The thirty people in my wave ran into the
lake at 8:30 in the pouring rain.
Written July 20th, 2002
Got up at 4:00am. Don showed up at my house around 4:40. We threw his bike on my rack and drove to Lake Nokomis. After parking, we walked our bikes to the transition area and got all set up...carefully laying out my towel (to dry my feet after the swim), my shoes, my socks, my shirt, etc. We spent the rest of the time walking around, testing the water, talking to other participants, and cleaning the pipes. As the sun came up, the sky began to darken...clouds were rolling in from the west. Don's wave ran into the lake at 8:06. A few minutes later, it began to sprinkle. It was now nearly dark outside. About two minutes before my wave started, it began to pour.
The thirty people in my wave ran into the
lake at 8:30 in the pouring rain.
Swimming in a triathlon is a lot different than swimming laps in the pool - there are waves, there's a current, there's wind, you get kicked, you get hit, you can't touch bottom, there are weeds where it's shallow, and today there was rain. It was encouraging when I caught up with some people from an earlier wave, and it was a bit discouraging when people from a later wave caught up with me.
My goal was to finish the swim in 11 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked out of the lake in 10:13. On to the first transition!
It's still pouring. I walked up the beach toward the transition area. Walking is difficult at this point because my legs are so sore from swimming. They started feeling a little better when I reached the transition area so I jogged to my bike while ripping off my cap and goggles. I found my bike without problems, but ran into something I hadn't planned for: We'd gotten so much rain in the last fifteen minutes that my towel was now under 1/2 inch of water (I had picked a lot spot). The hand towel I had draped over my handlebars was actually still a bit dry, so I dried my feet and put on my socks and shoes. I threw on my soaked shirt and helmet, threw my sunglasses in the bag, grabbed my biking gloves and ran off with my bike. This transition took a lot longer than I thought it would've.
This was the most exciting part of the race for me. Once out of the transition area, I mounted my bike and took off. When I reached the first straight piece of road (and the last, was it would turn out), I pulled my soaked running gloves onto my hands. Then I kicked into gear. This part of the race was fast and dangerous! Over the next thirty or so minutes, I passed a LOT (I mean a LOT) of people while speeding down windy, wet roads. Many of the people weren't following the etiquette of staying on the right and only passing on the left. Over the 10.5 miles, I averaged 19.7 miles per hour...not too bad for a guy on a mountain bike in a road race.
Second Transition -
1:29It's still pouring by the way. The second transition was pretty fast. All I needed to do was run my bike over to my spot, park it, leave my helment and gloves behind, and run off.
I didn't know what to expect for the run because I wasn't sure what kind of effect the swimming and biking would have on my legs. If this were just a 2.4 mile road race, my goal would be 16 minutes...but this isn't just a road race.
The first problem was that my legs didn't want to run. They were in biking mode! It was obvious that everyone else was feeling the same way. So, I ran pretty easy for the first 1/2 mile until my legs started to loosen up. Then I tried to kick it in a bit. The next 1/2 mile was pretty good, but then I started getting side-stitches for the first time in my life. A side stitch feels like a big cramp in your abdominal wall. For a while, putting pressure on it with my hand helped, but the pain soon became so unbearable that I had to stop and walk. I felt better after a few seconds, so I started running again. Soon, the side stitch was back so I walked for a bit again. This continued for the rest of the race.
My goal was to finish, and I did that. Although the weather sucked, it actually made for a great and memorable experience. Don and I cannot wait until next year so we can do this again!
So even though my only goal was to finish, I was eager to find out how I did compared to everyone else. Here's the full results. Out of 654 (or so) male and female participants, I finished 177th. Out of 63 men in my age group (30-34), I finished 25th.