2009 Wendy's International Triathlon

I can finally call myself a triathlete. My first triathlon finish time was 1:48:42. However, it was not my first triathlon start. The first triathlon I ever attempted was at this same race back in 1993. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I inhaled a lungful of water, began coughing and hacking uncontrollably, and made a bee-line for the beach. DNF. I was pissed at myself for dropping out of that race so quickly. That event helped to reinforce my fear of deep water even more. Fast forward to 2009.

We drove down to Columbus in the early afternoon on Saturday so that I could stop at Alum Creek and try out my new wetsuit. I've never worn one before and didn't know what to expect. All my training has been in a clean pool with semi-normal swimwear. Imagine my utter surprise to discover that wetsuits add so much buoyancy I would call them the next best thing to a life preserver. What did that mean to me? Instant confidence in the water. Something I've never had before. So with that confidence I set out for the outer buoys do try it out. You just hug the surface of the water in one of those. It's amazing. I had zero fear of sinking. With that under my belt the only other thing I had to come to grips with was zero visibility. That's going to be something I still need to work on.

This is the walk down the beach toward the swim start. The Majority of people were walking closer to the parking lot to the left side of the image.

Even though we arrived back at Alum Creek early Sunday morning, I didn't have enough time to get set up in transition and into the water for a warm-up swim. By the time the pre-race meeting was over with, it was time to head down and get started. As you can kind of see in the above photo, Alum Creek State Park has the longest inland beach in the state. The 1/2 mile swim starts at the north end and finishes at the south. A nice straight line. The morning was low 50's and calm, water temperature was 68 degrees and calm. At least for now.

Preparing to head into the water for at least a little warm-up.

Mrs. P sure did take some nice photos!

Waiting around for the start of my wave. Wave G, 35 - 39 year old's. One of the larger age groups.

Wave G start. I'm in there somewhere towards the right of the photo, but not in the front.

We're off!

With the wetsuit on, I had no problem venturing out a little farther than I normally would. I didn't have a preference as to where I would swim so long as it wasn't in the center surrounded by everyone else. So I went left and behind the others, thinking that most people would stay to the inside of the course, which would be the shortest distance.

Once underway, I gave it my best shot, but the surface of the water was churned up much more than I anticipated. I found it difficult to breathe and the wetsuit had me bobbing up and down with the waves made by 50 people starting at once. I was having a hard time finding the breathing rhythm that would allow me to maintain a front crawl stroke for any length of time. My heart rate went up and stayed up. I hyperventilated and couldn't get it under control. I switched to the breaststroke hoping it would help level things out, but it didn't work the way it does in the pool. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath out there.

I made my way from the outside lanes to the inside where I could stand up if I needed to. Fortunately it didn't come to standing up. I just breast stroked most of the way with patches of front crawl. It was hard to judge how much farther I had to go and I could hear when someone was approaching from behind. But the surprising part was that I passed people. I wasn't going to have the slowest swim split this day. I had never been able to swim a half mile in the pool in much less than 30 minutes. Imagine my surprise to find out I swam that distance in around 20 minutes. My split, including running from the beach to the transition area, was 22:53.

Exiting the water.

Now that the swim, my weakest event, was over. It was time to start making up time and passing people.

Heading out on the bike.

I'm a decent cyclist. I have a hard time on the hills, but other than that I'm alright. Not the fastest but not the slowest either. The bike leg was 18.6 miles. I rode it in a little over an hour. Something I've never seen in a race before happened as we were exiting the beach area onto the main road. The deputies were stopping US to let car traffic by. Not emergency vehicles, but normal everyday people. I was actually flabbergasted, and it takes a lot to do that. Once out on the road I felt good. I've been doing some long rides the last few weeks so I just settled into my rhythm. I pushed hard, but not too hard. I didn't want to blow out my legs before the run. Once into the second half of the ride I realized something I forgot. When I was removing my wetsuit I first took off my timing chip which tied around my ankle with a Velcro strap. It dawned on me that I hadn't put it back on. Oh well. No transition or bike splits for me this day. I just needed to remember to put it back on before heading out on the run.

Heading into T-2. Note the bare left ankle where the timing chip should have been!

Heading out on the run. I was feeling good!

Running is what I've focused on this season. And the third discipline was definitely my strong suit. Once I was on my way out of T-2 I was feeling strong. Really strong. I've never felt that good coming off the bike. I was tired but not fatigued. And I was passing people. Lots of people. As many people as I could. And no one passed me on the run. I was taking note of the wave groups I was passing. A few from my own. Even more from earlier waves. It was nice! And the amazing thing was I wasn't going all out. I could have gone faster. That would have meant risking cramping up, but I had reserves. When I  passed it was with authority. I didn't want anyone even thinking about keeping up with me.

As it turns out, I did have a fast 5K. 21:40 to be exact. Out of 439 people, my run split was 25th fastest. Don't be mislead about running off the bike. It's hard. I don't know what I've been able to do training or conditioning wise, but so far this season, I've taken my run to the next level. Not to the top, but better than I've ever been.

Rounding the final turn, just meters from the finish line.

A triathlete. Finally.

I had fun at this race. I know what I need to work on with my swim. I know I still need to get stronger on the bike. The next two triathlons are longer than this one. I won't be thinking so much about racing them as just finishing them. But I don't have the apprehension I had even on Saturday morning. The swim is my weak spot, but it's stronger than it was just two days ago. I'm looking forward to doing more tri's than du's. Duathlons hurt because I have to race them. Triathlons are more relaxing and enjoyable because I don't have the pressure to try to place well within my age group. And I thing longer is going to be better than short too. With my plans, that's probably a good thing.

A special thanks to Mrs. P for taking loads of great photos!