Triathlete

Well, it is official, I have finished my first triathlon. Although a very short super sprint it was a triathlon.

It took place last sunday and Ásgeir (Ironman and fellow swimmer) was in charge of organizing the event. The days before I had more or less not trained at all due to the knees and increased workload (hopefully temporary).

It was very interesting swimming with 6 people on each lane. Lots of pushing and kicking in the beginning and to my surprise I ended up being second on my lane. Even having to slow down on several occasions as I touched the front swimmer. I decided not to overtake her as to use her drag and to control my tempo. The time for the 400m was 7:47 which is under 8 but still not a great time. Transition took way too long and was partly due to the fact that I had to put on knee protectors that no one else had to put on. And believe me, putting on tight knee protectors on wet legs while trying to hurry up is not an easy task.

Finally I was ready and I ran the 100m or so to my bike (Pusi was very calm and acted like a pro). The bike leg was ok... 10.6km in 23 minutes... I would like to go under 20 minutes, but there were 6 hills, 3 of them big (the same hill three times). Also the front tire got really soft so all in all this is acceptable but still needs a lot of improvement.

The run was the part I was really anxious about. Would my knees handle the pressure. I went out slowly, partly due to the fact I was testing the knees and partly due to the fact my legs felt like led. After the first km my legs felt better and my knees were not complaining at all (maybe due to the ibufen I took before the race). So I managed to step up the pace and overtake Siggi from my swim team. Tried to sprint the last 200m to catch the next guy but I was to far behind.

12th place the result in 45:36 minutes. only 2:40 minutes from the 6th place. Next triathlon will be on the 1st of June, 1/2 olympic distance. I will not rain much as the specialist told me to cut down intensity for 3-6 moths!!! But I will definetly race and see how my knees handle the 5km run.

The organization was really good. The course was well marked (although I took one wrong turn on the bike), volunteers stopping traffic and cheering you on. Big thumbs up for this initiative and I look forward going longer and longer untill the Ironman in 2009