Tri and Catch Me...But Don't Pass Me

Well, I am officially a triathlete now!  And, as many of those veteran triathletes had suggested, I'm feeling an addiction coming.  What a sport!  The week before the event, I was traveling to Midland, TX.  Not a great place to train, but luckily it was an easy week to just keep the legs loose.  When I flew back into Denver Friday morning, I headed to Runner's Roost to grab my rented wet suit.  Walking out with that suit really kicked the nerves into high gear.  I then headed over to Campus Cycles to pick up my race packet.  Sure, I could've picked it up the morning of the race, but I wanted to be as prepared as possible so I didn't have to think too much the morning of the race.  I knew my pea-brain would be a little scattered with nerves so I was trying to avoid missing something in the preparation.  As it was, I double-checked my race bag that night a ridiculous number of times...may have even shortened the life of that zipper.

The transition area opened up at 6:00 a.m. and I made sure I was there right on time.  It's crazy to sit around for two hours before a race, but I felt it would reduce my nerves in the end run to not have to rush getting ready.  Plus, I was able to steal ideas from those who actually had a clue what they were doing.  My preparations went better than I had expected so all that was left to do was race...and I was nervous  As we all lined up for the start I could feel my stomach sinking.  Choosing to do this race in the traditional triathlon order (swim, bike, run) we had to start the swim with a 250 meter run to the lake.  This was to make it fair for those choosing a different order.  Running 250 meters in a wetsuit was not horribly easy, but I quickly forgot about that when I hit the water.  Keep in mind, this is my first triathlon and first open water swim.  Unfortunately, something triggered in my and I struggled to get a relaxed breathing pattern in the lake.  I'm not sure if it was nerves, the wet suit, cold water on the exposed skin, anxiety, the run to the water or what.  Didn't matter, I had a hard time the first 350 meters of the 750 meter swim.  By the time I got to the buoy at the halfway point, I was starting to calm down and get my swim groove on.  The rest of the swim I felt pretty good and I feel like I finished strong. Total time for the 750 meter swim (including about 500 meters of running) was 18:02.

I worked hard to mentally prepare for the transitions and my first one was 1:16.  That included shedding the wet suit.  It felt pretty fast to me...so fast in fact that I didn't even feel like I caught my breath while getting ready for the bike.  Off I went on the bike...feeling good to be doing an event I felt more comfortable with.  I got in the bike groove pretty quickly and started passing people which made me feel pretty good.  As a side note, I had a couple of co-workers (Shaun and Adam) racing that day too and was really hoping to have a chance to beat them...unrealistic really, but still a goal.  Back to the bike...after about 1 mile, the first of my co-workers, Shaun, passed me.  Being a collegiate level cyclist a couple of years ago, I knew I had no chance of catching him on the bike...he was gone.

The course was pretty hilly, (781' elevation gain according to my Garmin) but I felt like I was holding my own, feeling good and pushing hard.  The turnaround of the 12.4 mile course was at the top of a hill.  Turning around for a long downhill ride was great.  About  a mile past the turnaround, I saw Adam pushing up the hill.  He was closer than I had hoped as he's a much better runner than I am (and 8 years younger).  I pushed on, hoping to gain some valuable time.  Total time on the 12.4 mile ride, 36:22 or just over 20 mph average speed.

As I got into the transition area, I stripped the bike gear off and got ready to run.  I started out of the transition and realized I forgot my sunglasses.  I'm sort of a freak about running with sunglasses...don't know why, but it forced me to run back and grab them...probably lost about 15 seconds there.  Anyway, this second transition was a little longer at 1:30

Now the run.  my preparation bricks resulted in me running just over 7:30 minute miles.  For me...that's super speedy.  A year ago, running a 9:00 mile would make me happy.  I wasn't able to hold that pace for long in this run though.  First, my legs were shot from the ride.  I was a little too confident on the bike and pushed too hard given the hills and I should've backed off a little...rookie mistake.  Second, the run was pretty hilly.  Mostly short hills and probably not very steep on any normal day, but I was tired by this point so they seemed steep.  According to my Garmin, total elevation gain was 512 feet over the 3.5 miles.  Regardless, I was here to race (and learn) and I pushed as hard as I could.  Just before the 2 mile mark, the course headed back towards the finish and down a hill.  As the course turned, I looked up and saw Adam...about 1/4 mile behind me.  It wasn't looking good for me.  Well, the inevitable happened and he passed me at about the 3 mile mark.  Kind words (but of course) were exchanged and he too, was gone.  The finish included running back through the transition area out again and about 200 meters to the finish line.  It wasn't ideal to race through the transition area when others were still there moving on to their next event, but it didn't slow me down too much. Total time for the 3.5 mile run...29:19 or about 8:32 minute miles.

Finally, I crossed the finish line and I felt like I was going to collapse.  I didn't...but it was close.  It was great to be surprised by Teresa and Seth at the finish...even though I had told them to stay home because it was so early and Seth had baseball shortly after.  They came anyway and at least got to see me lumber across the finish line.

