Tri Indy at 50



August 17th was the first Tri Indy downtown Olympic distance triathlon, and my 3rd tri race of the season. As it was just 2 days after my 50th birthday, I figured this was a good way to celebrate the occasion. My first triathlon was 20 years ago as I turned 30. I still struggle with swimming, but at least I swim middle of the pack now and not the very last.

The unique feature of Tri Indy is the swim in the downtown canal. It had never been used for a swim venue of any kind before. While it is not exactly clean, it was scenic. The first 1000 meters is a straight shot while the last 500 has several turns and the water quality went downhill. They divided the swim up into around 15 differnet waves of 30 at a time, so it was never crowded. As the water temp was around 75 it was wetsuit legal, and I'm glad I wore mine as it would have been cold standing there before the start.

I came out of the water in 30 minutes and got a bit anxious to start taking off the wetsuit and hit my big toe hard. Other than that the first transition went smooth and I got out of the suit, and on the bike in around 50 seconds.

The bike course was two laps of downtown and a bit rough with several sharp turns. I figured on the turns, but was a bit surprised how rough the pavement was. One railroad track we crossed was really rough. The first lap went fairly well and I was passing riders on a steady basis. The second lap was tougher, and I just didn't feel that good. Maybe too much training the last couple of weeks.

Heading into the 2nd transition I got in with no problems, but took some time putting my shoes and socks on. My toe was bleeding pretty good so I didn't want to rush it that much. Sherrie got it on video and it was interesting to watch it later. Jared ran along side and handed me some sun glasses as I came out of transition. The weird thing was they were not my sunglasses. Apparently Sherrie found them on the sidewalk. They were an inexpensive pair and a bit scratched, but nice to have for the bright sunny day.

The run was also 2 laps and I was surprised I felt as good as I did. Not pushing the pace too hard, I enjoyed the day and the shade on several parts of the course. Overall the run course was really nice. When I worked downtown Indy this was the same route I ran on a daily basis.

On the second lap I still felt pretty fresh and decided to pick up the pace the last mile. Not that I was going all that fast, but it felt good never the less. I ended up finishing in 2 hours 27 minutes and change. About what I thought, but my bike split was much slower than expected.

It was great having Sherrie and the boys there. They were walking down the canal cheering me on during the swim, and I saw them again at transition 2. Made for a hard morning for them getting out of the hotel by 6:15 a.m.


On to the big race come September 20th. I need to train my absolute best!

Godspeed

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