Rebel Man

Something like 6 or 8 weeks ago, I decided to put to rest all my excuses about not doing a triathlon, and sign up for the one that seemed most easily accomplished. Saturday the race came, but before I get into the actual race report, I’ve asked Sam to write a little introduction for me. This story (Sam loves to rag on me about it, for good reason), describes me almost perfectly.

The shortest tempo run ever

Let’s set the scene, shall we? Memorial Day weekend 2007. I flew up to Rochester, NY with my parents for the wedding of a cousin (Steve’s younger sister).

I went and hung out with Steve and Liz (Steve’s wife) for some coffee. Steve and I discussed getting in a little fun run the next morning before Steve had to fulfill family duties.

We decided to meet at a location on the Erie Canal trail. Pretty idyllic day: little cloudy, about 65-70 degrees F. I tell Steve before we start I’m thinking of doing about 5, and if he needs to turn back and just get in 3 before heading home, I’m cool with that. We discuss pace, deciding on about 8 min miles or thereabouts.

So we start going, and I look down at my Garmin to check the pace and we’re running about 7:40/mile. I think to myself “ah it’s a little fast, but it’ll calm down. Steve hasn’t been running much.” I also comment to Steve, “We’re going a little below 8’s right now, how you feeling?” “I feel great!” Says Steve. Over the next 5 minutes and approximately ¾ of a mile, Steve continues to lower the pace down to the fastest at about 6:20/mile. Mind you, I’d been training for a half ironman and doing speedwork, so it wasn’t really a big deal for me, I was just enjoying the fun, thinking “This won’t last long, right? Or maybe it will. Steve did run track in high school.” At right around a mile, Steve turns and says “I gotta slow down. Something’s not right.”

We ran a mile and walked a mile that day. And Steve has yet to live it down. I had to work in a run the next night to stay on schedule. I also kid Steve pretty mercilessly whenever we talk. Just for reference, before his tri, I must have warned him at least 5 times to go out easy on the swim and see how he feels on the bike before beginning the hammerfest. With that said, I’ll turn it over to Steve.

Now that I look a little hard-headed—Sam’s pretty much right, in my defense, I’ll only add that I hadn’t run consistently in years, and the running I did came in pick-up/intramural games of frisbee, basketball, or football, places where my ability to run fast for short bursts comes in handy.

The Swim (400yds in a lap pool, time-trial start)

Swim Time- 8:29

As Sam has alluded to, I threw down way too hard to start the swim the swim. Within 100yds, I caught the two people in front of me….they caught me by the 300yd mark. Needless to say, I was going SLOW by that point, and couldn’t seem to get going again.

On my way outside, I must have looked pretty pitiful—my wife cheered me on by asking, “Are you going to make it?”

Just for the record, even with the added time of getting to the chip pads (50 yds away from the pool), I have no idea how I went so slow, while training I didn’t even warm-up/cool down that slow.

T1

T1 Time- 4:03

On my way out of the pool I decided to take my transition easy. I pretty much blew my race in the pool, and figured it best to simply make sure I got on the bike. I did no running through this transition—not exactly the best way to a speedy time, but I wanted to finish the race.

The Bike (supposed to be a 21k, apparently the organizers decided to make it a 22k)

Bike Time-45:45/17.3mph

I finally get on the bike (about 3-4 minutes after I thought I might), and my chain decides (for 3-5 miles) that it really wants to flip-flop between the big and small rings. I try changing gears (hitting all of them I think), and it just doesn’t want to stick. Not wanting to break the chain, I proceed at a very slow 14ish mph. Finally, as I was going up a hill, the chain stuck in the big ring!

All that said, I came in on the bike with about the time I expected, so no big surprises. I only passed a few people, and got passed by probably 6 or 8.

T2

T2 Time-1:43

A bit more respectable than T1—it helps to run….

The Run (supposed to be 5k, if you weren’t in the top 3, you were told the wrong directions, and it turned into a 4k)

Run Time-21:11/8:29/mile

The run felt good, but it was a bit slow, as I was shooting for 7:45-8/mile. Not much to say other than I had too much left at the finish.

Total Time-1:21:10, 88th overall (I don’t know how many), 20/27 AG

My goal time was to come in around 1:30, and I beat that, so I’m trying to convince myself to be happy about it. I’m unhappy because I came in with a lot of energy to spare, and feel like I could have used it on the bike or run. The good news is that I’ve got better direction now for my training. Now I know to really work on sustaining my speed.

I’m still excited about the triathlon, and can’t wait for the next race. Feel free to give me any training tips for the next go-round.