22. Triathlon

Back in July I did a triathlon with Tyler.  My preparation was that I hadn't swam since January and although I ride my bike just about everywhere around town, I never rode over the 12.8 miles that the race covered.  The running I was alright on because I knew I was going to have a half marathon a month later.

I was really excited to do the triathlon.  I remember back when I was little watching the ironman on TV and thinking how cool it was.  Someday I might even want to do an ironman.  There is a lot of ground to cover between now and then though.  A LOT!!!!  I still think it would be cool.

The triathlon I did was the Oswego Triathlon.  The 2 biggest things I liked about it were that: 1) it was local and 2) it had a shorter swim than most (600 yards).

When I got there I got everything set up.

This isn't a huge triathlon.  Here is the mess of all of the bikes and stuff before the race began.

Then I went and looked to see just how far 600 yards looked.

Tyler and I were set up and ready to go with about 40 minutes to go until the start.  We had nothing to do and neither of us were interested in doing any types of warm-up exercises.  So we just spent time going between looking at our bikes and looking at the water.  We also got to see this guy:

We entered from the beach and swam 200 yards to the far pyramid shaped flotation bouy.  We then turned to the right around it and went another 200 yards to another bouy, then we swam back to the beach.  I have to admit it wasn't terrible.  I started in the way back from my group and I finished in a little over 15 minutes.  I was pleased with that time.

My first transition went fine.  I had one mix-up where I put my helmet on and then went to put my shirt on.  That didn't work so I had to take the helmet off and start over.  My transition from being in just a swimsuit to being dressed and ready to bike took me a minute and twenty-five seconds.  Not bad.

For the biking portion (12.8 miles) I was pretty strong.  I passed a few people and got passed by quite a few more.  I am not blaming my biking stamina or skill, I am blaming technology.  My bike is great for everything I need it for, but for sprint speed, it is good, but not great.  My average speed was 17.1 mph.  That's not that bad for doing it consistently for just under 45 minutes straight.

My second transition was 50 seconds.  All I had to do was take my helmet off, put my bike on the rack and swap shoes.

Last came the run.  I was pretty tired, and I hadn't really trained at all with all three sports at all over the summer.  I did the 5K in 29 minutes.  Not a record breaker by any stretch, but it is my new PR.  I guess it is my only time, but I am happy with it. My official time was 1:31:28.

I am excited about the possibility of doing another one next year!  Maybe this one again, or maybe even this one outside of Rockford.  Either way I liked the experience and would like to do it again.  It is a lot more fun than just doing a running race.  Anyone interested in doing a triathlon next year?

Also, I thought I got a picture with Tyler, but the picture taker apparently never actually took the shot that we thought we did. 

56 goals done (or blogged about)!!!!