I'm doing my first tri tomorrow June 3rd

Good luck tomorrow.  Just remember to have fun!  Looking forward to your race report.

So I did it……..my first tri.

Let me start by explaining why I chose to do a tri. About 15 years ago I tore my ACL then a year later tore my other ACL. About 7 years ago I ruptured my Achilles tendon and a year and half later re-tore my right ACL. I didn’t have surgery again because I just didn’t want too and I found a doctor that helped me develop the muscles around the knee instead of just cutting me open (which is rare most doctors just want you to have surgery, I think they make more money that way). Anyway as you can probably tell I started to really cut back on my athletic activity. I was sick of getting hurt however last year I got sick of feeling sorry for myself. So I decided I wanted to do a tri. It never happened. This year was different I actually registered so I had not way to back out.

When I started my training it took me about 4 weeks just to be able to run at a steady pace with out hurting my knee or having my Achilles tendon tighten up to the point it hurt to walk. So I took it sloooooooow and steady. Finally I started to feel strong and was able to really train and it felt great.

So the day before the tri I went and picked up my packet and found out I was in the faster of the heats in the swim. It was in a pool with 5 people per lane. I was very nervous simply because I didn’t want to slow anybody down. It kept me up most of the night.

6:00 AM the alarm goes off and I’m out of bed feeling pretty good. I have two eggs and a piece of whole grain toast with cream cheese and lots of water and a cup of coffee. I wasn’t supposed to start until 8:20 but you had to get your chip before 7:30 so I got there early enough to get my chip. I set up my transition area which was deliberately away from other racers (I didn’t want to get in their way) and went to check out the pool. It turns out the race started about 30 minutes late so I had about 2 hours to kill. Let me say this, this event was very laid back. I had nothing to worry about people were stopping at the end of the pool to rest and really taking there time. This put me at ease. Finally it was time to get in the pool. I was warmed up and ready to go. The swim was pretty easy it went by much faster than I thought it would. Then to the bike. It was a good course filled with rolling hills I got passed by a lot of people with fancy bikes but I was still having fun and still pushing hard. That’s when I saw my wife and son cheering me on…which was great. Then the run. I started off slowly which most people. I was saying to myself “just 5 minutes and you can walk” but at that point I was too close to the 1 mile marker. “at the 1 mile marker you can walk”……“at the top of the hill that’s when you can walk”……”well now it’s down hill just let gravity do it’s work”…….”1.3 miles to go” some guy said. Well how can I walk now?

I was about 200 yards away when I looked at my watch (I never walked) and noticed I had a chance to finish under 1 hour 30 minutes, my goal was 1 hour 45 minutes. So I picked up the pace and did it. I finished in under 1 hour and 30 minutes beating my goal by 16 minutes. I was pretty psyched.

Anyway I did it…..I really loved the training and the event was much more laid back than I expected. Not only am I getting back in shape I’m not using my injuries as an excuse anymore. With all of my injuries and the fact that I finished this and enjoyed it, anybody can do this. It’s fun. Get out there and give it a shot is my advice to anybody that’s ever thought about doing a tri. The worst thing that can happen (if you do it properly) is you get in shape.

My next race is August 19th wish me luck.

Hope you enjoyed my story.

thanks Josh....maybe i will post there.