Andy's First Triathlon

Yes, it is true I did finish my triathlon last weekend. The culmination of about 4 months of training really paid off when I ran through that big blue arch.

I am guessing most of you have never done a triathlon before so I am going to take some time and tell you all about mine.

First of all it was call a "Sprint Triathlon." A sprint means it was a short one. It was 1/4m swim, 10m bike and 5k run. Just to let you know "Olympic Triathlons" are about double that length. To learn more about distances and such check out the Wiki page on Triathlons.

The following is a list of my times and all the ranking number from my race.
Swim 8:32 (259th)
Transition 1 3:47 (377th)
Bike 38:37 (15.5mph 496th)
Transition 2 1:50 (137th)
Run 30:39 (9:52m 560th)
Total: 1:23:28 (483rd/672)
Division 45th/62

I want to share one story from the race. It was about my 3rd length in the pool and there was a swimmer passing me on my left. There were also two swimmers right in front of us and I was getting ready to cut left to pass them. With this guy on my left it meant I could not do that and was going to get stuck behind them all. I decided I didn't want that to happen so I swam right up the middle of the two other swimmers. Then when I went to take a breath on my left the swimmer to my left took a breath on the right and we met goggle to goggle about 6 inches away from each other. It was a really cool moment in the race.

I also learned what draw strings are for on swim trunks. Not because mine also fell off, but because most triathlon athletes look like a blend of meth users, super models and body builders and their cloths are falling off of them because they have no body fat to keep them on.

Overall I was very happy with the race. I had three goals and I meet them all.

1. Do not die
2. Finish the race
3. Under 1:45

So what is next? Well there are several things I have on the to do list.

1. Mudathlon on June 26. What is a Mudathlon? I have no idea but they say it is between 3 and 4 miles with obstacles and participants get a free beer. Combine that with two attractive women on the flier and that was all it took to get me excited enough to do it.
2. Columbus Triathlon on August 7th. I am not sure about this one. It is the day after summer camp is over. That could be good because it could keep me training all summer long or be bad because I am physically spent after a summer camp.
3. Wine at the Line, 5mile or 5k run on September 25th. You get a wine glass, shirt, wine and pizza. And yes, they also had an attractive woman on their flier.
4. The Grand Canyon, Fall of 2011. What is this? Check out my buddy Ford's blog for that information.

Come join me on one or all of the events and,
Keep up the fight