MY FIRST TRIATHLON

About four months ago I decided that I would train and compete in a triathlon. I have always had enormous respect and appreciation for the people who have even attempted a triathlon. The timing seemed right and it was something I have always wanted to do so I went for it. On Saturday the 6th of August 2016 at 7:45AM I entered the Atlantic Ocean and one hour and twenty-four minutes later I crossed the finish line. Not only did I complete a sprint distance event, but I came in first place in the novice division. As they say, the devil is in the details and that is certainly the case here, some of which will remain veiled in this journey as they are personal. However, from a competition point of view some of the details include watching the event to gather intel, riding the course to gain a feel of the terrain, and completing simulations to gauge how I would feel performing at a certain levels. Additionally, researching hydration, nutrition, bike and running cadence and stride length. All of these details allowed me to put together a strategy for race day. In others words, I was able to pace the work ahead in order to work my pace in the race.

 

Although the race win was the icing on the cake the real win was determining what times I would be happy with regardless how I placed to others. I came very very close to hitting what I had set as an excellent time level for myself. I had set a good day below 1:30:00, a great day below 1:25:00 and an excellent time below 1:20:00. The swim length was actually about 150 meters longer that what I was basing my times around. When I adjust for that extra 150 meters at my swim pace or roughly 2:00/100m I believe my time of 1:24.01 would have been closer to 1:21:00 or only 60 seconds off my excellent time level.

 

My heart rate for the event consisted of an average of nearly 171 beats per minute with a max of 188. By the time I hit the finish line I was gassed. I felt like I managed my exertion very well and that it was a uniform effort. In other words, I didn’t hold anything back to have a big finish.

 

HOW DID I COMPARE?

One thing about me is that I am an analytical person. I think it’s one of the reason I love endurance sports, especially sports car racing. With today’s technology you can gather, store and interpret data pretty quickly to see how things are performing. I enjoy being able to see how things are performing relative to the competition and in certain aspects of the event. In the case of triathlons, how does one person compare to another overall, by age group or division in each of the different events. With that said here are the numbers:

 

SWIM

My swim time of 0:10:15 compared to the averages of the division, age group and top three overall were -0:0:51, 0:0:25, and 0:03:09. I was nearly a minute faster than the division average, 25 seconds slower than my age group’s average and over three minutes slower than the overall average of the top three...wow!!

 

BIKE

My bike time of 0:45:23 compared to the averages of the division, age group and top three overall were -0:04:27, -0:01:09, and 0:06:28.

 

RUN

My run time of 0:24:46 compared to the averages of the division, age group and top three overall were -0:00:30, -0:02:55, and 0:06:02.

 

OVERALL TIME

My overall time of 1:24:01.6 compared to the averages of the division, age group and top three overall are -0:05:41.730, -0:03:12.990, and 0:17:53.000.

 

WHAT’S IT ALL MEAN?

A quick look at the data there are two things that stick out to me. The first is that even against my age group I did well. If fact, my time would have been good enough for nearly a top 10 finish of which I am very proud of considering it is my first time competing against guys who in some cases are riding $3,000.00+ bikes and using aero helmets. The second is the glaring discrepancy of nearly 18 minutes between me and the average of the overall top three finishers. I am amazed at the performance of these athletes and love that I have benchmark in which to work towards. Two minutes alone can be found in just improving my transition time between the swim to the bike and bike to the run.

 

THE JOURNEY

I really enjoyed the overall journey from start to finish. The training was fun from the standpoint that with the Garmin 920XT watch I purchased I could see improvement which was a motivator. However, there were days we I often found myself thinking “What I am doing?” This especially was happening at the beginning of the training when after 4 laps in the pool and feeling like I could not breathe and wondering how I am going to be ready. Or the week I had to take off because of overtraining and seeing my blood pressure become too high. Or the roller coaster of personal and business relationship challenges that left me feeling drained and not much motivation to continue training. Or to watch our dogs with heart problems struggle including June 16 when it seemed that Milo was having a stroke and seemed to be at the foot of the rainbow bridge. But for one hour and twenty-four minutes the world stopped and the problems were non-existent as I was no longer a husband, father, businessman, Eagle Scout, college grad, etc...I was a triathlete with one purpose. Swim, bike and run as fast as I @$#!*&% can!

 

THANK YOUs

I want to say Thank You to all of you who followed me on this journey. I want to especially thank a few individuals such as my wife, Shanna Parker Gardner, for believing in me, pushing me forward and being patient and encouraging while I was away to train. I love you! To people like Beverly Meeks and Julie Bynum Rader who seemed to give a “thumbs up” or words of encouragement on each of my training posts. To Clark Barton for being there to give support and for taking the amazing picture that we all get to enjoy. To David Kattreh for allowing me to use his bike...it was fast and smooth on the course David. In the end, it was the bike segment that was the difference maker in winning the division as I was able to pull out a 1:20.000 advantage (5 seconds faster per mile) over second place which accounts for nearly all of the overall win of 1:28.300. To Billy Thomas Jr. and Rachel Thomas and their kids for their faith in me and helping me to gather intel. To the Stellar Triathlon Team for holding their Beers and Buoys events on Monday evenings to give people the opportunity to swim in the ocean with some supervision. To both Eddy Torriente and Jay Weaver for their advice, tips, and overall encouragement. To the chickens on our farm for their eggs I had at 2AM...my stomach was satiated the entire time. For my race engineers, aka my parents, who created my heart, body and mind that powered my soul to victory. This was a joint effort of a lot of people and I am most grateful for them.

 

#ThankU to Universe for keeping everything together in my life just enough to pull this off.

 

Photo Credit: BB Action Photo