Mud Water Triathlon

My first real triathlon race was last weekend at Lake Afton, near Goddard, Kansas. It was a sprint triathlon, which is the shortest distance, and included a 750 meter swim, followed by a 15 mile bike, followed by a three mile run. I was confident about the bike and run after my duathlon went so well but was pretty nervous about the swim. I train the least on swimming when I should probably train on it the most. I had never actually swam 750 meters straight in my life. The most I had done in training was about 500 meters.

I actually ended up kicking some serious butt on the swim. I think it was a combination of nerves and competitive spirit swimming next to so many people. Open water swims are much different than swimming laps in a pool. Pools are nice a calm and you have your own lane and its all very peaceful. Open water swims are in choppy lakes that sometimes have currents and you have to deal with other athletes swimming all around and sometimes on top of you. It is all very chaotic.



So I took off on the swim and kept trying to tell myself to slow down and get my pace but my body wasn't listening and I ended up in the top 10 or 15 coming out of the water. I swallowed about half of the lake and was a bit woozy headed to my bike but confidence was high. I got on my bike and headed out on the road for the 15 mile loop and I could tell that I was pushing hard because I wanted to stay towards the front of the pack. I was feeling great and making great time.

About half a mile into the course, my front tire blew out. Not just the tube, but the whole side of the tire. I immediately thought my race was over because I didn't have a spare tube or tire with me. I didn't really know what I was going to do when I got there but I decided to grab my bike and jog back to the transition area (the place you change shoes and everything between events, as fast as you can). Carrying a bike on your shoulder for half a mile in cycling shoes will wear you out almost as much as swimming 750 meters as fast as you can. When I got back I spotted the guy from a local bike shop who had been doing maintenance on bike before the race. I looked at him and said "I had a blowout!" and he quickly jumped up and changed my tube and tire for me. Overall I lost about 20 minutes between running back with my bike and getting the tire changed, but I decided to finish the race anyway. I had come this far and I still wanted to see how I would hold up. So I started over on the bike and managed to have a decent time if you take away the 20 minute delay.

After the bike I slipped on my runners and took off for the 3 mile loop. I did pretty good on that but I could tell I wasnt running my best since there was no one around me to race. I was way in the back with all the really slow people by that point so it was hard to push myself too much. Plus, that blowout had a serious negative affect on my psyche. I was pretty down, especially since I had done so well on the swim and was feeling good.

Anyway, I finished and afterwards I felt good. Physically I was tired but not dead. I felt pretty good about finishing the race and not quitting because of some bad luck, which I hope I got out of the way for future races.

Next race is mid August in Edmond, Ok. This one is the olympic distance: 1500m swim, 25 mile bike, 6 mile run. Which reminds me, I need to go work out!

a new expensive hobby

I guess I thought photography wasn't draining my bank account fast enough so I picked up another, more athletic hobby: triathlons. I've always wanted to do one since I got out of college sports and this summer I began training for my first race.

Triathlons are multisport races in which you swim, bike, and run, in that order. It takes hours and hours of training per week in all three disciplines and, like most hobbys, gets expensive. You always want to best running shoes, better components for your bike, gadgets, clothes, etc. Not to mention that you actually have to pay to enter these races. Some of the longer ones are several hundred dollars just to race. And I won't win. Ever.

My first race was actually a duathlon, which is only running and biking. The event I did was a 2 mile run, followed by a 14 mile bike, followed by another 3 mile run. I wasn't able to train for it as much as I'd liked but was able to put in a strong effort and did reasonably well for my first race. My times were decent in all three parts and I finished 8th in my age group out of about 20 competitors. Not too bad considering I had trained less than most. So I decided to keep going and buy more stuff and pay more entry fees....

Crap.

I got robbed, literally

I don't update my blog much because nothing exciting ever happens to me anymore, especially compared to everything below. But, I did get robbed which is both exciting and incredibly frustrating.

Someone broke in to my apartment and made off with my computer (ouch!), my TV (eh...), two ipods (double ouch!), and a digital camera (but not the good one). They also took some clothes (who else wears 32x62 jeans and extra medium shirts?) and my big backpack that took me all over Europe (sentimental tear).

They got in in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, with a screwdriver. How clever. Then they tried to get in again two days later and then a third time 3 days after that. Why? I dont know. I don't have much left that's worth stealing. My guess is that they were trying to get in to my apartment in order to get in to my neighbor's apartment, which they got in to the first time but got spooked before they got all his goods.

Do I have renters insurance? No. I have always had it but I never got it here once I got back from Ireland. Of course I never needed it when I had it and got robbed the first time I went without it. I am, after all, Russ Cornelius...