Justin's Take- Blog Style: My First Triathlon

Well, it's finally over. On February 14, 2009 I completed my first triathlon in Clermont, FL. My co-worker Rachael and her fiance Christian talked me into trying one after they did one last year and loved it. This was not a full on lengthy triathlon, because I had to start small. Eventually I plan on completing one of the longer events. The Valentine's Day Sprint Triathlon was at Lake Louisa Park in Clermont, FL. It consisted of a 400m swim in Lake Louisa, a 9 mile bike through the hills of Clermont, and a 2 mile run to end the race. This was a great starter race for me and definitely sparked my interest in the sport. I didn't realize how intense some of these triathletes were and it was pretty amazing. Some of the competitors had bicycles that looked like they cost more than my car. Vendors were selling rims for the bicycles that cost over $1,600... I could by 20" rims for my Jeep for less than that. Heck, those rims didn't even come with bike tires on them.

Overall the race was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I was really worried about the swim portion, because that was the only thing I had not been training for. I figured 400m wasn't too long so I could just wing it. Plus the water has been freezing since it is only February so I didn't feel the urge to train for that beforehand. The swim portion was definitely the hardest part of the race, but the adrenaline I had with all of the other swimmers around me helped me through it. The bike portion of the race was by far the easiest and it was almost like a resting session before the run started. Like a rookie, I made a few mistakes during the bike, because I wasn't keeping track of how far I rode. I thought the 1/3 mark was actually the 1/2 way mark and that threw me off mentally when I was trying to conserve energy. The run portion of the triathlon was over 50% in the sand which is definitely not something I was expecting, but it wasn't too bad.

My first sprint triathlon was a great experience and I am looking forward to my next one. I am targeting the April 11th race in St. Petersburg, FL or the Moss Park Triathlon on July 18th. The water will be a lot warmer in the upcoming months so it will be a lot easier to train for the swim. I am hoping to improve my times across the board. My times for the Lake Louisa Sprint Triathlon are listed below:

400m Swim- 13:34

Transition 1- 3:03

9 mile Bike- 29:18 (18.4 mph avg.)

Transition 2- 0:53

2 mile Run- 12:07

Total Triathlon Time: 58:54

I finished 4/15 people in the 25-29 year old men's division and 41 out of 120 overall in the race. If anyone is interested in doing the next one with me let me know. So far it looks like I already have Scottie and Kelsey signed up. Let's start training!