My First Triathlon: Y-TRI, Bath, Maine

Not all triathlons are the same.  In fact, not even close.  When I tell folks I compete in triathlons, most think the Hawaii Ironman and Wide World of Sports.  Ironman triathlons are for superhuman athletes.  An Ironman competitor's objective is to go 140 miles in 17 hours.  Those people are really crazy.  Instead, I do Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons (in the 1.5 to 3.5 hour range).  These "garden variety" triathlons are the fastest growing sport in the US.  My point, I guess, is that on any given weekend during the summer you can find a sprint triathlon going on in Maine.  So two years ago I set out to find and compete in one. 

The Y-Tri. 
The YMCA in Bath, ME has a sprint tri designed for beginners.  The swim leg is 525 meters long in a 25m pool. It's a great triathlon for a newbie as there are only about 200 competitors and there are several clinics prior to the event to help beginners to learn what triathlons are all about.  I took advantage of these clinics. 
On race morning the Kennedy Clan piled into the car at 5am and drove an hour and a bit to the race site.  I set up my transition area (bike and sneakers) and then did a warm-up swim.  Pool swim triathlons often go in waves of 16 swimmers at a time and I was in wave 2 of 17.  Waiting for my wave to go I talked to the guy next to me and it was his first triathlon as well.  He mentioned that he was very nervous and he said that I seemed to be calm.  I was calm. No butterflies at all. All those years of track I had at Dalhousie and Canada Games development camps we're finally paying off.  I knew what racing was all about; this was just a different kind of race.  The guy next to me though had never experienced the sound of a gun going off at the start of a race.  No wonder he was freaking out.  In retrospect, I should have been too!

The swim was 11.5 laps (21 lengths) of the pool. To make sure no one cheats there are officials on either end  of every lane to make sure everyone touchs the wall and to help you count your laps.  3-2-1 GO - my wave starts and I'm off like a flash!  There are 100's of people in the crowd poolside and I could hear them cheering me on.  I could see them as I took a breath every other stroke.  All of the cheering helped me swam faster, and faster; 25m done, then 50m done, then 75.  I was swimming like I was in the Olympic freestyle final. So much so that a spectator sitting next to my wife asked her if I was her husband and that I looked like I was Michael Phelps out there.  I'd lapped everyone in my wave, but it was still early into my 525 meter swim.  And then it happened.  I had gone out too fast, way too fast.  I felt so good at first I didn't pace myself and boy, was that a mistake.  By lap number 5 I was no longer in the lead. By lap 7 I noticed that the lifeguards were now watching me with every stroke.  With 4 laps of the pool left to go I was told by an official that it was "OK to hold onto the side of the pool or swim on my back if I needed to".  I just glared at her.  I kept going.  I was so mad at myself that I was determined to suck it up and finish.  Finally I saw an offical holding a sign at the end of my last lap.  It said "Get out now!".  I was one of the last to get out of the pool in my wave and despite my mistake I had the biggest smile on my face for two reasons.  I was happy to just be out of the pool and I had decided to finish the swim despite my poor pacing.  I ran out of the pool area thanking everyone poolside I saw, like I was running for political office. Even kissing babies along the way.  See, I knew by that point in the race, just one leg in, I was well on my way to finishing my first triathlon (swim time for the 525 meters was 12:05).    Woohoo!

Sidenote:  The guy who was so nevous in the lane next to me at the start, well, I never saw him again.  I assumed he must have drown...or maybe he be beat me so badly he left for home before I finished my run. 

Finishing up the 5k run in my first triathlon.