Day before prep..

The Tri to Beat Cancer was my first Triathlon event to compete in, and, this is a record of the events as it happened.

Race Prep

The night before the race I decided to go ahead and layout my gear, and simulate my transitions. I laid out my towel and went through my various phases of the triathlon. First I put my socks in my cycling shoes, with my helmet just above. Then to the right of this, I set up another pair of socks and my running shoes. When you get down to it, it does not seem like a lot of gear to have out. Considering you are wearing the rest of your stuff, it makes sense.  I also set out my water bottles and gels for the race.

From Instant Upload

Other than this, I went and did a once over on my bike to ensure that I had pressure in my tires, and that nothing was broken. With that being in good repair. With everything looking good, I loaded up all of my clothes and gear into a diaper box ( Hey, I have a 2 week old at home ) and stationed all of the stuff in the living room to be put in the car in the morning.

Race day.

The night before the race I got to bed at around 11 p.m. with the aim of getting up at 4:30 a.m. I woke up at 4:05 and had my morning coffee and loaded up my car with my diaper box and my bike. From there it was off to Athens for the race. I got out of the house around 4:45 and it only took about 45 minutes to get to Sandy Creek park.

At 5:30 in the morning it is dark. It is very dark. I did not think to bring a flashlight or a headlamp, and next time it might be an added benefit to have one. I did not want to do my check in the day before, so I did it that morning. The setup was about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away from the parking, so I went ahead and took my bike over with me. I got my number and registration pack and took my bikes over to the rack.

The transition area was big. Turns out there were 621+ competitors, so quite a number of bikes. I racking my bike, I trudged back to the car to get dressed and get my gear. I got dressed into my gear and headed over to setup my gear.

From 2011AUG21- Tri to Beat Cancer

It turns out you do not have as much room to setup your stuff as you might think. Shoving 6 – 8 bikes into a small area does not make for much room. So I setup my towel and gear and racked my water bottles. I also got out my goggles and the cap that I had to wear for the swim.

Never underestimate time. An hour and a half goes by quick. I headed down to the lake, got a chance to get in the water. To be honest, the water was great. Nice and warm. I got a chance to meet up with a friend or two that were doing the race as well, and did a few warm up strokes.

The Start

I was in the first heat that was to head out. As I was not sure how I was going to do in the swim I decided to hang back a bit. Not that far back, but about two thirds back. When the horn sounded I headed into the water and decided to head to the outside and swim my own race.

Turns out I should have been a bit further up in the crowd. While I did not get kicked in the face, there were a lot of bodies out there, and flailing limbs and such. Once I got out to the first buoy and made my turn the waters opened up.

Swimming in the open water is a bit different than in the pool, and sighting and breathing was a bit rough. Felt like I could not get my breath the entire swim. However, I made good time and was out of the water before the 8 minute mark. Once out of the water, there was a small run up the hill to the transition area.

Transition 1 – Swim to Bike

The first transition went well and quickly. Put my helmet on, my socks, and then my shoes. Took a moment to get my shoes buckled, but then I was on my way for the ride. When I looked down at the bike I realized I did not have my bike computer. I had left it in the car. To late to do anything at this point.

Ride

The ride is my strong area. Considering I was training for a Triathlon on Oct, I just rode what I rode. The course was supposed to have rolling hills. It tended to either be either up hill or down hill. Considering that I did not have my computer I had to go with my gut on how I felt, and how I was doing.

Fortunately, they had markers at miles 4, 8, and I think 12. This helped me know how far I was going, maybe not how fast, but how far. The ride overall was great. I only got passed by people on tri bikes, so this made me feel a bit better. The rules say no drafting, but I saw plenty while out on the back of the course.

I had thought that riding in wet clothes was going to be an issue, but I did not have any problems with it. I did note, that by 3 miles in my socks were completely soaked. Looking back, I should have probably just skipped them.

The end of the ride is mostly down hill, and I tried to use that to recover my legs for the run. It was also at this point that I realized I had only drank about half of the amount of fluid that I had planned on. Oops.

Transition 2 – Bike to Run

It did take me a moment to remember where exactly my bike was, and you have to dismount and run to the rack. My legs felt a little shaky runny to my staging area.

Coming in I decided to change out my socks and put on dry ones. This took longer than I had planned for, and I had not tried getting on my belt or anything before, so that slowed me down.

Run

The run was painful. As soon as I started, I just wanted to stop. My bladder was full, and nature was calling. I ended up diving into the woods to give nature a call, and headed back out.

My legs were just toast. There is talk about getting your legs back after the first 1/2 mile or so, but it just did not happen. Every hill was painful, and I continuously felt like I was going to throw up. Somehow I managed to keep going, even though I did have to walk a bit.

It was depressing to see all the people passing me. I had hoped to be able to keep running, but my legs were locking up on me. At one point I even saw the person pass me that took the spot before me in the rankings.

Near the end I got some motivation from other runners, and was able to run the last mile to the finish. People were cheering as I came to the end, trying to motivate me to go faster, but I had nothing left.

