July 8, 2001

Two weeks before this triathlon, a couple of people shared in church (during Joys and Concerns - I think this was a concern) they were preparing for a "triathlon". I had never thought about doing such an event before but I thought this sounded pretty cool. I was a life guard in college so I knew I could swim and I had always been a biker. And really, how bad could 2 miles be?

So the week before the event, I purchased my first pair of running shoes (not counting indoor soccer shoes) and ran around the Villas Zoo which is about a mile. It really sucked. I didn't think I was going to make it. I've never been a runner (and really still not). Luckily, I had enough sense to sign up for the "mini" triathlon: 300m swim, 10 mi. bike and 2 mi. run.

It was a bright, sunny morning, which would soon turn very warm. We swam in Lake Mendota, at the height of its weed bloom. Most of the swim I was fighting thick sea grass. My first mistake was trying to bust out on the swim. 20m into the 300m swim I was exhausted. I had to complete the rest of the swim with a hybrid breast stroke/doggie paddle.

I had a longer than normal (compared to now) transition due to my choice of swimming attire. I had two "umbro" style sports shorts. Black ones for swimming and red ones for biking (I don't know where the color choice came from). Underneath, I wore some "tighty-whities". After the swim, I whipped off the black ones and slipped on the red ones (I think I put some cut-off sweats underneath the shorts for padding on the bike.

The bike was a flat 10 mile ride across the north side of Madison. I averaged a little over 21 mph. This was the first and only tri I completed with the yellow Sanwa, a 20+ year old Janpanese road bike. Its a 58cm frame which is really too small for me. It had metal toes clips and biopace cranks. The chain locked up on the last downhill so I had to coast in the last 300m.

The toe clips were important for my 49 sec. transition from bike to run. Because I was wearing my running shoes on the bike, I simply dropped my helmet grabbed a hat and started running. Halfway through the two mile run, I had to start walking. I met an older guy who encouraged me to start running again - getting me to run the rest of the way to the finish.

PLACE	BIB	AGE	TIME	SWIM	TRANS1	BIKE	TRANS2	RUN	DIV
83/270	751	28	56:44	7:33	2:30	28:04	0:49	17:50	M25-29

see the results for myself and Kathy for all past triathlons

Exiting water

Bike transition

Dismount bike