Reeds Lake Triathlon

Saturday I competed in my first "official" triathlon; I did the Reeds Lake Triathlon with Rob and Jason. The official race distance was somewhere between a "sprint" and an "Olympic" triathlon. There were over 1,000 participants.The distances were:

Swim: 1/2 mile

Bike: 17.2 miles

Run: 4.9 miles

My goal was to finish in less than 2 hours. I figured I would need a pretty fast run to meet 2 hours since swimming is my weak leg (projected 22 min) and I didn't think I could bike any faster than 17.2 miles per hour.

I happened to feel awesome during the race. I basically pushed myself as hard as possible in all of the legs and never ran out of steam. The swim was crazy because we were sent off in heats, about 200 at a time. I was in the first heat. After about 10 minutes I started catching the slow guys in my heat that didn't train hard enough for swimming at the same time as the fast swimmers from the heat behind started catching me. There was a lot of bumping and pushing. I finished in 19:05, much faster than I had hoped.

The bike portion was my favorite. The course was great, I felt great, and the weather was perfect for a morning ride. I flew at a 19.5 mph average.

The 2 transition zones between the 3 legs were also important. There were over 100 rows of bike racks so you had to find your spot, change shoes and clothes as fast as possible, and then dodge everyone else as you ran out of the zone. Transition zones contributed more than 3 minutes to your overall time.

The run was also terrific. I set a PR for 3+ mile speed. I ran the course in just under 35 minutes for a 7:08 average pace.

My total time was 1:50:49. Jason decided not to train this year and finished in a respectable 1:56. Rob struggled mightily on the swim in his first triathlon ever. He rebounded nicely on the bike and run to finish in 1:56.

Other than the triathlon Erin and I went to celebration on the grand, went biking along the lake shore, and went to a friend's wedding in Lansing.