2013 HF Indoor Triathlon - Completed

Finished my first triathlon this morning and I feel great.  I trained appropriately and met/exceeded all of my expectations in all 3 legs of the race.  The morning of the race I weighed 298 lbs.  Is there a clydesdale division?  Probably not :)

Swim:  I completed 550 yards in 10 minutes.  That is a PR for me.  I have trained to have the capacity to swim 500 yards in 10 minutes but it seems I gave it more gas.  After the first lap I realized I definitely was pushing too hard.  There is a large 60 second clock that I can easily view by sighting on the return lap.  So I tried to pace myself to 1 minute every 2 laps.  Well, I lost count of my laps and got distracted by the other swimmers.  I did finish strong and ended up surpassing my goal by 50 yards (2 lengths of the pool).  The problem was my HR never came down to the low 100s like in training.  Instead it stayed in the 120-135 range.  The pool was heated - so comfortable.  There was only one shared lane and it was not mine.

T1:  We had 10 minutes to get from the swim to the bikes.  Honestly it was plenty of time to change, fill my water bottle and stretch.

Bike:  I started the bike at too high of an HR than what I trained so naturally my HR reached 165ish in just about 3 minutes.  I tried to relax and breathe.  Once I got my HR down to the 150s I upped the gear on the bike for a bit.  After 20 minutes I rode 7.41 miles which is a respectable distance.  During the ride I got a bit bored and started watching Netflix.  I lost track of time and my heart rate fell to the lower 150s while still maintaining 90-100 rpm the entire time.  The bikes were comfortable and programmed to halt your distance at the 20 minute mark.  In training I have gone 8 miles in 20 minutes even after a 500 yard swim.  I blame the extra energy spent in the swim past 500 yards cost me a bit on the bike.

T2: We had 5 minuted to transition to the run.  The treadmills were located less than 15 feet away and the staff cleaned off the bikes for the next wave.  Again I stretched.

Run:  In 15 minutes I was able to squeak out 1.21 miles on the treadmill.  It is my weak sport by far.  Swimming and biking are quite forgiving in respect to my weight.  Gravity is a hell-of-a-thing when running at 300lbs.  I started out at 4.6 mph on the treadmill and maintained that speed for 12 minutes.  I then increased the speed to 5.6 mph for 2 minutes and decided to up the speed to 6.6 for the remaining 1 minute.  I finished strong and had enough left in my legs to walk away from the treadmill gracefully.  Again I watched a bit of Netflix to pass the time.  In training I have run 1.25 miles in 15 minutes even after a 50 yard swim and a 20 minute bike ride.

Summary:  I felt the event was well staffed by attentive individuals. My swim, bike and run all went smooth and without any issues. The equipment was all in working order. Results were posted in the health club and emailed to all participants within about 1 hour after the last wave finished. I look forward to participating in this even next year 2014.  My only gripe is that no shirt offered for this race ... maybe next time.