Finish

From 2011AUG21- Tri to Beat Cancer

Crossing the line was great. Yes, I felt like I was going to cramp up or throw up with my next step, but I was done. It might not have been my best performance, but it was decent. That and I finished.

After I had a chance to recover I spoke to a few other people that I knew. One of them placed 3rd in her age class, and the other won overall. I then went and checked the results.

My results.

Clydesdale = 5th out of 39

Overall = 113 out of 621

I have already signed up for my next triathlon on Oct 2nd.

On 21 August 2011 I will be competing in my first Triathlon, the Tri to Beat Cancer. The event is taking place in Athens, Georgia, and is a sprint triathlon. A sprint tri is the shortest length triathlon type event. The swim will be 400 yards, followed by a 16 mile bike, and then finish with a 5k. Why they switch to metric for the run is beyond me, but that is the way it is done. Proceeds from the even are going to help cancer research.

Training for my first triathlon has been interesting. I had already been swimming and cycling, so I was not to worried about those two events. However, I have recently switched to minimalist running, and as such, have not built back up my running endurance length. That means that I have to get back up to the 3.1 mile distance before the 21st. The last run that I did was 2.75 miles at a 9:00min per mile pace. This is not bad, but the distance needs to be at least 3.1 miles. I would prefer to be running 4 – 5 miles, but I will have to work up to that point.

So the question that first hit me when I signed up for the triathlon, was how do I train for it. If you take a look out on the web and at book stores, there are about 9,342 different programs out there on how to prepare for your first tri. Some of these guides are geared toward people that have not been doing exercise, to those that expect you to give 10 – 20 hours a week to training. Some of the guides are geared specifically toward a sprint triathlon, while others are geared toward the longer Olympic and half iron man distances. The next problem is that a few of the guides are free, and some you have to pay for. It can quickly become confusing and daunting as to where to begin.

My recommendation when it comes to training plans is mixed. If you are a person that needs a set schedule, go out and find a plan you like and try it out. This does not work for me as my schedule can fluctuate. I have 4 kids, one of them being a newborn, as a result, I cannot guarantee what times I will be able to train. Due to this, I came up with my own training program to prepare for this upcoming triathlon. It is quite a simple concept, but if you do not have discipline it will not work.

The first thing that you need to be able to do is track your workouts. I use runkeeper as a way to track my runs, rides, and swims. I am thinking about switching to a spreadsheet, but have not had time yet. The idea is just to be able to look at your progress.

The second thing that you must do is to do a self evaluation. Determine where you are in all 3 events. Tests how far you can swim, see how far you can ride, and go for a run. Figure out what your week areas are. If you are weak in all 3 areas, go with a training plan. If you are weak in a specific area then this is the plan I would follow.

1. Attempt to do some activity at least 5 days out of the week. If you can do 6 then go with that. But whatever you do, rest for at least one day. Rest is vital.

2. Make sure to do all the activities, and stack them. Do more than one activity on some days.Mixing a ride with a run is great. Doing a swim and bike, or swim and run. Mix it up to get your muscles ready for going from one activity to the next.

3. Add extra emphasis on your weak event. I need to work on the run the most, as a result I am increasing the number of runs that I am doing per week.

4. Have fun.

Note: You get the biggest bang for your buck in the bike section of the race. That is where you can make the biggest difference on your time.

At work I was bombarded by some guys that road ride about joining them for some rides. At first I blew them off, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that it might be nice to get back on a road bike again. I continued to push back, but slowly started to waiver.

Years ago, and by years ago I am talking about 1988, I used to own a road bike. I remembered the rides that my brother and I would go on, and how much fun they were, but for the past 4 years I have been solidly into mountain biking. What fun could come from doing a road ride? However, there was always something that I enjoyed about going for a ride and the wind in my hair.

And then recently I started running and swimming again. People started taking note, and asking me if I was training for a triathlon. I have been doing 6 hour endurance bike races, but they take all day, and I always putter out at 4 hours. Plus, I just do not have the time to train for that.

Not sure which was the one that broke the camel’s back, but I finally decided to get a road bike. I tried out a couple, and could never get super comfortable on most of them, but the Trek 2.1 was close. Also, I wanted to support a local shop that does rides and such. For this reason I did not go with a Performance Bike branded bike. And, without trying it out, I ordered a Trek “Fisher Collection” Ion Pro. The bike felt right from the first time that I got on it.

The first ride that I did was a drop ride out of Apalachee Cycles on the day that I got my ride. It is a 24.5 mile ride with roughly 1500 – 1800 feet of climbing. The ride was great. After spending years on the mountain bike, I remember why I liked road riding so much. There is something about the window in your hair as the road flies by that is just exhilarating. Needless to say I got dropped by the lead group, but made it in with a respectable pace of 18.5 mph.

I have had the bike for a little while now, and have to say that it was a good decision to get the bike.

By the way, did I mention a triathlon is in my future?