triathlon day

[topaz]

Readers of my "triathlon" filter may have noticed that I haven't posted to it much in the last month.  That's because there hasn't been much to post.  When we left for Maine in August, my training went down the drain and I never really got it back together.  I've still been biking to work, and that sure helps a lot, but I have been doing almost no swimming or running.

So I went into this morning's triathlon mostly unprepared.  My goal today was to finish without dying.  If I was really lucky, I might not get so discouraged that I wouldn't want to do it again.

And so?

I had a total blast.

keyne and I got to Newton for registration at 7:30am, set up my bike and shoes for the biking leg of the race, and headed down to the pool to get ready for the swim.

Swimming: The swim was 10 lengths of a 25-yard pool.  It was very cleverly organized.  The pool was divided into six lanes.  We entered at one end, swam to the end of the pool, and changed lanes.  Then we did a full lap (back and forth) in each lane, moving to the next lane after each lap, and did a single length of the last one.  That allowed them to start one swimmer every 15 seconds or so, with all swimmers entering at one end of the pool and exiting at the other end, and keep things moving at a consistent pace.

My swim was definitely not up to snuff.  About halfway through I switched to a breast stroke because I was having trouble getting enough oxygen on the crawl.  I actually did half of the last lap on my back so I could get enough air.  But I did not die!

Biking: at the beginning I kept reminding myself to pace myself, that I do best when I reserve my energy, that I shouldn't use it all up now because I'd need it on the second half of the ride, etc.  Then I reminded myself that the run was going to kill me no matter what I did, so I might as well burn up the field.

So I did.  One guy passed me at the beginning.  Maybe two.  After that I passed everybody I saw, probably 20-30 people.  I got back to the start pretty winded, but also mighty pumped up.

Running: when I got back to the start line, I was met not only by keyne but also my parents, the boys, and omegabeth. Beth was there not just to cheer me on but to whip my ass: she ran the 5K with me!

As I expected, this part knocked me out.  I haven't run that long at a stretch since, I think, middle school.  So we did it at a modest jog.  Most of the people I'd passed on my bike passed us this time around, but I very deliberately did not care.  Most importantly, omegabeth kept my mind off the run with her conversation and her company, and that was just exactly what I needed.

There was a big digital clock by the finish line marking how long it had been since the start of the race.  Beth saw it before I did and realized I could finish in under two hours, but only if I sprinted, so she -- and this was pure brilliance -- stopped short and told me it was time to burn rubber.  The time on the clock was 1:59:28 when I crossed the finish line.

(My actual time was something less than that, because the clock time includes the first 100-odd swimmers who started before I did.  Based on timestamps on the photographs keyne took, my actual time was something closer to 1 hour 25 minutes.  We'll know the official times when they're posted.)


One of the most interesting things about this event were the other participants:

1.  They were all really collegial.  When we were all standing around at the start of the race, and at the finish line afterward, everyone was really friendly and cheerful.  I expected a very unfriendly elite-athlete vibe.  Not in the slightest.  It was possibly the most chummy athletic event I can recall ever having attended.  That was a really lovely thing and helped set the tone for the rest of the day.

2. A lot of them were not visibly athletic.  keyne took photographs which confirmed my hypothesis: no matter how out of shape you are, or how ridiculous you think you look in a Speedo, there is going to be someone else competing who is worse off than you.  I liked that a lot too.  It made me feel really good about the social dynamics of the event.

I am so grateful: to keyne for getting up at the ass-crack of dawn with me on this fool's errand and for taking such fantastic pictures of the day, to omegabeth for being an unfailing support all along and for being the awesomest running buddy ever, and to mort, kcatalyst, aroraborealis and everyone else who has been giving moral support along the way. So much rockage.

Overall it was an unqualified win for fun.  I have no doubt I'll be doing another one of these.  Maybe even before the end of the year!

Comments

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

Again with the rocking!

[ghislaine.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'm so glad you had fun ... and also didn't die!

[leeble.livejournal.com]

Do you do every other stroke breathing, or rotary breathing (every 3rd stroke)? I find the rotary kind does better for me, and it also evens out any tendancy to get neck krinks from doing it only on one side.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

If you breathe every third stroke, you're still breathing on the same side, right? :-)

I don't know how to do the rotary breathing. I tried it once or twice when I was training and immediately figured out I'd have to practice a lot to be able to do it routinely, so abandoned it. Some of the other swimmers standing in line for the pool were talking about this too, and agreed with me that it works well but really requires practice.

[catya.livejournal.com]

I breath every third arm stroke meaning that i switch sides every breath. (I do this not because it's easier or harder but because it makes my neck happier)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Wooooo! That's awesome! Congratulations! Go you!

If you want a tri buddy for one before the end of the year, I promise to show up looking not visibly athletic. ;)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I would totally go for that! Looking at the calendar, the only one I can find before the end of the year is September 30 in Nantasket, and that day I am going to be either in Maine or at a cohousing meeting. Let me know if you turn up anything that looks promising.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Yay! That's so excellent!

And thanks back for being inspiring -- I may have to do one of these at some point...

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

That would be brilliant! I think you would get a real kick out of the whole thing.

[lcohen]

the friendliness of the participants--the way they'll lend each other a hand even, sometimes, is one of the things liked best when i was going to these regularly. and re being out of shape--i did the biking leg of one of these as part of a relay, proving your point!

congratulations!!!!

[catya.livejournal.com]

yay you! that's awesome.

Congrats!

[faulkner.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not surprised at the collegial atmosphere. Amateur endurance athletes are just like that. I think it's because 95% of the entrants go in with no expectation of winning the race, and are only there to compete with themselves. So anyway, now you're hooked. :-)

Being "visibly athletic" is extremely misleading. I can't count the number of times I've been passed by someone forty years older and 80 pounds heavier.

Re: Congrats!

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I knew a guy who'd run over 150 marathons including Sahara, Antartic, and Great Wall (hills!). He looks like your average dumpy middle age white guy. Even his legs weren't unusual.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! I've had runners all but apologize for pulling ahead of me after we'd run together for a bit. If you want to train for the next one, have you considered training for just running or just swimming? Obviously you can complete the race without training, and training for just one more sport may be easier for you to manage.