the dead last I had in the last race.