I'm not a very good swimmer to begin with so just getting through it and the end of a race was an accomplishment. I didn't know that it was possible to get passed in the pool when people are swimming serpentine style but they did it. I just kept telling myself to keep doing my arms in the swimming motion and pretty soon I'd be there.

I need to somehow learn how to swim faster. You wouldn't think it'd be easy to pass someone in a pool with people swimming in opposite directions in the same pool and yet ALOT of people passed me.

This is the bike to swim transition.
Not too bad for my first time. There wasn't much to do since I was already in my swimsuit. Just had to talk off the helmet & shades and put on googles.

Not much.

I died on the bike. The run had taken too much of my energy and I knew I hadn't been doing many bike workouts recently. I was just plain slow and I was hurting the whole time. I checked my mountain bike beforehand to make sure the brakes weren't rubbing on the tires and I sprayed some lubricant on the wheels but it felt like I was fighting against the bike the whole time. People were passing me left and right on bikes that looked more suited for a Sunday ride than a triathlon. It was not a pretty sight. Some how I did kick it in for the transition. Where I found the energy to do that I'll have no idea but it was good because my family surprised me by being there on the turn into the T2 transition. It was a nice surprise even though I was so out of it and exhausted that I don't know that I acknowledged their presence.

More bike workouts with hills

This is the run to bike transition.
Found my bike easy enough and with just getting my helmet and sunglasses on it wasn't too hard.

I got a drink at the water station they had set up in the transition area because I was thirsty which was unfortunate because I had two full water bottles on my bike all ready to go but I felt like I just had to slow down for a minute and catch my breath. I was feeling worn out after the run and knew that it was not looking good for the rest of the race.

With this being my first triathlon I learned a lot. First, there was not much shade out near the start of the run and I couldn't decide if it was better for me to stretch out and warm up or stay out of the sun. The answer would prove to be stay out of the sun which is, of course, exactly what I did not do. The first half of the race was somewhat shaded as we were running down a park path behind houses which blocked most of the late afternoon sun. It was also downhill which made it hard for me to control my pace since I wanted to go faster. At the turn around which was probably a little less than half way through the race it was all uphill and my heartrate shot up. I think I saw that my max heartrate touched 191 at some time during the run. I slowed down on the way up but I still had trouble getting my heart rate under control. Of course now we are effectively running in front of the houses now so we are in full sun. There was only one water station which was near the turn around so it was tough to keep hydrated and cool. All these factors would bear down on me as the race went on.

Slow down my pace and bring my own hydration. More brick practices during warmer parts of the day.

I was like a zombie. My wife said that she had never seen me so out of it. All I could do was sit there and stare off into space. I was completely exhausted. I must have sat on one of the lounge chairs outside of the pool for a good 15 minutes before responding to my surroundings. I got up and good some food and just continued to try to collect myself. My wife was a bit concerned with my driving home but as I recovered more I knew I'd be OK. I don't think I have ever been so physically exhausted before.


My training started to waiver in the middle of the summer so by the time the race came along I was probably not as in shape as I had been. Mainly though, I think it was inability to control my heart rate and keep cool. Unfortunately, this really made me think "why am I doing this?" and my pride as well as my interest in triathlons took a hit for a while until I realized that I could have done better had I managed myself better and that it was not because, after all my training, I was totally unprepared.


Since this is my first triathlon, I don't have too many reference points and since I wasn't all there about half way through the race I don't know that I made too many mental notes about the management of the race.