That time I "try-athloned."

For the past couple years, I've been thinking "yeah I should do a triathlon sometime".

It started with buying a bike a couple years ago.  And then last year, I started going swimming about once a week last summer.

The problem?  Well shockingly, I'm not as good of a biker or swimmer as I am a runner, and doing these things once a week doesn't go that far to making me an expert.  And these sports are a little less efficient than running (at least for me), so it was hard to motivate myself to do them before work, etc.  So I never actually signed up for a triathlon.

Until now.  Well...a "tryathlon".  LOL??

(Basically a race with a lot of first timer triathletes, a short distance, and a swim in a pool).

My friends Heather and Sheila were already signed up and I figured, if there was a time to just jump in and do it, now was it.

Because I've been kind of living life by the seat of my pants lately, I didn't really train at all....basically I've biked about 6 miles in the last three months and swam just a handful of times.  But I figured this would be enough to finish, just not put on a great racing performance.  Which...when you're just trying to have fun and get your feet wet (literally?), I guess it's fine.

Staging area with foot?

RUN

The race started with a 5k (billed as three miles and a 5k simultaneously, but the distance was like 3.15 on the garmin so...).    Somewhat hilariously, there were a few super competitive looking girls right at the front at the start of the 5k.  Maybe they forgot there was a "y" in tryathlon this time?  Anyway, we went off on the run and it started on a major downhill.  I tried to run the race as a tempo and not to go out too fast.  Surprisingly, I felt pretty good on the run and started passing people once the run turned back uphill.

I ran into the finish with a time of 20:49 which in retrospect, I am pretty pumped about.  That's not too much slower than when I've all out raced 5ks, and my training has been pretty booze-tastic / lax lately so perhaps this bodes well for some good races this fall?

BIKE

I took my sweet time transitioning to the bike.  Mainly because I didn't want to screw anything up or fall or forget to put on a helmet or something.  The bike was 9 miles and had two loops.  The beginning of the bike ride was pretty funny because I got promptly passed by the real athletes in the race who know how to bike and stuff.  That said, I tried to give the race a good effort but also yell encouragement to the runners on the course.  And not crash.  That too.

Anyways, I finished the bike course in 32:03 which is nothing to write home about but that's ok!

SWIM

This was the part I've been the most nervous about!  I mean...I know it was only 200 meters but still!  There was about a 200 meter run into the swimming pool and then I finally jumped into the pool.  I swam four totally confused laps and came out of the pool to finish the tri!

Yay!

You guys...my swim time was 6:24.  Seriously.  Can someone teach me how to swim?

Final

1:04:22.  20th place.

I had so much fun doing this race!  So much fun that maybe I'm going to sign up for a triathlon with a swim that's not in a pool?  Obviously I have a lot of work to put in if I ever want to get serious about three sports, but for right now, I'm ok just having fun with it.  Heather and Sheila also killed the race, btw.

The only final thoughts I have on this race, is that I would definitely recommend them for someone who (like me) wants to try out a triathlon but is kind of intimidated by the whole process.  I didn't drown or crash into anyone, and in my book, that's a win.