Today I ran an olympic distance triathlon, and I want to capture some of my thoughts about the experience. Overall it was awesome; just as cool and rewarding as I thought it would be. I was reminded, again, about how nice it would be to have someone by my side at the finish line (or even doing the race with me!), but other than that, I couldn't ask for a better day. I had friends, I did really well, I enjoyed myself, and maybe most surprising, I don't feel like a total physical wreck. Here are some quick-hit thoughts in no particular order:
- A few people at the starting line were discussing comparing the olympic distance (1.5 k swim, 40 k ride, 10k run) to a half marathon or marathon. The consensus, among those that had done both, seemed to be that it would be somewhere in between. I found that not to be the case for me. For me, it was actually easier than a half marathon. At the halfway mark of the run, it occured to me that was equivalent to the 10 mile mark of a half marathon. But at 10 miles into a half marathon, I feel pretty wiped out, and that wasn't the case here. I felt tired, but still pretty good to be honest.
- Along those lines, I feel like I "left a little bit of money on the table", so to speak, during the run. I hammered on the bike, and I was worried about the run when it started so I took it easy, and never totally turned on the juice. I wanted to not feel like crap later that day, and mission accomplished - but I could have done a bit more. I don't regret that choice, but it would interesting to see what I could do if I sacrificed myself.
- I read a really great post the other day on Facebook talking about how happiness is equal to reality minus expectations. That was true today. I didn't think too hard about what my finishing time would be, but as much as I did think about it, I assumed it would be about 3:30. So to finish in 2:57 was really fun and rewarding and made me feel really good about myself.
- The bay is truly gross to swim in.
- Triathletes are attractive people.
- About 95% or more of the people were wearing wet suits (I was not). I thought people wore them to keep warm, but it turns out mostly it's about buoyancy and the perception that you swim faster wearing one. In fact they're expressly disallowed in competitive triathlons once the temperature of the water hits 78. I really enjoyed not wearing one but I wonder if it would be worth it to try.
- I think I could do a half ironman if I trained. I'm not sure yet if I want to, but I think I could.
- I really perform better in the cold and rain then in the heat.
- Male elite triathletes are stubborn and dumb. I watched at least 6 wipeouts on the wet turns because they just wouldn't slow down enough.
- I like triathlons!! :)
