Into the world of Triathlons

This is my second year of Triathlon. One would wonder how I even got into this sport including myself. There are many reasons and I don’t remember the exact one but I could name a few. I was looking to buy a smart watch and stumbled onto a Garmin that had multi-sport capability. I bought the watch first, it showed time for first 6 months and then it intrigued me to try Triathlons. Another possible reason is Swimming. I am a total amateur and had only learnt in the previous couple of years all by myself and wanted to dare myself swimming open water & long laps. One fine cold January, I attended the orientation of my local tri club and decided to dive in and it sure took me for a whole another ride. I started to learn basics, Triathlon buzz words, got myself swimming just close to 1000 yds per session. My swim was so bad as it was evident in the first group lessons. Since I had the honor to teach me about swimming, everything I did was wrong. Hand entry — awkward, Breathing, Head Turn — Shameful and the list goes on.

I signed up to a Masters Swim Class that had a pre-requisite that you must be able to swim at least 200 yds which I was able to do even with awkward form. As I listed to the coaches, over time my speed started to increase and I could do 750 Time Trial in around 20 mins.

I did a bunch of duathlons & a splash and dash before taking up first ever Tri during May. Duathlons spoke to me about how multi-sport is whole another game. Biking uphills were a task I didn’t want to embark on. This is when I realized I have to leave my hybrid 40+lbs bike at home and buy something that is light and carry my 225+lbs body up the hill. I bought a Carbon Cannondale Synapse which to this day feels as good as new and rides like a rocket.

My First Triathlon was a family adventure. I booked a camping spot at the lake and hauled my mom, wife and kids. I was able to stuff the bike, camping gear, and plenty of things in the Van and it was practically few weeks old. May I say I might have pulled off the idea to buy Van for this day among other reasons such as a second vehicle for the Wife. I had some open water training sessions the previous day of the race and plenty of good food and relaxing time at the camp site. On race day, I was so excited and jumping up and down, I lost both my ear plugs which I have never been without while swimming. As the air horn blew, I entered the water with so much anxiety and first few strokes, I could feel gallons of water getting into my ears. I just had to shut up and keep swimming which I did. I was breathing on one side and after every stroke the whole time and came back in one piece. Swimming in open waters was so much adventurous and I was living my life. I never got or get panicked by the sight of open water. Oceans might put a different idea in my brain

Bike ride was uneventful except for the first hill and I managed to stay in low gears and not get my heart pumping. Run was also similar course ,hilly & wooded and some trails and finally I was at the finish line and time showed 1:47. I was so happy. Feelings of achievements sky rocketed within me but I kept it all to myself.

My goal race was my first olympic triathlon which is twice the distance of the Sprint distance I did on May. One thing I found out with racing is double the distance does not mean just double the effort and time. As the distance grew, it became incredibly hard which could relate to the personal endurance. So, if my best 5K is 33 mins, my best 10K was around 1:15. My family came along for my goal race too but they had to linger around in hot sun for close to 4 hrs while I was out on the race. Probably why they never showed interest for any of my future races and I didn’t compel them either. My swim was decent although I was swimming the whole english channel as it kept coming and I could never see the swim finish. I was swimming buoy to buoy and kept the anxiety in control. Bike was a blast as I sped through like a wind and I don’t remember anyone passing me on the bike. My time was close to 1:21 and even my peer credited me on how I vanished on the bike leg. Run was pathetic as usual and because this is my first long distance race and I had gulped 2 bottles of gatorade, my stomach was sloshing as I was running. I finished with a time of 3:46 with lots of room for improvement on swim and especially run

After my first olympic triathlon in July, I didn’t want to hang my boots yet. I immediately signed up for another one. It was a local race and kind of flat as the first one. This time, I continued my Masters Program and greatly improved my swim stroke and endurance. One time the coach looked at me and told me I wasn’t maintaining High Elbow. The moment I fixed it I felt like I was going like a torpedo through the water. I may have gone from 2:30 to 2:10. I also did a bike century during this time and some running. My second olympic was on Sep 10, the day before I was leaving to India for vacation. Swim was pretty decent except I started out early in the wave due to local tri club arrangement and I was swam over by many better athletes. Bike was fast as usual and run was better than I had ever performed before. I was able to manage 11 min per mile. When I crossed the finish line, My time was 3:20, 26 mins earlier than my first race and I couldn’t feel happier. I did want to break 3 hrs

Its 2018 and after the Sep 2017 triathlon, I couldn’t get back to biking, running or swimming. I signed up for a spinning class but I missed more classes than I attended. I almost felt like I had bid my adieu to the sport. My 2017 fall plan was to do a Half in 2018 Summer but it’s already April I was in the worst shape again, probably the same fitness I was before I started out. I have had enough and signed up for a 70.3 in September and started slowly with swimming, biking and running. My local tri club arranged for a training triathlon but before I even got to this in June, I had already swam 4.5km Swim Fest so the open water jitters were gone or so I thought but I was wrong. Because I wasn’t at my best shape, the tri suit and swim suit were choking my body to death and the swim was extremely bad. It was only 750 meters but it felt like 7500 and there was a huge relief once I made it ashore.

2018 is the Year of Hills for me. I was seeking out hills. I used to dead scared of hills before and I always never wanted to see them but it all changed in 2018. Hills gave me a new purpose to look for in the outdoor activities. Every race, every ride and run on Hills proved a different experience. All my 3 triathlons & a bike ride were hilly & mountainous. This triathlon in particular had a bike & run course that was hilly. The bike course was so hilly, my odometer showed 2 mph at one time but I am glad I never had to walk the bike at any point of time. I could have pushed a bit more but I am always conservative when it comes to triathlon as I wanted to save the juice for the whole duration.

Yes, 2018 is the Year of Hills. It is August and I am confident I have trained enough. My best races so far to date on this year are a sprint triathlon which was hilly, 4.5km open water swim fest, 100km Bike ride with an elevation of 6500ft and not to mention the hilliest Half Marathon which is also my first. My fifth triathlon is a olympic tri as I wanted to get at least one before my Half Ironman on Sep at Lake Placid. This tri had everything I had hoped for. Closer to home so I can just go there in the morning. Bike and Run course were hilly, Run course was so hilly that it had almost 500ft of elevation gain. My Half Ironman in comparison only had 700ft for more than twice the distance. The bike course was extremely beautiful. The day was overcast, with occasional drizzles with slick roads. That didn’t prevent me from going upto 45 mph as I felt I had a better control of my bike. I changed to the big ring and pedaled in downhills and whizzing past so many folks that passed me on the uphill. I guess if they had a slight downhill or a flat course, I will beat everyone on the bike due to the muscle & fat. The shenandoah mountains were towering over at the horizon and I felt bad I wasn’t enjoying the scenery and cautious about speed & time. I should go back and just ride this course for the scenery. Run was bad not because I was not doing well but it was very hilly and at this point I was feeling bloated. I didn’t take electrolytes or salt during the bike course and later found out that lake of salt makes the body bloated with fluid. Towards 75% of the run, I did feel dizzy and quit the race but eventually I finished it. I was little happy to see many people still out on the course long after I finished it because my time was 3:50 which was worse than my first olympic race but you know, the first race was flat as pancake. This one was hilly, bike course was close to 2000ft and run was 500ft so all in all wasn’t bad. My goal is to finish the Half Ironman under the cutoff time of 8.5 hrs and I think if I do it right, I can finish just within that time

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