Tom caught the bug and started training with Molly who was the only returning entrant from the June race.
I was interested but too busy to start training regularly (that's my story).
On Tuesday my divorce became final, and on a whim I decided to just try it for fun. At the time it didn't seem as crazy of a decision as doing 3-2-1-Flight at King's Island. Something else I had never considered doing before.
How hard could a triathlon be without any training?
Without a partner I had to enter the Single Kayak division, which was nice because kayaks have to start before everyone else. So, I got a nice early start time despite my late entry (bib #1205 out of ~1240).
Here I am 10 mins before the start, literally my first time in a single kayak. I say it's never too late to start training. It was also the first time in a kayak for 3 of the 14 people in my start time. It was early enough in the day that I was in the mood to talk to those around me.
Kayaking 6 miles in ~1 hr 10 mins
This was a bit harder than I thought so I did coast a bit in some of the moving currents. I thought the canoes were starting at 9am so my goal was to not get passed by any canoes. A male/female team in a canoe passed me at 4.5 miles out. As they passed I told them I didn't want to get passed, but now that I had I could take a break and drink. Then they told me their start time was 8:44 so I didn't feel bad that it took them 4.5 miles to close 6 minutes on me.
Running 5.5 miles in ~1 hr 15 mins
Since this was all for fun and my goal was just to finish I said I would walk as much as needed on this part. My goal was to feel physically good after each stage. It was a very nice scenic trail with farms etc, really relaxing. I ended up running less than a mile, but am a pretty fast walker.
Biking 18 miles in ~1:25
I did not think this was going to be as bad, I thought maybe even the easiest part. This was the hardest part. It seemed to be uphill a bit which was ok at first but miles 11-14 were terrible. Even when you got a flat stretch there was a lot of head wind that seemed to be always right at me. And any stretch where you could see the road ahead seemed to always have a big hill which is demotivating.
But somehow, I powered through and miles 16-18 were relatively downhill so it made it a lot easier. I have no memory of miles 14-16, so I must have been struggling.
I came in at 3 hr and 53 mins which I thought was great for going in Ice Cold. But really I just wanted to finish and feel good after I did.
It was a lot of fun, and so many people helped me to borrow bikes and come out it support me.
Overall a great day.
5 comments:
Congrats Dave! You've now proven you don't need training to do a triathalon.
glad you had a good time!! this is way more than i'd ever be up for!
Wow, that's awesome! congrats on competing in and - even better - completing your first triathalon. I hear those things are addicting, much like other races such as marathons, always wanting to one-up your old times. When's your next one?
Congrats on completing! Oh, and thanks for posting that picture in your last post with "Kanye's" thoughts on health care. I'm using it as the first slide in my lecture today on the Canadian health care system.
Congradulations Dave! Thanks for the update on how it went.
Mike
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