What happens when you take a pretty good runner and throw that person into a Triathlon? Well...that's what I tried to find out today. First and foremost, I had a blast at Tri Indy this morning. Tuxedo Brothers, who put on the event, did a great job moving over 1200 people through three legs (swim, bike, run). Pretty amazing. Results are not posted yet so whatever I write below may be off just a bit in terms of time and place.
It all started with a 500 meter swim. Does not sound so bad, does it? I knew that of the three events that the swim would be the toughest for me, but I think I underestimated just how tough it would be. For some reason I ignored the fact that the last time I swam for exercise was in 2007. The swim was in the man made Canal in downtown Indianapolis. It was kind of gross in there, but not nearly as gross as I envisioned. So...I get to the water start about 30 minutes early and wouldn't you know that I start to feel the urge to pee. BUT...there are no porta potties. So...the "urge" is not that bad, so I ignore it. It's finally my time to get into the water and I jump in and immediately go into "oh shit" mode as it's cold and I cannot see anything through the goggles. But...I did not have to pee anymore because I think the cold water froze it in my bladder! I adjusted pretty quickly and got going, but after probably 25 meter (felt like 500), I'm winded and gassed. I'm like, "omg, this is going to be rough." So...after trying to swim freestyle for about 25 more meters, I decided to go into the all to effective breast stroke. Yes, folks, that's right, I'm swimming breast stroke in a triathlon. Obviously, this is NOT the stroke you are supposed to swim because I SWEAR a couple women who looked like they could be my grandmother passed me. All in all, the swim was ROUGH. It humbled me. For a visual image I want you to think of a one winged, one legged chicken on crack because that chicken would've beaten me. I was bad. I don't have the full results yet, but I do know I was 254th out of the water for the sprint tri. Wow. AND...I never did pee--Yeah, I know, gross. But...even though I thought about peeing in the Canal, I just could not bring myself to let it go. This was not a smart move.
After the disaster for the non-swim-master, I headed for my bike and started riding. The transition was pretty smooth and I was surprised at how well I was able to move on the bike. I've not cycled for exercise in about a year, so I did not know what to expect. Fortunately, running fitness translates well to cycling fitness and I moved up considerably. However, I still felt like I needed to pee. Sometimes, like at the movies, you can hold it because you're just sitting there. On the bike, though, I just knew it was going to be a case of how long could I hold it and still perform well. Anyway, I rode the 11.5 miles in about 37 minutes--which evidently is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I moved up in place as I hit the run transition point. Everyone tried to tell me my legs would not work the same way after the bike and I thought, "hell, you're talking to a guy who runs 40 miles a week...I'll be fine." Once again, Josh was WRONG!. My legs felt like strawberry jelly (and I don't even eat jelly) and I was not able to really even keep my balance when I ran my bike to the area where I needed to change into my running shoes. Anyway...all in all I thought the bike portion was pretty good and I felt more like a triathlete and less like a rookie.
The run was awesome and my legs finally settled down to the point where I hit the first mile in 5:45. Still had to pee and was afraid I'd have to tell the ABC joke from elementary school about "where's the pee...it's running down my leg." I was passing people and just felt great and felt encouraged because I was now catching those folks who killed me on the swim. I hit the second mile in 11:35 and I knew I could just keep cruising, although my legs felt tired. As I passed my friend Kat (who came out to cheer me on at the Campus Apartments), I was still passing a ton of people. I suspect I passed about 150 people in the 5K part of this event. Anyway, I finished the 5K portion in a respectable 18:30, which isn't bad after a swim and bike.
All in all, my unofficial time was around 1:11 and I'm waiting on the results for the official time. What is amazing from the unofficial results is that I got out of the water in 254th place and ended up finishing in 47th overall. Just imagine if I could actually swim.
All time goals aside, this was just a great time and a great event in which to compete. There was a time when my competitive nature would have never allowed me to enter this if I was not at my best in all three areas. I'm a competitive guy, which is why I don't like to compete against friends or even talk about sports involving Indiana with UK fans. I love my friends who love UK, but UK is no friend of IU. That same competitive force is what drives me to run daily and when used for good I am able to really compete hard. That aside, I'm glad to have done this because it was just really cool and fun. Much like running, it's all about just doing your best and taking a risk. We will see if I'll actually do this, but I'm thinking in the future that the winter is for base building, the spring is for mini-marathons, the summer is for triathlons, and the fall is for fast road racing. Who knows if I will do that given how much I love to run, but I just may have caught the TRI bug today--and maybe some other "bugs" too while swimming in the canal.
P.S. I finally found a porta john at the end of the race and found great relief! Happy running to you...
P.S.S. #895 was my bib number for the race.
