Flounder, Crash, and Stumble: An amateur's first triathlon.

Recently, my amazing sister and I competed in  participated in the 2013 Rookie Triathlon here in Austin, Tx. It was the first triathlon for either of us and it was quite a lot of fun! Triathlons are great spectator events as there are many places to watch the participants in the various stages and each group of athletes start every few minutes. As this is the case, our parents came to cheer us on and you can see some pictures of Rachael and I, courtesy of our parents, in each of the events.

Ben	Rachael
Swim!
Bike!
Run!

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Now, before you become star struck at knowing 1, or possibly even 2, actual real-life triathletes, let me explain three things.

1. Fancy Sounding Title
   
   Unlike a running event, who's title typically depicts the distance (and therefore the difficulty), saying you participated in a "Triathlon" can sound way more impressive than it probably should; that is, unless 'triathlon' is preceded by the words 'iron' and 'man'.
   
   For example, below I've constructed a table showing the four common types of triathlons and their distances.

   	Swim	Bike	Run
   Sprint	750 m (~ 0.5 miles)	12 miles	5 km (~3.1 miles)
   Standard/Olympic	1500 m (~ 1 mile)	25 miles	10 km (~6.2 miles)
   Half Ironman	1900 m (~1.2 miles)	56 miles	13.1 miles (Half Marathon)
   Ironman	3900 m (~2.4 miles)	112 miles	26.2 miles (Marathon)

   
   The distance that we participated in will not be found in that table because it was a shorter, non-standard, distance that is often called a "Super Sprint" Triathlon. However, let's not get confused by the title, we did not "super sprint" anything.
   
   

   	Swim	Bike	Run
   "Super Sprint"	300 m (~ 0.2 miles)	11 miles	2 miles

   
   
2.  I am no athlete. 
   
   Despite encouragement from family and friends, I never partook in sports growing up. It wasn't until a high school friend introduced me to the game of ultimate Frisbee that I even saw the value in being able to run. Eventually, I got invited to play flag football in college and realized that, yes, even I had some amount of athlete in me. Wanting to be healthy and loose some of the weight I had gained during my freshman year, I started lap swimming with a friend the last few semesters of college. However, it wasn't until I decided to date/marry somebody who loved running that I decided to get serious about building my athletic abilities. So, I began training for a 5k we were to run together. I trained for at least six months and yet, the only thing that allowed me to finish that 5k (my first 5k) was sheer determination to not quit in front of Marci (whom I was dating) and her family (see, rite of passage).  It then took 2 more years for me to be able to comfortably run a 5k without feeling like I was going to burst a lung. Then I decided to start cycling and found true enjoyment in exercise (2012 Cycling Recap).
   


3. Pro Tips: You too can Triathlon!
   
   So, if you are like me, and found yourself having signed up for a triathlon and have only a couple months to train for it, here is what I recommend doing (in order):
   
   

   

   They had signs like this posted throughout the event.

   1. Train 5 days a week. No More, No Less. I suggest following a 2-1-3-1 schedule. Train for 2 days, rest a day, train for 3 days, rest a day, repeat.
   2. Train each event individually until you can do said event at 2x the distance required for the triathlon.
   3. Determine your weakest event, and spend 50% of your training on that event.
   4. Once you are getting close to the time of the event, start doing Bike+Run combo training. Getting used to having your body going from cycling to running is great. Getting some run training after having blasted your legs during a bike ride is invaluable.
   5. Swim in choppy water. I repeat, SWIM. IN. CHOPPY. WATER. All of my swim training was done in a lap pool with neighborhood retirees, except one day in a calm lake that might as well have been a lap pool. Come race day when the water is choppy due to wind and/or the other 30-50 people swimming around you, you'll appreciate your ability to breath air instead of sucking down lake water. Seriously, about 100m into the swim, I thought I was going to drown due to the water/air ratio that I was breathing. I had to switch to the breast stroke to finish out the swim because it was the only way I could breath in the choppy water.

But.. Why? Are you a crazy person!?

You might be reading this and thinking, "Great Job! I am impressed!", to which I would say, "Thanks!".

However, most of you are probably thinking, "That sounds hard!", which it was, or, "You're crazy!", which is probable, or even, "Why would anybody want to do that!?!!?!?!", to which I would submit:

Triathlons are a great way to:

1. Get in shape.
2. Have fun.
3. Challenge yourself.
4. Get a more well rounded level of fitness if you are already proficient at either swimming, cycling, or running.

It was a ton of fun, and I would encourage anybody who wants to achieve any of the aforementioned items to start training for the 2014 rookie triathlon, it's a great event and you've got plenty of time to get ready for it!