First Triathlon In The Books!

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First Triathlon In The Books!

Dr Greg: “You know what you should do?

Me: “No?!?!

Dr Greg:”You should do an Ironman Triathlon!

Me:”Sure!!!

It wasn’t very long ago when I had my mind made up by my Chiropractor that I was doing an Ironman, when I had never even done a triathlon before, so naturally I take the challenge head on and signed up for Ironman Wisconsin and, got introduced to Bob McEnaney at Total Cycling Performance and so this journey begun!

There is probably a whole other blog called ‘WHAT WAS I THINKING’ coming, to talk more about this road to Ironman, but for now I would like to just write a little about my 1st triathlon I just crushed over the weekend, the Minneapolis Life Time Tri that took place at Lake Nokomis on the 8th July.

Friday night I was trying to get gear together, apart from That beard Guy race suit, Orca 3/4 neoprene swim shorts, Orca Sonar wetsuit(wasnt sure which I would use for the swim), running shoes, bike and cycle kit, preparing my Infinit Nutrition, I actually had no idea what all I was going to need to take and was going over my check list to see if there was anything I missed or may need and got to bed way to late.

My alarm woke me far too early. I decided since the race was only starting in 4 hours time I was going to eat a solid breakfast of potatoes, scrambled eggs and coffee. Packed everything into the car and off I went. I left pretty early but being my 1st Tri I wanted to get a decent parking spot(not much in the area close by) and not get caught in the road closures. I also wanted to not get to a race late, being all rushed and mind not in the right space. Got myself set up and was feeling very relaxed, meeting some new people and just hanging out before the transition area closed.

They anounced the water temp and it was warm but still wetsuit legal, after much thought, going back and forth I decided to just wear my Orca 3/4 Neoprene shorts, best desision ever! Once I got going the water was really warm and I settled in, relaxed and just kept the motor going. Wasn’t as bad as I had thought and was great for building my confidence as I swam into people, people swam into me and I actually at one point had a guy swim sideways over the top of me(sure he added way more distance to his swim then was required haha) but through all of this I kept my cool and before I knew it I was running up the shore to my bike.

Did the 0.93mile swim in 00:28:12 swimming and average pace of 1:53mins/100m

It was quite the run to the bike, but I slipped out of the neoprene and got some of my custom Infinit Nutrition That Beard Guy Bike Blend in me ran out and was on the bike. I for some reason thought I was out on a 40mile ride, but it was 40km, (my bad), that didn’t really affect my ride much, I was still riding at a soild pace and felt strong. It was like a bonus seeing I only did 25 miles coming into the final bend and realising I misscalculated.

Rode the 25 miles in 01:03:50 an average pace of 23.03 miles/hour

Finally shoes were on, some Infinit Custom That Beard Guy Running Blend was gulped down and I hit the road. Now this is the weirdest feeling as your legs are used to turning over at a high cadence they want to keep moving this quick, you feel light and as you glance down at your watch notice your pace is faster than you think. It is very difficult to pull in the reigns and slow down. I was out the gate at a 7:30min/mile pace and thought to myself its only 6miles I will just keep it going, wasnt even a mile in and as I looked at my watch I was running at 6:40mins/mile! Screw it lets do it, I decided to see how hard I could push and went for it. At one point I was running with a friend, we were playing tag on the bike section and somehow ended up together on the run, but the pace started slowing back to about the 7:20min/mile mark and  I saw a guy with a 34 on his calf (your age gets marked on you) run by me decide it was time to crank it up again, get going and get it under the 7min/mile mark for the last 3 and a half miles.

Completed the 6.2 mile run in 00:42:42 putting me at an average pace of 6:54mins/mile

I was pretty happy to finally come to the split for the finish and the last 200m sprint in to the finish really made me work but  I had done it, 1st triathlon in the books…I did the 31.6miles in 02:18:5 and finished 7th/59 in my age group, with an overall placing of 64th/582, BOOM! mic drop, walk away, haha

Thanks to Dr Greg and Dr Gil at Upright Health Muscle & Joint Care for all the fixing to keep me in the best shape possible with such a demanding training schedule, check them out if you haven’t yet and you have my full blessing to drop my name when doing so.

Thank you Coach Bob at Total Cycling Performance for pushing me to way out of my comfort zone and making me better than I thought I could be. Going to say most days during training I’m not sure if I like you (haha) but after crushing my 1st Triathlon it shows that trusting the brutal workouts you put together for me really does pay off and there is method to the madness. Not to mention a great group of people to train with that really help push you and make it fun at the same time.

Joining the Endurance House Tri Team was another fantastic choice, Ken and Kelly have an amazing store with an amazing crew that has all your Tri needs and also just a great place to hang out if you have time. Being apart of their Tri Team connects you with so many amazing people who all get together and do group swims, rides and runs which really helps on those days you just cant seem to get going on your own.  Hopefully you decide to stop in, drop my name and say hi if you in the area and ever need anything to do with swimming, cycling or running.

Finally the biggest thank you goes to my wife for putting up with this and being there for me, even when it means getting up out of bed to bring me a bicycle pump as I’m stuck on the side of the road with a flat, or not getting in a family dinner every night as I’m out training. Lief vir jou Muis!

 

 

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