Ed Tris and Succeeds

My boyfriend has been relentlessly training for a summer filled with triathlons since... February? March? I can't even remember, but it seems like forever. He does two workouts most days and absolutely thrashes himself, so he was very excited about testing his mettle at Tri #1 last weekend. This was to be a sprint tri, so it seemed like a good way to kick off the season. Olympic distance tris, the longer ones which Ed has been training for, require competitors to swim for almost a mile (1.5k), bike for 25 miles, and run a little over 6 (10k). Sprint triathlons cut most of those distances in half: after a half mile swim, competitors bike 10 miles and then run 3. This one, the Seaside Sprint, was to take place in Connecticut on Sunday morning, so Ed and I drove up Saturday afternoon. I'd gotten up early to run a race of my own that morning, so I napped in the hotel room while Ed fiddled with his bike, drank Gatorade, and lovingly fingered his new wetsuit.


It was a good thing I got that nap in, because we left for the course the following morning a little after 5:00. The gun was scheduled to go off at 6:30, but they were closing the transition area at 6:00 and Ed wanted to be sure to stake out a good spot. Once there, he registered and had his number written on his arm and his age written on his calf in Sharpie. He organized his bike and running stuff in the transition area in such a way that he could get to them quickly, while I busied myself with people watching. This was a fairly small tri, with 270 competitors of both sexes and all ages. The gulf between the different skill/commitment levels was huge. Some people looked horribly out of shape while others seemed to be made of nothing but muscle and sinew. Some had state of the art, aerodynamic bikes and helmets while others strapped running shoes onto their feet and mounted old road bikes that looked like they'd been in the garage for at least 30 years. It was all pretty interesting, though I noted that sophistication of equipment did not always correlate with performance; it turned out that the guy who lined up in nothing but a Speedo finished long before most of his wetsuit-clad contenders.

Ready to go (with his cheerleader)

Start of the swim

Ed finished getting his equipment set up, pulled on his wetsuit, and joined the group on the beach. After instructions about the course, he lined up and then they were off. It was very exciting to watch them go charging into the surf. They ran out a little farther, and then a little farther. And then they kept running. On shore, we spectators began to look quizzically at each other. Was the water ever going to get deeper? After two or three minutes, it did, and the runners-turned-swimmers made it to the first buoy and swam parallel to the shore until they reached a second one and turned for home. I lost Ed pretty much immediately, so I was relieved to see him running out of the water, pulling off his wetsuit and goggles as he went. (Hey, people drown in these things sometimes.) 

Goofy aerodynamic helmet? Check.

The competitors had to run from the water to the transition area, where they stripped off all their swimming things and leapt onto bikes. Ed had his shoes already clipped to the pedals, so he ran with his bike to the exit of the transition area, jumped on, and began to pedal with his feet on top of his shoes. He raced off, and when I saw him again he'd gotten his shoes on. The bike course was made up of 3 laps, and I lost him after the first one as all the other people made it out of transition and joined the laps, too. Of the three sports, swimming is Ed's worst and biking his best, so he was looking forward to making up ground during the bike. He did, too, passing several people who'd swum faster than he did. (I know this because he told me, not because I saw it happen. He was in view for only moments during the whole event.)

Then it was on to the run. Back in transition, Ed racked his bike and pulled on his running shoes, which have cool laces that cinch down instead of tying to save time, and was off again. The running wasn't exactly riveting to watch. The course led the runners away from the transition area to a point 1.5 miles down the shore, at which point they turned back again. It was fun to watch them come in, though. Ed seemed to finish with the front part of the pack. He gave me a sweaty hug, then dashed off to check his results, which were posted quickly. He ended up finishing 15th overall and 2nd in his age group, a result he was very pleased with.

Ed posing with 1st and 3rd place in his age group

The most interesting prize awarded was to a thin man with a thick, gray ponytail. Sunday was his 80th birthday, and so he won the first, and only, prize in his age group. It was pretty impressive. He looked like he was in his 60s, but then everyone there seemed to look younger than the age written on the back of their calves. Apparently competing in tris is the fountain of youth. 

After taking his picture with the other place winners, I escorted Ed to a huge breakfast and we drove back to New York. His next big tri will be in July. I think I am as excited to watch it as he is to run it!