I tri'd

As an almost-spur-of-the-moment idea, I decided to participate in the Pepperwood mini triathlon on July 4. I was told it was a 500 meter swim, a 3 mile bike ride and a 1.5 mile run. Piece of cake, except for that swimming part.

Turns out when I got there it was still a 500 meter swim, but they doubled the bike and run portions to 6 and 3 miles, respectively. That was fine by me, as it de-emphasized the swim a little and more nearly approached a standard sprint triathlon. So with almost no swim training, in I went.

I suck at swimming, but I was in the second heat anyway (12 athletes per heat, it was a small event - maybe 30 people - 6 lanes in the pool that you shared). I was dead last out of the pool, though I think I probably finished faster than some in the first heat did. Swim split was 14:36, and my effort was a combination of crawl, backstroke, and even a little aqua jogging.

T1 was fun, although putting on a cycling jersey over a wet body was harder than I thought, otherwise it was a piece of cake. I was there maybe 2 minutes. On the bike, I passed a BUNCH of people, many on mountain bikes and all kinds of two-wheeled contraptions. I almost caught the guy on the really nice Cervelo P2C triathlon bike (who was pulling 2 kids in a trailer)... but I didn't. :) Made up a lot of ground, had a decent T2 (note to self, get speed laces for the running shoes, and make sure your socks are right-side out so you don't have to screw with that in transition), and took off running. Bike + Transitions split was 24:34

My legs felt like -- yep, you guessed it -- bricks when I took off running, but I still did alright with a 30:27 run over 3 miles. The whole thing was a rather hilly course, so all in all I'm pleased with my 1:09:38 total time.

Not sure what "place" that is in the overall, but I was 2nd in my 30-35 age group (out of 4). No hardware -- not even a t-shirt. Did I mention it was free? Yeah, I'll be doing this again next year.