Hello! New and hooked

Hello!

I competed in my first triathlon one week ago, and it was awesome!  

I am transitioning to endurance sports from speed and strength sports.  I have played football for for most of my life, culminating with two years playing  with the Missouri Tigers as a linebacker and long-snapper.  After three knee surgeries, I decided my life long health was more important than playing  special teams for a few more years.  I remember when I got out of football thinking there is no way I could even run ONE mile, since then I have slowly improved my distance running and started riding bikes.  I have dropped quite a bit of weight, both fat and muscle, going from 240 to my current ~210-215.  Hoping to get as close to 200 as possible to be an efficient Clydesdale.

My first tri was TriZou at the University of Missouri, last Sunday.  It was a sprint consisting of a 440 meter pool swim,   14 mile bike and 3 mile run.  It was an amazing experience, there were 800 participants.  I decided to compete in the Tri about one month before and trained very intensely for that month, particularly in the swim.  I know how to swim, but have never swam laps, so this was quite the learning experience.  I increased my technique a lot in that month, but was by no means a sound swimmer.  My goal was just to complete the 440 meters without stopping to rest, which I was unable to do in training.  I was confident in my abilities on the bike and run.

When race day came they I was excited and ready to go but had to wait in line for a long time.  Due to it being a pool swim, they started one person every 10 seconds, and it was a snake style swim working our way across the pool.  And I was towards the end of the line due to my slow estimated swim time.  Finally my turn came and I made if the first 75 meters with the crawl before switching to the breast and side stroke for the rest, but I am proud to say I made it the full 440 meters without stopping, and it only took me just over 12 minutes.  Then I had a long run to the transition, which was about 300 yards away from the pool.  I made to the transition and hoped on my bike a a great ride on the 7 mile course we rode twice with a couple nice hills.  Once I got back and headed out for the run, WOW!  I have done some bricks in my training, but holy crap I did not think I was going to be able to finish the run, but once I get rid of my bike legs and found my running legs, I took off and finished strong.

My goal was to finish in 1 hour and 30min, and I finished in 1hr, 31min, 52 sec.  Not my goal, but I'll accept it.   Like I said it took me just over 12min for the swim, followed by a long run to the transition.  My first transition took me two minutes, which I know is long but I chose to wear socks and gloves for the ride.  My bike went really well I completed the 14 miles in 50 min which put me at just under 17 mph.  Not to bad for only riding (not religiously) under a year, and on a cyclocross bike without clips.  My second transition was far better at 40 sec, and the 3 mile run was awesome.  It only took me 24 minutes, which puts me 8 min miles, which I have never even done running alone.

So I am really excited for having completed my first tri, and am looking forward to many more in the future.  Looking at my times I see many places to improve a lot.  I will continue to swim, and know I can cut off a lot of time with improved endurance and technique.  Not to mention when I get to a lake swim I can wear a wetsuit, that will help a lot.  Obviously my second transition I could probably cut a minute off of.  I feel the combo of a  stricter cycling regimen, to build my legs, clip shoes and a road or aero bike, I should be able to drastically improve my cycling time.  As far as running goes, Im sure that will improve as my endurance improves in the other two events.  

 So thats my story, and I'm looking forward to my next event.