Part 1 – The Swim
I really don’t like swimming. I discovered this when I was about 1000 meters into my 1,500 meter leg of the Wuxi Triathlon this weekend. Not really something that should be going through my mind. But there I was, on my back, doing my upsidedown butterfly stroke that allows me to breathe enough to keep moving. Occasionally, I would flip over and do some breaststrokes or sidestrokes to sight the next buoy, but generally, I followed the swimmers splashing around me. I also had to stop for more than a minute while I caught my breath between 750 meter loops. I got to see my wife finish and wish her luck on the cycling portion before I reluctantly went back into the water and proceeded to slowly back/side/breast stroke my way around the loop again.
But I finished. The last time I tried a triathlon was 3 years ago, in Moscow, and it was only a 750 meter swim. I had not practiced or trained, and vastly overestimated how easy it was going to be. I got about 50 meters in, flipped onto my back because the splashing of dozens of Russian guys around me was making it hard to get any air, and realized the borrowed wetsuit I was wearing was pushing me underwater while upside down. I quickly called it quits and doggie paddled back to shore. The referees allowed me to finish the bike and run portion of the race, and I even got a time, with a mysterious blank in the swim and 1st transition times.
This time, in China, I was prepared. My wife is a pretty good breaststroke swimmer, and very relaxed in the water. She amazes me with her resolve and ability to swim non-stop for so long. I guess she feels the same way about me and longer distance runs. But her regular swimming at the pool near her office encouraged me to also swim regularly, if not as often as she. And I was making great progress until a small accident caused me to skip the pool for about a month. I still got back in the pool before race day and was able to swim nearly 1000m with only minimal pauses. I could do another 500m, I thought. And so I did, but I did not enjoy it at all. Which only makes me want to get better for next time.
Part 2 – The Ride
Cycling is something I absolutely love, and have been doing almost daily for about 5 years now. I don’t train for races, but ride to work and pretty much everywhere else I need to going within city limits. Last semester my commute was 15km each way, and I usually have a longer ride once a semester to another school which is about 50km one way. I ride hard, and with city traffic, I get lots of practice stopping and starting (which is a good way to get stronger hamstrings for hills if your city is too flat for actual hill rides). Forty kilometers is well within my limits and I didn’t have any trouble on race day.
Even though Shanghai has zero hills, I was most definitely one of the fastest uphill riders in the race, which was a coastal road that climbed up and down the isthmus repeatedly through the loop. On every downhill segment, my cheaper-than-triathlon-style Giant™ hybrid-road-bike would be overtaken by thousand dollar time trial bikes ridden by guys with super aerodynamic helmets and stuff. But when the next hill started, I would literally blow past them, sometimes not even needing to get out of my seat. Next race I’ll have aero-handle bars which will give me a more aerodynamic position to ride in and help my downhill and flat section speeds.
I actually got out of the water so late almost all the bikes where out of the transition zone. It was rather disheartening, but I knew I wasn’t slow so I went out there optimisticly and passed quite a few riders.
Part 3 – The Run
Finally, something I’m actually good at! When I got back to the transition zone, I knew I had gained several positions, since not all the bikes were back yet. Yay! I spent a little extra time switching to compression socks and took off running. My calves were hurting from the swim, they had cramped up repeatedly and I knew any hard running would’ve had me walking to the finish. However, with the compression socks, I was fine and I could run at almost my usual pace. While I was nowhere near ‘fast’ for a 10k race, I was passing all those thousand dollar bike riders who were jogging or even walking the entire 10k.
I am very competative and love winning, and even though I knew I had no chance of winning the race, with every passed runner, I ‘won’ one more position and that gave me plenty of motivation to catch up to the next guy, and the next and the next.
Marathon running is probably the least common entry vector to triathlon. And all around me were amazing swimmers, great bike riders (helped by super fancy bikes), but no runners. Both NG and I come from a running background, and it’s really great to finish a race in your strong suit!
Impressions
The organizers did an amazing job. UltraSports.cn put everything together and kept everyone informed about when/what/how/where very regularly. The level was definitely international, and I have only praise for their ability to organize a first time race in a new place over a national holiday, and have it go without any problems. The government changed their course at the last moment, but they had a good backup plan. The swimming portion was safe and able to handle the numerous early panickers who dropped out like I had oh so many years ago. And the hotel/travel/bike transport was all done through them, so coordinating was easy for participants. TLDR; well done, highly recommend.
I am already ready to do another triathlon, and want to get back in the pool asap. I’m going to get really good at this, just you wait.