Introduction

Since I started training again for triathlons earlier this year, I have been wanting to start a blog to share my progress and struggles. Since then, I have completed two triathlons and one aquabike and will be doing my third and last triathlon of the season on Sunday. My return began with the "I Love the Tavern" Tri late July. The past four weeks have been busy, having completed the Sandman Tri on September 14, participated in the aquabike at Naylor's Beach, and planning on participating in the Richmond Sprint Tri on October 12.

The I love the Tavern Tri was my first triathlon in over fifteen years. I had signed up for the PowerSprint Tri earlier that month but the night before, I ran a fever of over 102F and bailed on the tri. I started the Tavern tri well completing the swim in just under 14 minutes. T1 was somewhat long with a time of 2.5 minutes. I had a decent bike with a time of just under 58 minutes with a good 1 minute T2. The run, which is my weakest leg, was slow, with a time of just over 30 minutes. Overall, I was satisfied with my performance with a total time of just over 1Hr 45min. This was just above the mid point in my age group, which I though wasn't half-bad considering I haven't competed in a tri in such a long time.

The Sandman Tri was on my 52 birthday! I had a pretty good swim (less then 18min), a fair bike (a little over 42 mi.) and an awful run (33.5min!). Also, it was hot! I had to walk alot during the run. I finished 20th out of 35 in my age group so it wasn't that bad. Based on my poor run and the fact that my swim and bike times weren't bad, I decided to change my entry in Naylor's beach to the aquabike since this was an international distance tri and the 10k run would likely be painful!

At Naylor's beach, I had a great swim (under 26 minutes) and a decent bike (1:18) and actually placed in the aquabike! Not bad for a 52 year-old clydesdale! Hopefully I will no longer be a clydesdale in 2009 but I still have about 20lbs to go.

Wish me luck at the Richmond Sprint Tri on Sunday. I will let you know how it goes!