favorite memories of first tri:

* spending a lot of time watching T1 for other waves: people trying to hop onto bikes with aplomb but accidentally kicking shoes out of the pedals and such, most approached this with enough humor to make it a surprisingly affirming experience; also the end of the bike run with riders rocketing into T2 at full speed with a look of absolute shock and wonder at the shouting marshals telling them they are actually supposed to stop pedalling now and get off the bike

* a friend in another wave describing how he waited so long on the swim start that he got stuck behind the "impenetrable wall of breaststrokers"

* the friendly person in the giant banana suit

* non-participating friends and family plus friends from other waves cheering me on

* beating most of my younger co-workers :-)

* the stud riding a brompton folding bike and kicking ass on it while having loads of fun

* how cold and dark the water was, and getting the living f**k beat out of me in the swim, but still finding some space (eventually) and coming in under my goal

* how much fun the whole thing was

* and, best of all, how excited my 4-yr-old was and him telling me (repeatedly, and to this day) how he's going to do triathlons when he gets older

My first was the Tri For Fun in Pleasanton, CA. I had basically been stagnant for 7 years, carried 225 lbs on a 6' frame, had a belly hanging over my size 38 shorts, and no discernable muscle tone. A friend of mine was bragging about this triathlon he did the previous year, and that he was planning on doing this race. He didn't look like he was in that great of shape, so I decided to do the race with him.

Needless to say, I needed to do some work. After 8 weeks of teaching myself how to swim again (by doing laps at my parents house in their 15 yard pool), getting back on my bike again, and running, I knew I wasn't ready, but I went for it anyway.

I did the swim without a wetsuit, without swimming in open water in at least the past decade, and without doing a mass start before. I was kicked in the jaw within seconds, and for the next 5 minutes I was pummeled by the masses of people that were passing me. Then there was a brief lul before I was pummelled by the next wave. The swim was the longest 9 minutes and 350 yards of my life.

The bike went pretty well and I actually remember passing some of the women that swam over me - 11 miles there. Finally there was the run - 3 miles. I started getting side stitches and wheezing like a that penguin in Toy Story 2. Eventually I made it though - only took me 34 minutes to do it.

My times look like crap, and I finished 10 minutes behind my friends, but the sense of satisfaction I got from finishing was amazing.

"Other memories of the first tri?"

Flash back a few years ago. I'm channel surfing and there is a triathlon on TV. I don't know the first thing about tri other than the fact that it's some event where they swim/bike/run in speedos. I say to my girlfriend as a joke, "That's what I should do that to celebrate my 50th birthday".

My teenage daughter scoffs, "Get serious Dad. You're an old man. You can't do anything like that. You'll get a heart attack".

Well, that did it, the challenge was set. Never mind the fact that I was a mediocre swimmer, hadn't run for twenty years and my old steel 12sp was under an inch of dust in the garage. Turns out my girlfriend(now wife) was a runner, good swimmer and bike rider. She thought us doing a tri together to celebrate my 50th instead of getting bombed was a great idea.

I had about five months to prepare. I was a middle aged guy that did a lot of recreational x-country skiing, roller blading and scuba but certainly no athlete. It was a sprint tri with 750m swim, 34 km bike and 7.5 km run. I decided for my first ever training run to jog for twenty minutes but started walking after only five. The bike came natural and my swimming then(and now) was mediocre. I worked mostly on my running and entered a couple of 5 km races turning in five minute kms.

Finally the big day. Someone told me that you can swim better with a wet suit so I showed up with my 7mm scuba suit "farmer John" bottom. My bike didn't have aero bars or clipless pedals.

However my goals were quite modest - just finish and not finish last. I came in 237th out of 314. The next year I returned and knocked 24 minutes off the original time. Most importantly I had found a new lifestyle excuse to stay fit and have fun. Sure, I'll never win IM Kona, but what a great sport to participate in. We've got eight sprint/Oly tris planned for this season and will maybe looking at the long distances the following year.

At the food tent after the race we sat down beside some guy and starting chatting. We told him this was our first event and just loved it. We chatted more about training, bikes, etc. We were newbies and this fellow was obviously quite experienced but very nice and very helpful. We found out later that he won the event and was a well known pro(won't mention his name) who normally runs IM's. Yet he was so helpful, interested in us and showed no sign of ego. Made me realize that first event that there are some really wonderful people in this sport. And my daughter was proud of me!!

