Too early for Tori

Heading out on the bike

A couple of our cheerleaders

Returning - shaved 4.5 minutes

Dead legs for the first 1/2 mile

Brian returning

We need to talk about form, Jason

The chase is on

High fives from our cheerleaders

Home stretch

Is it over?

Oh, wait, fans are watching... game face!

Determination

At the outset the motivation was to compete in a triathlon in July in Colonial Beach.  At the time of that announcement, made by Jason Pelt, we realized we only had roughly two months to train – I mean, it was only a sprint triathlon, how hard could it be?  A half-mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and a 5k run?  Didn’t sound so bad.

After experiencing a slew of breathing problems over the past year due to an unrealized cat allergy I knew I’d have some considerable ground to cover.  Biking was no problem.  I could churn out 14 miles on the bike in my sleep.  A few years ago I had grown accustomed to riding 50 miles at a time two or three times a week; I just hadn’t done it in a while but I knew what it took.  After a few days on the bike, I quickly got my cycling legs back and found the old rythym and cadence and feel I was so familiar with and was really enjoying myself.  Running was slightly more of a challenge as it required more effort from my lungs but I slowly developed enough stamina to feel comfortable going into the race.

Finally, there’s the swimming.  For someone with an existing asthma condition, the thought of limiting my oxygen intake for the sake of competition seemed stupid at best.  I had considered myself an adequate swimmer and 750 meters didn’t seem outside of the realm of my capabilities, but my lungs were quick to object to that line of thinking.  My first time in the pool for training was, to put it simply, embarrassing.  I labored through 200 meters of lap swimming at my neighborhood pool and had nothing left.  My tank was empty.  I realized if I was going to compete in this triathlon, I was going to die.  This was a huge hurdle I needed to overcome.

Over the next few weeks, our team – dubbed ‘Team Trinity’ – met once a week for intense training, sometimes training in all three events in one morning so we could “get the feel” of transitioning from one event to another, gauge our need for supplement intake and enjoy one another’s company in this joint endeavor.  I don’t think I spent nearly enough time in the water, but I had come to the point where I could swim roughly 500 meters (with occasional breaks on my back or using the breast stroke) so I knew I was improving.  (I also had a nasty bike crash in early June  which took me out of training for a week.)

Race day – July 11th, Colonial Beach.  I was not ready for the swim.  During the final week of training I spent some extra time in the pool; however, a few hours after each training session I was experiencing asthma induced chest pains.  My performance in the water was improving but I was trying to do too much too soon.  I spoke with race officials during race prep and I opted out of the swim.  They were gracious enough to allow me to race in the other two events which I wanted simply to get some race experience under my belt.  I was told to wait for the first fifty racers to enter the bike transition area before I saddled up for my ride.  Fortunately that turned out to be about the time Jason and Bryan entered the transition area.  Once they made it to their bikes, that’s when I grabbed my helmet and headed out.  Two weeks prior to the race I scoped out the race routes and clocked 49:08 on the official bike route.  Race day, which gave me the benefit of pacing other racers and some extra adrenaline, I shaved 4 minutes and clocked a 45:13 ride.  That made me feel good.

My legs felt like anchors the first half mile of the run as I forced my body to make the mental and physical transition from a pedaling motion to a running motion.  Energy-wise, I had plenty left.  I kept a good pace and just after the turn-around point I passed Jason heading for the turn-around less than a quarter mile behind me.  I knew he’d be gunning for me, but since I was out there to have fun that didn’t bother me and I even welcomed a little healthy competition.  When I approached the final turn, I heard nothing but cheering coming from Tori and Cierra, Jadey, Tracee, Bethany and Jackson (I think Jillian was playing in the mulch).  This gave me a fresh boost of motivation and so I kicked into a higher gear, made the turn after getting high fives from the girls and made it across the finish line around 1:35 – I didn’t really pay any attention to the clock since I wasn’t official.

What an experience!  The encouragement from race officials, volunteers, fellow participants and spectators really made me realize how much fun races like this can be.  Is it competitive?  Absolutely!  Was there a little pride-swallowing occurring during the race?  I’m not sure how there couldn’t be when you’re passed by a racer with a “55″ stamped on their leg (their age group) or when I confidently passed another racer during the bike race only to be passed like I was standing still by a highly-skilled female racer while I was internally gloating over my small achievement.

Like Jason posted in his race report, I too could list a few lessons learned, but right now I can think of too many to count let alone list here.  This race was extremely fun.  Josh and I are already targeting the next sprint triathlon in Williamsburg in two months.  I hope to compete in all three events making that my first official full triathlon.  I believe our expectations were set a little low going into this race – that is, we all hoped to finish in under two hours.  The other three did, and I believe I would have too.  With that in mind and one race under our belts, our expectations and goals can be tuned a little finer and perhaps we’ll have a sense of accomplishment near the birthplace of the country.

Could this be the first race in the road to an Ironman?  My teammates seemed to scoff at the idea, but I won’t let go of my loose goal of achieving that athletic milestone before I turn 40.