Wow...sorry, I should've warned you before posting that picture.  You should now scroll down far enough to hide that photo from view.  Total race time for my first triathlon:  1:27:52...a number I'm pretty satisfied with.  This put me in 7th in my age group for those who chose the traditional triathlon order.  Wow...top 10!  I like that.  Of course, that was only out of 24, but still.  My friends, Shaun and Adam both did great in their respective age groups too (both are many years younger than I am but obviously good athletes in their divisions).

What's next?  Well, I'll be continuing my training for my next triathlon, the Parker Fall Frenzy in September (suddenly that seems too far away and I want to sneak another one in).  Before that, I have the Warrior Dash coming up in 3 weeks.  Adam will be running that with me too, along with several other friends.  It's a completely fun race/obstacle course and we'll be racing strictly for bragging rights...and maybe beer.

After those two...well, I'll be preparing for racing season next year.  I see longer distance tris in my future...maybe (okay, probably) even a 70.3 next year.  Crazy??? Yeah!  Fun???  Yeah!  Oh...and the bike shopping has begun.  Yes, a triathlon/time-trial bike appears to be in my near future!

Thanks for reading!

- Brian

Tri and Stop Me

First off, it's been a long time since I've blogged.  It's not so much that I didn't have anything to say...just didn't have the time to write.  Well, I still don't have time to write, but I need to anyway.  I'm not even going to get into the work time constraints except to say that work is burying me.  Enough said about that.  Since the marathon (seems like so long ago) I've been continuing my training, but with the triathlon approaching next week, I've obviously incorporated much more swimming and riding.

The riding has been going very well...but I spend most of my time on my 20 year old bike dreaming about a new one.  By the way, it's a little dangerous to daydream on a bike at 20 mph. Regardless, I have a great desire to obtain new wheels!  I'm struggling though...new road bike or new tri specific bike.  I honestly won't decide until I finish my 2 planned triathlons this year (well, maybe one).  Of course, right now I would lean towards a tri specific bike, but I want to make sure I'm going to enjoy these tris before I spend the $$$.  Bikes, after all, are an investment.  I'm sure there will be more updates on this in future posts...hopefully near future.

After the marathon, when I really started hitting the pool, I had to go through some swimming growth.  Those that know me, know that I've never been a strong swimmer.

I didn't grow up swimming...could barely even get a lap in the pool in high school.  A friend of mine, Rich taught me to swim (for exercise) in my early 20's.  As much as that helped, I only swam then for about one year.  Now I'm in my 30's...okay, late 30's and I'm trying to take it back up, with no help in the pool...for triathlons?!?  Now, I'm jumping in and cranking out 2800 yards at a time.  Okay, it's been a struggle at times though.  For example, I've had several instances where I've tried to concentrate so hard on my swimming, that I forgot to turn my head out of the water to breathe.  Not good, when you don't have gills.  Luckily, I was able to work through those issues.

Now that I'm getting pretty comfortable in the pool, I've decided to try and improve by implementing flip turns.  This is actually, quite funny to me...the thought of me doing flip turns.  I have very little coordination in the pool and if you could see my attempts at flip turns now, you'd laugh.  So far, out of the maybe 20 turns I've done, I've had maybe 4 where I thought "hey, that was pretty good!"  Of course, those were followed by ones where I thought "wow, that was really not good and hopefully nobody was watching."  Usually these are the ones where I've turned much earlier than I should (you really have to get pretty close to the wall to do it right, but I fear cracking my heel on the concrete) and go to kick but my feet find nothing but water...this is a disappointing feeling.  So far, I've learned one very important lesson for those attempting to learn flip turns on your own.  Make sure you've completed your rotation before you kick off the wall.  If you don't, you push off the wall and drive your head right into the floor of the pool.  I don't recommend this method.  Fortunately for me, I had two advantages in this particular situation:  1) the floor of this particular pool is smooth and designed for lap swimming; therefore, it hasn't been left rough like many public pools.  Had it been that way, I would have lost approximately 16.2% of the hair I have left.  2)  I have a very hard head.  My dad and brother will back me up on this.  Sure everyone's skull is pretty tough, but the Taylor boys seem to be a little more so...either that or we've been hit so hard so many times that those portions of the brain no longer recognize the pain and simply sacrifice a few more brain cells.  Still, hitting my head was not that pleasurable and I will try to avoid this on all future swims.  If I'm unsuccessful, I'll be the guy in the pool wearing my bike helmet...makes for faster transitions anyway, right?

I'm now down to one week until my first triathlon...a sprint distance (750 meter swim, 14 mile bike and 3.5 mile run).  I'm nervous...but in an anxious way, so I think that's good.  I've rented my wet suit (water temps of high 60s...well, maybe not after this week's heat wave) and have all the gear I need.  Now I just need to get to the race and give it all I can.  My next blog should be my race report...I know you're waiting to read it.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

Thanks for reading.

- Brian