yeah so i saw some triathlon in a mag and decided to do it. I was a great rower, was very fit (for rowing)and decided it couldnt be that hard. So i had a month to prepare. I couldnt swim freestyle more than 200yds, my bike was a 14 spd no aerobars or anything, but i did a lot of running for crew so i thought the run would be no prob. It was San Jose intl tri (i didnt know they had shorter races like sprints) so yeah i swam the first 200 yds free and then went to some breast and then some sidestroke. All of the lifeguards on surfboards or in kayaks were shouting out to me, "Are you okay sir, do you need assistance!" I'm like nope this is how i swim, i had no wetsuit either. Came out of the water in 37 min, got to the bike---drafted about 8 miles off a guy cause i didnt know it was illegal, then on the run walked probably half of it. It was hot, i was dehydrated and hadnt drank or ate anything the whole day. Now if you know SJIT, its a fast race, yeah well i was last in my AG in a blistering 3:07----i told my buddy who came and watched that I'd never do that ever again in my life. And in some ways, i never did. I never did enter a race so underprepared or ill accustomed to the demands that were going to be placed on my body.

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Want: 58cm Cervelo Soloist. PM me if you have one to sell

Vintage Cervelo: A Resource

My first Tri Memories(even though they're not that far behind):

About 3 to 4 years ago I saw the Kona Ironman on TV and it enchanted me. In my eyes, it looked like something so great to do and say you've been able to finish, and sitll is. So, in the spring of 2001, I decided to leave my 14 spd mountain bike, which was way to small for me, and coughed up some money for nice new Cannondale road bike. The guy looked at me wierd, he doesn't get too many customers buying a road bike at the age of 14.

So I trained a lot on my bike. I never did anything like it before and I was worried I was gona look like a fool at the race. I wasn't worried about anything else too much. I've been swimming since I was 5 and ran here and there.

Race day: Total chaos. I got my race number and got everything in place and went to the line. It must have been only about 45 degrees at race start and I was shivering and shaking in my drag suit trying to keep warm in the water. I went in the 3rd or 4th wave and got my goggles torn off in the first 200 yards. Bike came, I got on fine, locked in, but couldn't get my glasses on.
Focusing on that, I hit a rock in the road and fell right over almost hitting someone in the process. Everything else in the race went fine, thank heavens.

With all the exciting things happening right in the beginning of my first ever tri, I'm happy to say that I went a lot faster than my goal time and placed 34th out of about 320. Goes to show a perfect race is very rare, hehe.

Ahhhhh, the memories. Somewhere around 100 degrees before 8am, thinking they had thrown an olympic distance swim into a sprint, not sweating and getting goosebumps on the bike, throwing up on the run..... all of it to hang out with some cute paramedic at the end. That was 14 races ago. Proof that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger:)

2.5 years ago, a buddy said, "let's do that short triathlon in March...it's in a pool". I started swimming for the first time in my life...besides spashing around in pools. We were seeded by estimated swim times, I passed 4 people, my lungs felt like they would burst, but I kept on going. On the bike, I knew I was going to hard, but I couldn't make myself let up. On the run, I had to walk up a couple of steep hills because of cramps, but I flew downhills and on the flats. Ended up 3rd place in the Novice division, not bad for a 43 year old. Went immediately to AG, and haven't been on the podium since. But, that will change this year as I move up and race 45-49, I was so close last year, and I'm much better prepared this year in all three disciplines. I love this stuff, it's much better for me than just lifting weights and trotting around the neighborhood every once in a while.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

My finish, in response, was a 206/315. At the start, where I was in the Male 28- + Elite racers wave, I planned to stay back in the wave, but on the beach start, I sprinted ahead of everyone and was run over in the swim. I had said "19 Under" when asked for my age (i was/am 17), so during the run someone, maybe a 43 guy, said "I'll be glad to say I finished with a 19 year old". I'll be glad to say I finished, I responded. I think what made me like the experience so much was the chatting with folks before the start and during the run....that was best, chatting during the run. Looking forward to next season!!!

Darrell

Having never been competitive swimmer, it was the most daunting thing to hop in a pool, know I could swim, but find out that 1k is way harder than I'd considered. Inconceivable! When I got into decent enough swimming shape, my training partner and I decided to head over to the lake and try out some open water swimming. The lake was technically closed to swimming until Memorial Day (with the exception of the triathlon), as there was no lifeguard. We ignored the no swimming signs, hopped in the water, and took off swimming. He, being the far better swimmer, reached the other side quite a bit faster (okay, it's more a pond than a lake) and I saw him, while checking my heading, talking to some guy and climbing out of the water. I made it over, climbed up the rocks to find out the guy was with the Park Service and we were totally busted. We looked at each other and decided to accept defeat and walked back to my car on the wooded path in our swim trunks with no shoes or other clothing! Anyone who saw us must've been wondering what two guys wearing only swimsuits were doing walking through the woods laughing! We later discovered that we both had considered diving back into the water and ditching the Park Service guy, but we were each waiting for the other to make the first move! Of course, than we would've really been busted at the other side instead of a congenial slap on the wrist. That spring was some of the most fun I've ever had!

