Thoughts on my first triathlon experience today

I raced the Galena, IL triathlon today (660 yard swim, 16.8 mile bike, 4.3 mile run).  It was my first triathlon ever.  It is a beautiful and very, very hilly part of the country.  Did I mention how hilly it is there?  They claimed the water temperature was 60 degrees but I think this was just so people would actually show up.  And maybe right at the shore when the sun was shining at high noon the water temp did reach 60 degrees last week.  However on a very rainy and windy day, 100 meters off shore, in a full wetsuit (including a neoprene hat under my swim cap) it didn't feel a degree over 33.  And this is only because I know logically that anything colder would have caused a deep bruise when I jumped in!  I was fine for the first 100 meters but then a combination of the cold water on my face, a guy kicking me in the head, and a week of fighting a sinus infection resulted in an outright panic attack.  Unlike a slug that curls up to protect its belly, I rolled over on my back and finished the swim leg via the back stroke!  Although I had never practiced this very useful stroke or bothered to ever practice any stoke in open water, I was only passed by two people!  Of course one of them was from a later wave.

 I made it to the bike!  Unfortunately by this time the rain had picked up making for very slick roads which were not a problem on the uphill climbs but almost brought on another panic attack on the downhills.  I ended up braking more often than I would have liked but I wanted this to only be my first triathlon and not my last.  In spite of this I felt strong on the bike and ended up averaging almost 20 mph on very difficult terrain.  When I got home I noticed that my new aero wheels had come in the mail so after a quick shower, I went straight to the garage and mounted them up... no more sub 20 mph sprint triathlons for me!  I do feel very good about the bike.  I seem to be getting stronger very quickly and this could end up being my best event.

After dropping my bike off in T2.  I saw that my bag with my running shoes had come open and of course was almost completely full of rain water.  I carefully pulled on my soaking wet shoes with the new stretchy laces I installed this week to save the arduous chore of actually tying laces.  Squinting out of my right eye through the rain (my left eye still had dirt in it from the wet spinning bike tire), I saw that the run started with a giant hill.  There is something especially difficult about running up a steep hill after climbing hills on a bike.  However I soon settled into a groove and managed to maintain around a 6:45 min/mile pace which is a good 30 seconds per mile slower than I should have been able to do.

Although I don't yet have all the detailed times from each leg of the event, I do know that I managed an overall time of 1:44:59 and placed 29th out of 102 in the MALE 40-44 age group.  Not as good of a time as I would have liked but given the events of the day and my swim performance only being marginally above drowning, I am pleased.  I got a PR and I got to set a low bar for future PRs all at the same time!

The bottom line... I had an absolute blast and loved every minute of it!  I can't wait for my next race.