Woo-hoo, I have completed my first Olympic-distance triathlon! Double the distance, double the fun.
The Dave Scott Texas Man Olympic Tri consisted of a 1,500 yard open-water swim in Lake Ray Roberts (Valley View, TX), a 23 mile bike leg, and a 10K (6.2 mile) run. I finished it in 2 hr and 42 minutes for 18th out of 27 in the men's 35-39 age group ... and 78th out of 179 overall. Pretty good performance for my first time at this longer distance! My goal was to finish the race in under 3 hours and I was able to meet that by a decent margin.
- Swim: 27:04 (75th place)
- T1: 2:41
- Bike: 1:10:40 - 19.5 MPH (51st place)
- T2: 1:21
- Run: 1:00:33 - 9:46/mi pace (114th place)
- TOTAL: 2:42:17
The water temperature in the lake was good - not too hot and not too cold - but there were actually some waves as we moved to the first turn buoy (about 450 yds from shore). Open-water swimming is still frustrating with all the swimmers packed in like sardines and running into each other. I emerged relatively unscathed, though - sticking to the outside "lane" helped. Remembering swim exit info from the pre-tri, I swam nearly up onto the sand - only stopping when my hand hit the ground on the downstroke - before jumping up and high-stepping in the shallow water towards the transition area. As I exited the water, I saw Jonathan (the Sprint tri didn't start until about an hour later) and Yvette, his TNT mentor, and gave them a thumbs-up.
The bike was exactly as I expected since I had already ridden the course at the pre-tri. Despite having just swam 0.85 miles my average speed was almost 1 1/2 MPH faster than the week before. Adrenaline had kicked in. I looked for Jarrod and Derek (who did the Olympic tri with me) on the out-and-back part of the course but I never saw them - Jarrod said he saw me, but I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention.
The run actually wasn't that bad. I was worried that my legs would be shot after biking over 23 miles, but after some initial wobbly steps I was ready to go. (I guess those brick workouts really helped.) It was still pretty early (just after 9:00 AM) so the sun wasn't too hot yet. With my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS strapped on - yep, I was the geek running with two watches on his left wrist - I managed to maintain my pace between 10:30/mi and 9:15/mi for the entire run.
The first part of the run took us out of the park and the terrain was generally uphill until reaching the entrance. Then it was mostly flat for the mile on the road outside of the park. After looping back and about to reenter the park, I heard a "Go, Andy" from Don (not "Cycling Teammate Don", but another Verizon coworker that I'd talked to a few times at the North Lake College pool) who was doing the Half-IronMan distance and was just starting the second lap of the bike course. I waved as he whizzed by.
Coming down the hill back into the park, I (almost literally) ran into Jarrod. I was definitely very focused on the run because I barely noticed him until we passed and I never saw Derek at all even though I had to run right past him on the out-and-back course! Definitely in the "running zone".
As the 10K run rejoined the 5K, I got a surge of energy as I realized that I was less than a mile and half from the finish. This part of the course was also mostly shaded so that was a relief. I drank lemonade-flavored Accelerade and dumped some water on my head at the last two rest stops and tried to pick up the pace. After final turn, I sprinted to the giant "Finish" arch that inflated and set up right on the beach where I had started a few hours earlier.
A lot of support for our little tri group at the finish line. I met Jarrod's friend, Jimmy (who lost over 100 pounds this year and was doing his first tri) who had finished the Sprint distance (with a great time for his first outing) and his family, Jarrod's family, Jonathan & Alexis (with the video camera :-), and I had met Derek's family (sister and brother-in-law visiting) before the race.
After finishing, I had a recovery meal of pizza and more Accelerade and watched the other finishers. I saw and said hello to Archie, who I had met at the TWU Sprint Tri and Denton July 4th 5K and ran with at the pre-tri. I also wandered by the Team-In-Training tent and met Leah, the Dallas TNT tri coordinator. (TNT will be an upcoming post.) Then, we all packed up our bikes and gear back at the transition area, and Jimmy's wife snapped a few photos of us - the happy triathletes.
I love this sport.
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