My first was an intermural in 1991. One of the guys from my dorm said we need someone to compete in a tri tomorrow morning so the dorm will get some points. I asked what a tri was, and then said I'd do it if someone would lend me a bike.

I was a high school swimmer so I wasn't worried about the swim. However, I hadn't EVER ridden a bike with changeable gears and while riding the bike to the swim start I knocked the chain off twice - so I decided to put the chain somewhere near the middle and not change gears during the race.

Looking back on it, the race must have been oly distance. It was a 50m pool swim and I ended up swimming underwater to pass people! The run came next and I have never run more than one lap around the track before. I was excited since I got so far ahead in the swim, but then 2 people passed me on the run. I sped up and vowed that nobody would pass me again. Somehow I held on until T2. Looking at all the bikes, I couldn't remember which one was the bike I had borrowed! I finally found it and took off. The ride was something like 25-30 miles and I hadn't ridden since I was 10 riding my BMX bike. And, I left this mountain bike in whatever gear it was in because I was afraid of dropping the chain.

I really enjoyed the race but didn't think anything more about it. 3 days later the guy from the dorm said something to me about the race and how did I get so many points for the dorm. I laughed and thought he was kidding. Then he asked why I didn't pick up my trophy. It turns out I was the top individual finisher and was only beaten by 2 relays! (The race was obviously not very competetive)

My wife and her uncle got me into triathlon--my wife by example and encouragement and her uncle by goading me into it. My first tri was the 2001 Copps Stevens Point YMCA tri, sprint distance. I was surprised to find I had finished the swim in like 3 minutes faster than I'd ever swum the distance in a pool, but I torched my legs on the bike (hilly course, I live and trained in the flatest place possible, Chicago), and barely dragged through the 5K. I pretty much thought I was going to hyperventilate and hurl upon finishing, but a veggie burger and two powerades later and I was good to go! (Good to go and take a nap in the car, that is.) Yeah, I'm slow, but I have fun, and I hope to keep into tris for a long, long time.

I did my first to Sprints in 2001. The first tri was in a river with cold water (colder than lakes). I had no wetsuit. I had to breaststroke sometimes because I had problems with breathing.
In T1 I had problems putting on my bike Jersey over my wet back. On the bike I could keep up on my mountain bike with guy on a road bike.
On the run I finally could pass some people. After this race I was hooked for triathlon. I just signed up for my second tri two weeks later in the town were I grew up.

First tri was Gulf Coast 1/2 IM. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was my first open water swim too. And first time riding 56 miles. And 90+ degrees. Needless to say, I sucked. Can I tell you about my second tri - a full IM...

Herschel:

You remind me of me. My first tri was a 1/2IM on my 18th birthday. and I'd never swam 300 meters in a pool, much less 1.2 miles in open water. Needless to say, there weren't many bikes on the rack when I got out, but I did finish and survive. My experience that day might be part of the reason why my next multisport event wasn't until last year, almost 15 years after the first.

My first tri was an event put on by the tri club I joined. The event was open to club members and the tri teams at the Air Force Academy and University of Colorado. It was an 800 meter pool swim/15 mile bike/4 mile run. The swim was in a 50 meter pool done in a snake fashion. The bike and run were very hilly. The swim was seeded according to estimated time and each started about 15 seconds apart. I was never a competitive swimmer but I did well and passed several people. The bike was my strongest event and I pushed hard around the course and again passed a few people. But there's always the run to kill me. The run course started slightly downhill for the first 1/2 mile and then uphill significantly for the next 2 miles. After that it was rolling to the finish. I managed to run the whole course although at some points a fast walker would probably have gone by me. Many of the people I passed on the bike went by as well. I think my finishing time was about 1:55:00.

My first open water tri was also a sprint and I started off to one side and in the back. It was a wave start and there were about 100 people in the wave. I didn't get hit or run in to and I was able to pass some slower swimmers right away. I remember getting to the first bouy and catching up to the straglers from the wave in front. I actually swam right over some guy who was on his back with only his face above the water - never even saw him. At the last bouy 100 meters from the finish I actually started passing people from 2 waves in front, the breast strokers. I did wear a wetsuit (in Colorado it's almost a necessity) and in T1 I had trouble getting the thing off. It was stuck on my calves. Once I got going on the bike I flew and passed many people only to die once again on the run and see most of them go back by me. Still I think I finished top 10 in AG and I was pleased.

I only started 2 years ago at age 45 and had never competed in any of the individual events. I was never a runner either and hadn't done any swimming since high school. Last year I was able to win my AG in a couple of smaller events and finish decently in all the other tris I did. I don't know if I'll ever be at the level of others in my AG who've been doing this for many years or who are real strong runners. However, it's tremendous fun and as long as I don't completely suck and can at least be slightly competitive I'll keep doing it.