Open Water

It's one small step, anyway.

I made it Surry, N.H., early for the Give Peace a Tri race -- about an hour and change before the race started. Turned out to be a good thing, since I was running back and forth between the car and the transition area like a chicken with its head cut off.

Race started around 930a, and I got into trouble. Quickly. Swallowed about two gallons of water, which I rapidly regurgitated, then started cramping. Ugh. Yuck. Somehow managed to finish the quarter-mile swim in about 20 minutes and change.

As I said, not a good start.

Got on the Mercier and, um, kind of forgot I was in a race. Extremely glad to be out of the water. Not so happy that I couldn't shift gears because of some weird hitch in the desraillers. Ugh. Yuck. So I stayed in low gear for eight miles, which probably turned out to be a good thing. Made me work for it, and probably made me faster. Did the eight miles (a few hills, nothing dramatic) in about 24 minutes, stopping once to see if I could fix the desraillers with something other than bad language.

Dumped the bike at the transition area, tossed my helmet, and took off on the 5K. Now, we're cooking. My stomach was still considerably rumbly, and the cramping was threatening during the entire run, but I passed about two dozen people easily. I was a bit sorry it wasn't a 10-K or more.

Final time? 1:09 and change.

Things I'll do differently before the next triathlon:

1. Open-water practice. The difference between open water and pool swimming is like the difference between shooting at a paper target and a grizzly that wants to eat your ass. Both involve water and less-than-completely-buoyant organisms, but that's where the similarities seem to end.

2. I'll take a closer look at the bike. I had it tuned before the race, but my practice time was just about nil. And while I didn't disgrace myself (unlike the swim), I could've shaved a few minutes off the bike.

3. Run faster. I did 8:00 minute miles, but still had some gas left in the tank at the end. I'm used to feeling warmed up at three miles. Again, I think I could've shaved about three minutes off the run.

4. Set the bar higher. I figured there was a good chance I'd finish (although I had some doubts in the lake), but I thought I'd be happy with 1:30. I'm not really too happy with 1:09, because I think with some real effort -- and open-water practice -- I could do something in the 50-minute range.

5. Thank the volunteers more. They had really good support, from the woman in the wheelchair who inked me (no doubt so it'd be less trouble to identify my remains after I washed ashore from the lake) and the kayak guy who let me throw up while hanging on to his boat to the people who cheered the runners.

Anyway, I finished. I haven't sworn off the sport. And I feel better, 12 hours later. So those are Good Things.

On to the Long Trail, Lake Dunmore Tri, Children's Hospital Half-Marathon and Mount Desert Island Marathon. At least only one of those will involve open water, and I'll be one hell of a lot readier next time.