Keystone TRI Sprint

How do, all. Decided to finally post something, I've gotten lazy about this and just been enjoying others's posts.

Participated in the Keystone State Triathlon this past Sunday. Choices for distance were Olympic, Sprint, mini-Sprint, and Duathlon. Took on the Sprint at a .5 mile swim, 18.5 mile bike, and 3.2 mile run. Must have been a qualifier for something cause there were some serious athletes there competing in the Olympic. I had ate some ripe deviled eggs the Friday before and emptied out my colon (not a training technique of mine) but felt better enough by Saturday night to do the TRI. My nerves were totally focused on the swim anyway. A half mile in a lake is a long way. Like swimming across and back Lac Carmel in Terre Du Lac--something that was a fun challenge as a kid but is daunting these days. Anyway, I stayed in the back of the pack at the swim start and continually lost ground the whole way (course was a big loop around orange buoys). A couple guys freaked out midway and started yelling for the safety kayaks--this crossed my mind too but I ended up just back-stroking when I had trouble breathing. I had trained in the pool but not enough and there was no way I could have freestyled the whole way and the waves and arms and legs smacking me in the face kept me out of any kind of rhythm. It sort of turned into a mind game with myself and there was some primal fear involved until I passed the second to last buoy. Transition to bike was slow but Lera was there telling me how great I was doing--I was one of the last out of the lake. Once on the bike it started pouring, but this was the fun part of the race. I could breathe without ingesting water and felt like a kid on a huffy in the rain. Passed 10-15 folks on the two 9-mile lap course and was passed by a few guys on tri bikes in singlets sucking on straws while in the tuck position--a couple of these guys were manimals, just awesome. My transition to the run was a bit faster than the swim to bike but still slow by traithletes standards. It didn't really hit me till the end of the race that most of the pump I put into passing people on the bike and the run was lost to slow transitions (and floundering on the swim). Anyway, pounded an espresso while leaving the transition area for the run but didn't feel decent till a mile in and passed a few other guys. The course was a bit rocky but weaved through a wooded area. I sped up a bit at the end but didn't have much left. Lera was there and super smiley for me (she also got a lot of pics--below). I was glad to finish--mostly the swim--but am already thinking I need to try another and drop some time. Was gunning to be under 2:20 and finished in just over two hours. Came in 74th out of 115 or so overall. The swim was major slow but think I can decrease bike and run times with a little more prep. Lera wants to do a relay (kayak, bike, run) with me in late September. Fun stuff, thanks for sticking with the long read.

 Coming out of the water (background).


Notice the lack of swim caps behind me still in the water--I was damn near last out.


 Starting to have some fun...


 In the rain.


 Transition to run.


 Espresso in hand.


 50 meters from the finish.


 Still catching my breath.