This weekend I competed in my first ever triathlon. It was an interesting experience - that's about the nicest thing I will say about it. I had registered for it earlier this year, and had been doing a reasonable amount of training. Or at least I thought so. Turns out I was way underprepared for the swim.
Saturday I had to get checked in and drop my bike off in the transition area. The registration was really well organized, and I was all checked in in no time. I had gotten there a bit early to avoid the rush, so it left me with about an hour to enjoy the sunny day at the beach before the required athletes meeting.
The meeting went off right on schedule, and provided a lot of good information. Justine came to pick me up, and we headed back home to rest and relax for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful one.
Sunday I woke to one of the most bizarre skies I had ever seen. It looked like thunderstorm or even tornado weather, but the weather forecast showed clear skies and now a chance of rain. It was seriously strange.
Turns out, there was a huge forest fire a few hundred kilometers north of us, and the wind was blowing the smoke and ash from the forest fire into Vancouver. I've not seen anything like it, and it only got worse as the day went on.
I was feeling a bit nervous about the race as I got packed up and organized to head out.
Bikes set-up in the transition area.
This is what the course looks like.
Check in area
This was the sky on Sunday morning - not a cloud in sight!
The triathlon I was doing was the shortest one you can do - a Sprint distance. A 750m swim, a 20 km bike and a 5 km run. The bike and run didn't concern me - I could do those distances without much trouble, but the swim was a concern. I had been doing some practice, but I wasn't confident at all.
Ready to race.
It was a tough wait at the beginning of the race.
And we're off - let the race begin.
Survival! Barely...
As expected, the swim was tough. There was a major current (tide going out) that made getting to the first turn point really hard. It blew us way inside the turn, and it was a fight against the current to get out to it. It did make the section down current easier, but I had nothing left at that point anyway. From there it was pure survival to get back to short. I'm not sure I've ever been that tired. From there it was the transition to the bike, which I was feeling much better about.
Transition to the bike.
Coming in at the end of the bike ride
The bike went pretty well. I averaged almost 30 km/hr, and made up a lot of time. I felt good most of the way, but may have put too much into the bike, as I felt awful once I got out onto the run course.
And I'm off onto the run course.
Coming to the finish line
Success! Across the line in 1:30:17. Not bad, but not great.
My very nice finisher medal.
My official race results
So the final result wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad for a first time I guess. About half way through the full registration, but pretty poor in my age group/sex. I'm pretty sure this will be my last tri - I really didn't enjoy the swim piece of it. Still, one more thing off the list and I can say I've completed a triathlon