Indoor Triathlon Summary

Good race! Very interesting format and uniquely challenging. My heat had four people in it for the swim and I shared a lane with another guy. As expected, the swim didn't go swimmingly. Pun absolutely intended. The other two people in the heat each had their own lanes, but this was certainly fine for me since they were the faster ones in the group anyway. We had three whistles, one blown at 5 minutes, one at 2, and the final one to indicate the end of the swim. The race officials counted pool lengths rather than laps and if a racer was at least halfway done with a length when the final whistle blew, she received credit for a full length. My swim was pretty poor as I swam 17 lengths in 10 minutes. To give you an idea of what this means in relation to the other swimmers in my heat, my lane neighbor did 21 lengths and the swimmer in the next lane 29. Urgh. Of course, swimming in the pool as opposed to open water made the swim much easier than it would've been in a normal triathlon. Normally triathletes not only have to deal with currents, water temps, and swimming in a straight line, they also have to be concerned with taking hits and kicks to the face. Everywhere else, too, but most noticeably in the face.

The bike portion was much better. We had 15 minutes to move from swim to bike, which is an extremely generous transition allotment. I didn't have any bike or cycle computer glitches and managed to spin 16.15 miles in 30 minutes. Race officials gave us notices at 15, 9, and 5 minutes. Since everyone was in the same room and surrounded by mirrors, it was easy to stay motivated. I really wanted to gain ground on the girl who swam 29 lengths, so I made every effort to pedal faster than she appeared to be pedaling. I'm not sure if I accomplished this goal because I didn't hear her distance, but I'll be able to check tomorrow when results come out. We had three more people added to our heat in this stage. I believe they were actually in the heat before us but either couldn't get a spin bike because it was too crowded or had computer malfunctions. I felt bad for the person who had a malfunction because she did two bike sessions and I'm sure her second either didn't cover the same distance or did but required a lot more effort, thereby tiring her out for the run.

The run was good and I was happy with my result, even though I intend to get even faster this season. I averaged an 8:30min/mile for the 20 minutes we were allowed on the treadmill. My final distance was 2.35 miles. My archnemesis did 2.1. Take that, super swimmer. Even so, and even if I did bike farther, I'm sure the ridiculous lead she had from the swim was more than enough for a significantly higher score. But it's okay, there's another one in two weeks!

I forgot to take pictures of the running. Oops.

In related news, I got a wetsuit! I went to the JackRabbit store down the street after the race and was pleasantly surprised that their stock of wetsuits is currently 50% off. This was serendipitous development, since I forgot to take advantage of the Xterra sale I mentioned back in December. It's a Zoot Fuzion. After the 50% off, it came to $150. After lots of looking and pricing, I've determined that I couldn't have gotten it for very much cheaper. Especially considering it's a full wetsuit with sleeves (sleeveless tend to cost less, but also provide less in the way of buoyancy).