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And what happened after that first triathlon? I enjoyed creating a log of tri-related events I was in and decided to continue this log on a second triathlon update page.
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Mission accomplished -- I finished my first triathlon!, a Sprint triathlon at the Davis Raquet and Fitness Club, in Davis, CA (near Sacramento). As this was my first triathlon and because this means I achieved the goal I set myself a year ago, it deserves its own web page... |
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My first multisport race: Duathlon in Hughson, CA (near Modesto). Hughson is a little village in the middle of orchards. They grow mostly walnuts but also fruit. This race (there was also a 5k and a 10k and a children's run) was part of the annual Hughson Nut and Fruit Festival -- essentially a sort of a country fair where you can oohh and ahh over the latest farming equipment (harvesters, tractors,...) among other things. The nice thing about this setting: as you are in the middle of almost nowhere there is practically no traffic - and the Hughson police did a great job rerouting the few cars that were out there. Ideal conditions for a race (except for the potholes you typically find on country roads). Although the Duathlon was the biggest event at the race, it was a very small race (as you can see they didn't even print their own race numbers.) Only 65 people competed in the Duathlon, probably also because several big triathlons in the Bay area are on the same date. The Duathlon consisted of a 5k run, a 15 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run (one right after the other, with transition time essentially to change shoes) My time for this was 1:31:25. I achieved 36th place (out of 65) with this time. I could have been faster on the bike leg had I not neglected the bike in the past months. A major repair on the bike in the last week before the race (and having to wait for days to get the spare part) didn't exactly help either. My split times were: Run1 - 26:00, T1 - 1:30, Bike - 46:22, T2 - 1:11, Run2 - 16:22. Total: 1:31:25 (winning time was: 1:11:57) |
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Third race, and again a run. This time the 10k distance. I didn't really feel too well in the morning and my allergy bothered me as well. So the result came as a real surprise to me. I finished in a very good time for me: 49:47, which is approximately an 8 minute mile on average (that was my training goal for the end of this season, I never dreamed of achieving it in May!). This result means that I improved by almost 5 minutes in 2 months (see San Jose Mercury 10k result!) The "Human Race" is a fund raiser and I chose this race mostly for location: it took place in Lake Almaden Park, essentially across the street from where I live. Most of the run is on the very paths I use for training runs. It's about to get interesting. I registered for a Duathlon for next weekend, and I plan to do my first Triathlon on June 2nd. |
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My second race was today (again only a run). This time it was only a 5k (3.1miles) run. The Challenge for Charity 5k and 10k took place at Stanford University. A beautiful campus and a gorgeous place to stage a race. And as a bonus we had a real stadium finish (where you run into a sports stadium, and do half a lap in the stadium before you cross the finish line. (Good preparation for the next Olympics, right?) The only thing missing was the 50.000 people cheering me on... A few days earlier I had tried a 5k on the treadmill and did it in 23:46. Now, at the race I improved a bit over this. My official time was 23:34 (which is not bad at all for me). I'm definitely improving. The winning time was 16:49, so there is still a lot of space for improvement. Overall I made 53rd place (of 288), 44th counting only the men and 19th in the age-group male30-39. |
I neglected bicycling lately -- partly because the weather was pretty cold and wet. I'll soon start riding my bike to work again, which should take care of that part: there is a tough 1+ mile long hill on the way to the office which makes for some good training.
I also made some progress in running. I run typically only 5k distances now, but my speed is improving. Today (4/15) I did a 20mile bike ride and right afterwards ran a 5k in about 25.5 minutes. This means my running speed picked up considerably since the Press Run. By the way: a bike ride followed by a run is called a 'brick workout' in triathlon lingo, possibly because your legs feel like bricks when you start running.
It's about time I decided what race I want to try for my first tri... I'm aiming for something in early June. This means I have 2 more months... Yikes!! Stay tuned.
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My main focus in the past few months was running because for me that's the most difficult (newest) of the three sports. I made a lot of progress and decided to do a reality check at a race. For various reasons (location being one of them) I picked the San Jose Mercury Pressrun (a 10k race) as my first race. That race was this past Sunday (3/11). I had two goals:
a) finish the race, b) finish it in under 55 minutes. To keep a long story short: I achieved both goals and I'm quite proud of it! I measured a time of 53:58. The offical time turned out to be 54:31, still under the 55 minutes. Yeah!! (never mind that the winner in my age group did it in 22 minutes less) To the left is a scan of my race number. |
How about the other two sports? In the Fall of 2000 I spent a lot of time on my swimming, but without a coach. Unfortunately, when the California energy crisis struck, they turned off the heating in our pool which ended this phase of training. The pool is still cold at this date. Today I finally took action and I joined the San Jose Aquatics Masters program. From now on I'll swim with a trainer.
Bicycling was also neglected. California is cold and rainy in January and February and I admit I prefer to bike in nice weather. The fact that I bought a car in December didn't exactly help. However, I plan to start riding my bike to work again very soon and then there will be progress on this front as well.
