Race Report: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006, Indoor Triathlon

15 min. for each: swim, bike, run

Stats:

Swim: 764.40 yards (14 laps in a pool I don't know the distance of--not 25 yards, longer)
Bike: 2.65 miles (4,665 yards)
Run: 27.75 laps (2,580.75)
Total yards: 8,010
Place in AG: Second

Whew, that was a huge surprise. I only knew two people in the age group and had no idea how many more were there besides me, so I was more than mildly suprised to have been second (third if you don't count masters--but they didn't).

The swim was my best for this amount of time in one of these events. I can't do the math on the pool length and forgot to ask, but it was definitely longer than 25 yards, which I am used to. Since I count my strokes, I knew when I hit my usual stroke count for one length that something was different. Took me 6 strokes more to get to each end, 4 by the time I got done. I just felt smooth and steady and could basically see how I was doing compared to others in my heat. I swam farthest in my heat. That was also a surprise.

The bike portion was on a floor above the pool level. Quite a distance away actually. But they give you 5 min. so I had time to get dressed and get to the bike in time to get the seat fixed. This year instead of air dynes we had mountain bikes on wind trainers. Quite a pleasant improvement. The only complaint I had about the bike portion was the bike was too big for me, so I never felt totally comfortable on it even though the seat was adjusted pretty well. And whoever used it before me had as much resistance on it as you could put. And we weren't allowed to pedal and get that adjusted ahead of time, so I spent at least 3 min. getting adjusted with that. I felt like I was biking uphill with all the gears on for a few minutes. But my bike distance wasn't that bad despite this complication. These bikes were a whole lot friendlier to the legs, that's for sure. Fifteen minutes seemed forever on this bike though.

The run was on the next level up from the bike. With all those steps that should have counted towards something! The run was on a track over the top of the basketball court, on which a game was taking place. It was 19 laps to the mile. My goal for this was to keep steady so I wouldn't feel like I had to walk. Fortunately that never happened. A lot of that was due to the fact that it was so wonderfully cool in there I never got to that overheated feeling that makes me feel sick. It was on an old wooden track, which is quite comfortable to run on actually. And the short track made it easier to keep the momentum going. I only wanted to get some water once because my throat was so dry, but I fought the urge to stop. So I did close to a mile and a half. I actually was closer to completing another full lap than not, but they round down instead of giving actual distance like in the past, but everyone had the same handicap.

My friend and I that did this (she got first in her AG) stayed to watch some of the other heats. We had noticed there was a woman who came in with us that had a dog and we figured eventually that she was blind, and questioned each other about what she was going to do or whether she was just watching, finally deciding she must be in a relay. But which event would she do?? As it turned out, she did the whole thing! It was really quite impressive to watch. She did have a runner guide but otherwise was on her own. She took first in her AG. Pretty good!

The overall female winner was also masters winner, but that rolled down to the first place woman in my age group, making me second in the AG. I knew the woman ahead of me and knew she would beat me, but she was soooo worried when she got done that maybe she didn't beat me. I always out swim her, but she can bike like crazy and her run isn't bad either. What was the surprise was the masters female was the woman I mentioned before about being so critical of people. Since this was her first ever triathlon, she was a little humbled from the experience. She did a fantastic job on every event, even the bike, despite never biking. As she put it, I didn't really realize so much went into a triathlon. I mean I swim, I run, but I have never put them together, and then add the bike. I didn't know what to expect. So maybe some of us "slow" runners earned a little respect finally!

All in all a fun event. And a great way to hook up with the local triathletes you don't usually see in the winter.