Today I woke up at 4:30 this morning to drive an hour away to Clermont to participate in the Great Clermont Triathlon. It was my second ever triathlon, the first being the Beat the Heat Sprint Triathlon I completed last November, and my first at the International Distance. The triathlon included a 1500 meter swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. Two weeks ago I rode my bike 40k and followed it up with a 10k run just to prepare myself. That training ride and run was excruciatingly painful, especially my knee, but today I actually felt pretty good.
I got there early to pick up my packet, prepare all my stuff, and get my gear set up at the transition area. My thought going in was that it would take me about forty minutes to complete the swim, two hours for the bike ride, and an hour and a quarter to complete the run. Adding in time for the transitions, I figured it would take about four hours to complete the whole thing.
It was still pre-dawn when I stripped down to my tri-shorts (compression shorts with some padding for the biking portion) and headed to the beach where we would start the swim. The first major difference between this race and my last triathlon was that this one was taking place in a calm freshwater lake, as opposed to the ten-foot waves wreaking havoc on Daytona Beach last November. The first wave was off at 7:30 – the collegiate males. The collegiate females started three minutes later, followed by the age-group females at 7:40. Finally at 7:45 my group – age-group males under 45 – started and I jogged into the cool water until I was deep enough to start swimming.
The swim was a little crowded and there was quite a bit of bumping for the first four-hundred meters. After that, everyone started spacing out a bit. Halfway through the swim, I caught up with the slower women and shortly after, the men-over-forty-five group caught up with me, including one who swam right into me and pushed me under the water – asshole. As I swam back towards shore, I kept drifting off to the side and had to keep swimming back to correct my positioning until I started looking ahead every six or eight strokes to keep on track.
Eventually I made it back to the shallows and as soon as I felt the sand brush my fingertips, I stood up and high-stepped my way through the timing gate.
Swim Time: 30:20
I walked most of the way to the transition area to help slow my breathing down. Once I got to my bike at the back of the transition area, I quickly dried my face so my sunglasses wouldn’t get wet or fogged. I rubbed down to get any excess water off my body and feet and threw on my shorts, shirt, socks, and shoes. I put on my helmet and glasses, made sure my transition spot was tidy, grabbed my bike, and headed back out.
Transition 1 Time: 05:15
ren3gade 