Tomorrow morning I’m going to be competing in my first Triathlon. It’s a short one, only a 300m swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run… but I’m nervous as hell. The swimming and the biking I don’t anticipate having a problem with… but the running… well, I’m sure it won’t be pretty when my heart explodes out of my chest.
In lieu of flowers please donate to your favorite charity.
A friend of mine just did his first triathlon 2 weeks ago. It was a short one like yours. He loved it, and had a great time. He plans on continuing to do them.
And he couldn’t swim the month before the event. I kid you not. He went to the pool, got a few private sessions, and pretty much practiced every day up until the event.
For him the running was the easy part, having completed many a marathon.
Good luck to you, and please report in afterwards to let us know how it went!
[incidentally, I’m considering running the Morotola marathon in your fine town coming up in February!]
I did a lot of those back when. They’re not that bad.
Advice? When swimming, look out for people right in front of you kicking you in the face, seriously. Keep your distance, better yet, swim wide and not a straight line where all the people will be. that is if it’s in a lake…and don’t try to swallow too much water when swimming, that was my biggest problem.
Running, if you get tired, walk. Don’t sweat it.
The problem is it’s so short, you may go out too fast, just stay in control. Remember what your goals are for each split and don’t get too ahead of them.
Good luck!!!
So Lightnin’, how’d it go?
I hope your cramping question over in GQ isn’t indicative of what happened…
So how’d it go?
I once participated in a unique triathalon, started out with about a 10 mile canoe trip down river (almost no current) then hike back up river with a back pack with about 20% of your body weight in it. Then ride a bike for about 20 miles. It was very fun and a bit easier to do than a “real” triathalon.
Well, I didn’t die.
And I managed to thoroughly trounce the morbidly obese paraplegic centenarian (MOPC). In your FACE, grampa!
I actually did quite well on the swim- I managed to pass quite a few people. I’ll have to seed myself higher on the next race.
However…
On the first half of the ride, I had massive cramps under my ribs. As such, I could only pedal at a very leisurely rate. The second half improved, though, and the MOPC started to fall behind.
Then came the run. Or, as I prefer to call it, the limp.
My calves cramped up mightily on the first half of the run, so I winced my way through the course. I managed to sprint the last two hundred feet, though, so I looked really good compared to MOPC.
I liked it, despite all the pain. I’m in another one next month, and you can bet your ass I’m going to train harder for that one. Yessir, right after this bon-bon.