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This was my first triathlon attempt, an indoor effort. Originally billed as a 30 min swim, 30 min stationary bike and 30 min treadmill run, the swim was shortened to 20 min for an unknown reason. My goals were better than 1200 yards for the 30 min swim, avg 18.5 mph for the bike and 3.5 miles or more for the run. As an aside, I am diabetic so my other concern was keeping my blood sugar at a steady state. I have had difficulties with this during road races which has affected my performance. Each segment was followed by a 5 min transition.<br>
Swim<br>
I was in the third wave. It was clear from the start that I was amongst fishes. Many of the swimmers were churning out 1:20-1:30 100 yd splits. Everyone was sharing lanes. At the start my blood sugar was 80 which is good. My first 100 was in 1:55 which was way too fast. I then became distracted and crashed into the guy sharing my lane. Tired from the first 100 I slowed to a comfort pace. The mandatory swim cap started to feel like a crown of thorns but I fought the urge to remove it for fear of being disqualified. Finished 800 yards and missed my first goal.<br>
Bike<br>
Ran into the locker room and quickly changed, got to the bikes with 1 min left. Measured my blood sugar at 82, again good. I was really hot from the swim but as we started the bike I realized I had left my water bottle in my bag, oh well. Did the first 10 min at 18.5 pace. Then I started to tire and spun for a while. At 15 min got a cramp in my right calf so I continued spinning until it worked itself out around min 20. Last 10 min went at a good pace, avg around 19 mph for the last 4-5 min. Ended with 9.05 miles or avg 18.1 mph and missed second goal. Realistically 18 mph would have been a good goal but I was shooting high.<br>
Run<br>
Checked my blood sugar again 77, great. Got on the treadmill and started at a 8:30 pace planning to increase as tolerated. After 2 minutes got significant cramps in both calves. Dialed it back to 8:50 and prayed the cramps would go away. I considered stopping to stretch but I kept plugging away. Started to feel better at 2 miles so I went to increase the pace, instead I hit the pause button and lost all my information. Fortunately the woman running next to me had been looking at my display so the organizers agreed to add 2 miles to whatever I was able to complete over the next 12 minutes. The woman next to me then encouraged me to pick up the pace so I did to 8:12/mile. After 8 minutes went to increase my pace to finish strong and guess what I did again. Again my neighbor vouched for me. Fininshed the last 4 min sub 8. Final mileage 3.46. I think I would have made this goal if not for the 2 stoppages. It took a long time to get back up to speed<br><br>
The experience was really enjoyable. I was happy to at least come close to my goals. I was ecstatic to keep my blood sugars so even. I was unable to stay for the results but I think I was middle of pack after being BOP for the swim.<br>
Lessons learned<br>
1) I need to have my stroke analyzed. This is already in the works, furthermore, I met the coach of a local masters team at the race and he invited me to their workouts.<br>
2) I think I have a lot more untapped potential in the bike. I have only been working on the bike for 3 months and just recently got my trainer. My longest workouts have been 30-40 min. I think this may be my best event in the future<br>
3) I need to keep hydrated and stretch to maybe avoid cramps<br><br>
Looking forward to my next attempt. Thanks for all the encouragement and advice.
Swim<br>
I was in the third wave. It was clear from the start that I was amongst fishes. Many of the swimmers were churning out 1:20-1:30 100 yd splits. Everyone was sharing lanes. At the start my blood sugar was 80 which is good. My first 100 was in 1:55 which was way too fast. I then became distracted and crashed into the guy sharing my lane. Tired from the first 100 I slowed to a comfort pace. The mandatory swim cap started to feel like a crown of thorns but I fought the urge to remove it for fear of being disqualified. Finished 800 yards and missed my first goal.<br>
Bike<br>
Ran into the locker room and quickly changed, got to the bikes with 1 min left. Measured my blood sugar at 82, again good. I was really hot from the swim but as we started the bike I realized I had left my water bottle in my bag, oh well. Did the first 10 min at 18.5 pace. Then I started to tire and spun for a while. At 15 min got a cramp in my right calf so I continued spinning until it worked itself out around min 20. Last 10 min went at a good pace, avg around 19 mph for the last 4-5 min. Ended with 9.05 miles or avg 18.1 mph and missed second goal. Realistically 18 mph would have been a good goal but I was shooting high.<br>
Run<br>
Checked my blood sugar again 77, great. Got on the treadmill and started at a 8:30 pace planning to increase as tolerated. After 2 minutes got significant cramps in both calves. Dialed it back to 8:50 and prayed the cramps would go away. I considered stopping to stretch but I kept plugging away. Started to feel better at 2 miles so I went to increase the pace, instead I hit the pause button and lost all my information. Fortunately the woman running next to me had been looking at my display so the organizers agreed to add 2 miles to whatever I was able to complete over the next 12 minutes. The woman next to me then encouraged me to pick up the pace so I did to 8:12/mile. After 8 minutes went to increase my pace to finish strong and guess what I did again. Again my neighbor vouched for me. Fininshed the last 4 min sub 8. Final mileage 3.46. I think I would have made this goal if not for the 2 stoppages. It took a long time to get back up to speed<br><br>
The experience was really enjoyable. I was happy to at least come close to my goals. I was ecstatic to keep my blood sugars so even. I was unable to stay for the results but I think I was middle of pack after being BOP for the swim.<br>
Lessons learned<br>
1) I need to have my stroke analyzed. This is already in the works, furthermore, I met the coach of a local masters team at the race and he invited me to their workouts.<br>
2) I think I have a lot more untapped potential in the bike. I have only been working on the bike for 3 months and just recently got my trainer. My longest workouts have been 30-40 min. I think this may be my best event in the future<br>
3) I need to keep hydrated and stretch to maybe avoid cramps<br><br>
Looking forward to my next attempt. Thanks for all the encouragement and advice.
