Balanced Man Triathlon 2008

This was the first Triathlon for Cathi and myself. This Balanced Man Triathlon was held by Utah State University's Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. I was worried at registration that it wouldn't be very well organized. They were an hour late in getting the registration booth setup and they didn't have maps to give out, but you have to refer to a copy and then leave it.
But the race itself was well organized and laid out. Cathi and I were in the first heat which consisted of swimmers who signed up as being "fast" or participating in a team. Cathi and I shared a lane. We swam side by side and had to swim 400 yards. At the beginning there was a guy to my left who was jumping up and down like at a swim meet getting all psyched up.

They claimed that it was a 25 Meter pool and not 25 yards, but they don't know what they are talking about. I could clearly see that it was marked out on the side of the pool as 75 feet, which is 25 yards, not meters. I did 400 yards in 5:19 earlier this week. So I was hoping for a 5:15 or so. I dove in when they started everyone and I had a good start and was ahead for the first pull, but three guys were ahead of me at the other end.

The jumping blue capped guy at first was ahead by about 5 yards or so, and two others just by one or two yards. Within 100 yards I was in second place behind "jumpy". But at the flip turn at 150 I had him beat. I kept the same pace and kept getting more and more of a lead on everyone.

By the time I finished the 400 I was ahead by about 20 seconds. I jumped out and looked at the clock. It was 4:52!

That was after I had gotten out too. I probably touched the wall at 4:48 or so. That's a little over 1:12 per 100. That is fantastic! I was very happy with that time. I was the first one to the bikes and it felt great to have such a lead. But by the time I got my socks and shoes on and my shorts and shirt I was the second to start on the bike. My transition wasn't very fast.

The bike was fairly flat for the first 1/4 of the race. Then really good downhill for the next 1/2. But the last 1/4 was some serious up hills. I had to put it in
first for quite a while and pump up on my feet for a while. Cathi told me after the race that she had to get off and walk with the bike it was so bad. There were about 4 or 5 bikers that passed me who all had fast road bikes and had all the gear. Serious bikers. I didn't get my split on the bike portion, but it was 10K and I'm thinking I did it in about 20 minutes, but not sure.


When I started the run my quads were feeling it. The start of the run was very poorly identified and many other people started the run in the wrong way. I was lucky and followed somebody until I could see the blue chalk arrows showing the running path. The first 1/4 was flat and then then next 1/4 was serious downhill which was good cause I just lifted my legs and let gravity take me. But the next 1/4 was serious uphill. I made it about 3/4 the way up the main hill when I started to walk. I figured I would start back up once I got to the top, which I did. I was passed by three runners on the running leg, and I passed one of the bikers who passed me during the run! The last 1/4 of the run was flat so it was nice to be able to get that second wind after the hill to have a strong finish.

When I crossed the finish line I didn't know what my time was. They didn't have the clock setup. After I took a breather I went over to the timer and looked at my number (10) and saw they had me down with a total time of 51:01. My goal was under 1 hour. So I was pleased with that. They setup the clock which was in the pool area and I was able to walk down from the finish to cheer for Cathi. Cathi came around the corner and Jonas and I yelled for her to sprint the last 100 yards and she came in at 57:28.

Eric left in the fourth heat so he was 35 minutes behind me. We cheered for him as he came with his bike and started his run. I'm sure glad I was done. Eric finished with a time of 56 minutes.

With this being our first we were pleased with the swim. With the swim you don't have to deal with hills so every race will be about the same intensity. No surprises. This experience made me even more determined to get a better bike and to really train (especially on hills) on the bike. And to maintain my running 2-3 times a week. My knees didn't give me any trouble at all during the race (which isn't surprising considering the run was only 2.5K). Very excited to train extra hard this summer and get ready for the next one in July where I will only be doing the swimming leg for one of the Tomax teams. I hope I get first in the swim in that race too.