my first triathlon

i did my first triathlon the other day and thought i'd share my thoughts on it. it wasn't a full triathlon, just a sport (or sprint), but it was a trail race called the XTERRA Atlantic Cup/Sport Off Road Triathlon. for those of you who have never done anything like this before or are curious about the format, this is how it works:
*pickup your packet
*get painted
*start at the water
*SWIM
*run back to the transition area and get your bike stuff
*BIKE
*back at the transition area, get your running gear
*RUN
*finish


swim:
i had a really hard time with this section for several reasons. first of all i have never been a strong swimmer and though i did train for it to try and improve, i don't think i pushed myself hard enough swimming in the pool during the weeks leading up to the race. secondly, i forgot my goggles at home. third, several people had told me it would be a good idea to wear some sandals or water shoes to get from the transition area to the swim area and back, i figured some thick socks would do well, and then i wouldn't have to take them off during the swim. i had never swam with socks on before, but it seemed like a brilliant idea. it wasn't. i took them off after struggling not to drown and wound up loosing some very nice wool socks. finally, the river was ridiculously high and the angle i had to swim at turned the short lap around the island into a decent distance. all of this turned out to be so frustrating that i actually considered never swimming again, and i was sure i would never do any race that involved swimming.

bike:
being a mountain biker and since the race was on my hometown trails, i made up a lot of time on this section. i was still pretty exhausted from the swim which seemed to mess with my balance and even my ability to think, so i almost went over the bars on one REALLY easy part and just made some dumb mistakes, but i slowly started to regain my energy and towards the end was feeling fresh.

run:
feeling good after the bike section i did well at this too. i would have done better had i paced myself better, but i thought the run was going to be longer than it turned out to be so i went a bit slower than i should have. i did a 10k several weeks ago that had a lot of the same parts and this run was supposed to be a 7k, but it only seemed to be half as long as the 10k, i think someone might have been off with their measurements.

after all that the pain from the swim wasn't so fresh in my memory, and i had really enjoyed the bike and run portions. while at first i swore i would never do a race again that involved swimming, i eventually came around to thinking it might be fun to do a relay triathlon where a friend could swim and i could run and or bike, but after more time had passed i decided that there's no reason i can't get to at least an average swimming level and that i just need to push myself harder. now i really want to do something like this at least once more to see if i can do better.

here are some final tips for anyone considering doing a triathlon that i definitely could have used:
*don't swim with socks on
*get some cheap sandals to wear to/from the swim that slip on and off even when wet just so you can run faster than you would barefoot
*bring a small towel for your transition area to brush off the dirt that will get stuck to your feet so that once you put socks on, they're clean!)
*cutting down on your transition time is huge. i always thought that shoes with those quick pull laces like solomans and some vasques and others were cool, but i really see the point of them for triathlons.
*fiddling with safety pins takes a long time. pin your bib number to something else that you can quickly clip around your chest or some velcro.
*peanut butter granola bars were a terrible idea, stick to shot blocks or gel or whatever you like that won't need so much water
*if the run were much longer bike shorts with as much padding as mine might have been a bad idea