A Search For (My) Life

This past weekend, I participated in my 2nd triathlon ever (or 3rd, if you count the dinky IronKids tri that I did in 8th grade), and my first at the half-ironman distance (1.2mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)
The race was held at Lake Stevens, and upon reaching there on Saturday to get my race number and check in my bike, I was surprised by a few things.

1. There were a lot of rules (mostly about not drafting on the bike leg), and there were ‘time penalties’ where you have ti sit in a tent. In reality, all the rules didn’t come into play, but I’m used to running races where all you need to do is stay on the course.
2. The ‘pre-race expo’ was pathetic. There were 4 booths, and a place to get your t-shirt. I forgot that expo’s are primarily for marketing, and so a race in north Washington with only 1,400 won’t draw too many companies. I usually look forward to the expo’s at the big marathons (Chicago, Boston and even Seattle) and spend multiple hours gathering freebies and debating sporting good purchases.
3. The bikes! Despite dolling out a good portion of my bank roll on my Trek 5000, with good pedals, shoes, carbon fiber aerobars, special aero-bar water bottles, etc. I felt like I brought a tricycle to a grownups bike race. When I checked in my bike to transition, my eyes were bugging out at the equipment surrounding me. The majority of bikes had race rims (serious money for those), and were in general much lighter and worth about $2-5K more than mine. Forget about being tough sport, triathlons are a rich sport.

I woke up the next day at 4am, drove up to Lake Stevens (about 45 min), and checked over my gear, food and swimming/running equipment. I really missed the simplicity of a running race. I was in the first wave behind the elites, and I was surprised at how easy the swim was. I finished way faster (34:01) than I had anticipated, probably because of the wetsuit, which adds to your buoyancy. I moved steadily through transition, but in retrospect, it was a bit slow.

The bike leg was really tough for me. My legs were somehow dead and hurting from the swim, and it took a long time to hit a groove. My back was aching by the end, and the hills were endless. I actually topped my all-time high for speed, hitting 47.3 mph on one of the downhills. You can imagine the uphills. Many people passed me, and I really didn’t battle it out, or try to hang with anyone.

The running leg felt great. I was surprised not to have dead legs starting out, and I started pulling people in immediately. I ended up averaging 6:54’s with a sub 6 last mile. I was motivated by counting the people I passed and eventually got bored after about 140. I finished with a 1:30:30, for a total time of 5:10:35.

Overall, I felt my performance was respectable considering my newness, and my (comparably) low-end bike. I have a lot of respect for my full Ironman now. It will be a feat just to finish.

**Special thanks to Chaitanya Sareen and Trevin Chow, who woke up early, bared the hot sun, and lost their car, all to watch me race. Races like this are only worth it if you have people waiting for you at the end. Their presence made my day.