There's an I in Triathlon

It's over - this Sunday I finally competed in and completed the triathlon I was training for, the LA Triathlon. It was good, and I did okay but, mostly, it's over. No great stories came out of it; no life changing moments occurred. It hurt a lot and, when I finally crossed the finish line, I was just overjoyed that it was done. Don't get me wrong: It was an immense feeling of accomplishment, and I am so glad I did it, but it just wasn't that much fun, which I expected to be (at least a little)



The results are here. I finished in 2:52 and was 74th out of 177 people in my age group (they stagger the start of the race, and send you off in waves based on your age group, so these are the folks you are competing against and mainly racing with). My swim time was horrible (as was my swim to bike transition time), my bike time was not great (though this was leg was the most fun - it was amazing riding on the blocked off and deserted streets of LA), and my run time was okay (though every step was pain). Without knowing what goal to set, I had hoped to finish in under three hours. I did this, but now realize I should have set a tougher goal. Again, I am happy with my accomplishment, but disappointed in my performance. On the positive side, if I was a 20-24 year old female, I would have gotten third place.



Three observations:

1. I know I have a big ego, but training and racing in one of these things has got to be the most ego-centric and self-centered things I have ever done. For the months of training, it was constant thinking about me, and how I was feeling, and what I was eating, and what would I be doing tomorrow to make time for me to train and think about myself more. The Saturday before the race was unbearably about me, and making sure I was all rested and nutritioned up for the race. By the end of the race, I was so sick of me. There is such a big I in Triathlon...

2. Gearheads are rampant in the Tri world. I think I was one of the only people without a several thousand $ Tri bike and Tri wetsuit (I rode a normal road bike and wore a regular surfing shorty wetsuit). I felt the same joy in passing them as golfers using $30 drivers do in outdriving people using $300 Callaways.



3. Why have none of my friends ever told me that I run like the villain from Terminator 2? Check out this video of me finishing the race (I am the guy in front with the robot-like running form):



Wow, I seem so negative about things. Did I mention that my Tri career has only just begun ?



Update: They created nice free summary report
of our performance.