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.
So 2013 is gone… well, it’s almost gone anyway. While I’ve only completed four of my ten goals that I set in August to complete before I turn 28 next August, I still feel like setting more goals for 2014. I’m going to try not to duplicate any uncompleted goals from my other list, but I may if I feel I need to.
1: Run at Least Two Marathons
First on this list is similar to the first on the last list, except I’ve upped the ante – two marathons. Now that I’ve completed the Space Coast Marathon, I intend to complete that marathon again, but I’d also like to try my hand at another new marathon. Which one, I haven’t decided. I’ve heard lots of good things about the Disney Marathon, but it’s already booked. Maybe I’ll shoot for something later in the year.
2: Complete an Olympic-Distance Triathlon
I completed my first Triathlon this year – the Beat the Heat Sprint Triathlon. Now I need to up the distance and aim for the Olympic level – 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. The biking portion is my current downfall, though I had most of my trouble in the sprint with the swim, though the waves were about ten feet tall and relentless, so perhaps I’ll have better luck next time.
3: Get Scuba Certified for Nitrox and Advanced Open Water
Last November I spent two weeks getting PADI Open WaterDiver Certified. In January, I plan to get certified to use Nitrox (higher concentration of Oxygen to Nitrogen than regular air). On the first weekend of February, I plan to get my Advanced Open Water Diver Certification, including night diving, wreck diving, and deep diving. That should open up a whole new world of adventures, though I’ve already dropped almost two grand on the classes and equipment. The Advanced class also falls on Super Bowl Weekend – a sad thought indeed, especially if either of my teams are in the Super Bowl, the Patriots and the Panthers.
4: Go to Burning Man
I’ve always thought about going to Burning Man, but recently the thought has had a deeper imprint on my mind. All the artistic talent on display and the free-spirit vibe of the whole event sounds like an exciting time.
5: Go Hiking
Here’s where I cheat a little and combine some previous goals. The goal here is to complete at least one hiking adventure bucket-list item. This could be a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, which would take four to six months, a thru-hike of the John Muir Trail, which would take about three weeks, or maybe just Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, which would take a little over a week.
I had been preparing for months for the Beat the Heat Sprint Triathlon which consists of a 400 meter swim, a 20k bike ride, and a 5k run. Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten my swimming up to three miles swimming at Wekiva Springs State Park, my running up to nineteen miles during my marathon training, but my biking only ever hit fourteen miles. Last Tuesday I even did a ten mile bike ride followed by a three mile run, just to simulate the transition at the end of the race.
On Sunday morning, I woke up at four oclock and grabbed my stuff and grabbed some breakfast. I put all the stuff I needed in my car, attached my bike rack to my car and put my bike on it. I got in the car and checked the checklist I had made the day before of things I didn’t want to forget. I had all my items and I had strapped my bike rack to my car. There was one item that confused me though – “check two straps for bike”. I had forgotten to strap my bike to the bike rack – whoops! I quickly did that and then I was off to Daytona Beach.
On the way there, while driving down I-4 in the middle of the night, Sunny 105.9 played Renegade by Styx and Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas, two of my favorite classic rock songs. I had the radio blasting on full volume and I was ready to rock! I got there just before 5:30 and got all my stuff set up in the transition area. I sat around for an hour in the pre-dawn breeze which started a little chilly, but got even worse later on.
I was able to watch the sunrise over the horizon, the textured ceiling of clouds turning from red to orange to yellow. Shortly after sunrise we all made our way to the beach and got a briefing of the conditions. The waves were “gnarly” as described by the Race Director – actually they were more suited for surfing than swimming through. The waves were set up so that the Sprint swimmers would go first – men starting, then women and relay teams – followed by the Olympic swimmers, also men first followed by women and relay shortly after.
I quickly made my way into the water at the sound of the horn along with all the other Sprint Triathlon men. We had to swim out to the first buoy, past the breaking waves, then turn parallel to shore and after the fourth buoy we turned back towards shore to finish the swim. The swim out was difficult due to the enormous waves pushing us back and crashing in our faces. I tried to dive under the waves, but my breathing was getting interrupted on a regular basis and the extra effort to push through the waves was wearing me out quickly.
Finally I made it to the first buoy and turned parallel to shore. I thought I would be fine here since I was out of the wave-breaking zone, but the water was so choppy that I quickly swallowed an entire mouthful of water and nearly gagged right there. I got myself under control and made my way past the second buoy, then the third, and finally the fourth. I turned toward shore, which I couldn’t even see over all the waves. I was hoping I could ride the waves back in, but while they carried me in a bit with each swell, they also pulled me back out on the back end. Halfway back to shore a wave caught me by surprise, since they were coming from behind me, and crashed right over the back of my head, ripping my goggles off. I flailed to catch them but they were already gone.
I struggled back to shore amid the crashing waves and blinding saltwater, but finally made it to shore and ran to the transition area. I deposited my swimming equipment and put on my socks, shoes, helmet, and gloves. My sunglasses were fogging up, so I hung them from my GoPro in case I needed them, but the sun wasn’t that high yet. I took off on my bike and made my way out to A1A (beachfront avenue!) It was six miles out and six miles back. The trip out started pretty easy, I normally ride at 20kph, but I was cruising at 24kph. Everyone was still passing me, but I didn’t care, I knew this was my weak event and was just pacing myself to finish. I hit the turnaround point and made my way back north – right into a headwind.
The next six miles were absolute hell, pushing through the strong wind that had created the evil waves that had already beaten me. I still maintained a 20-22kph pace and eventually made it back to the transition area, though both my hands and my crotch were losing feeling and my legs were burning. I dropped off my bike, gloves, and helmet, and grabbed my Red Sox Boston Strong hat (represent!) and Gatorade bottle. I nearly downed the whole bottle there, and had been intending to, but I decided to carry it with me while I ran. I left the transition area, ran down to the beach and then a mile and a half down the beach. There were two water/Gatorade stops along the way, which helped me refuel my limited supply. My thighs were numb, my calves were on fire, but I stuck with what I knew from my marathon training – one minute run, one minute walk, do six cycles of that to get about a mile, then take an extra minute walk before repeating the whole thing over. Three miles should take three circuits or eighteen total runs.
I saw the finish, I checked my watch, I was about to start my fifth run on my third circuit and I knew I wasn’t far enough to get there in one minute, but I knew I could bust out the rest of the run in one go. I pushed through the pain and into a zone of euphoria – I was almost there! I sprinted the last hundred meters or so and crossed the finish line – my first Triathlon complete.
I later discovered that during the swim, the lifeguards determined it to be so bad that they pulled a lot of people out of the water and the entire Olympic group did a Duathlon – run, bike, run – instead of swimming. I would have been disappointed if I wasn’t able to do the swimming portion, so I’m glad I was in the first wave and didn’t get pulled off the course. Even with the rough waters, I’d rather swim and complete a Triathlon than run and do a Duathlon. So with that, my second goal that I set for myself in August has been completed – next up, the Space Coast Marathon on December 1st.
ren3gade 