www.mattmunson.com

September 7, 2008

This is a day that will go down in infamy! Though not really much of a travel adventure, this day marks the participation in and completion of my very first triathlon! This is the Avia sponsored Pacific Coast Triathlon, something I have had my eye on for almost ten years now. I spent a little bit more than four (maybe five??) months training for this, and it all paid off.

While I wasn't the fastest, I met all of my personal goals for the event. I wanted to finish in under two hours, not resort to walking during the run portion, and look good doing it!!

The race was a 1/2 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. I'm a totally solid and fast swimmer. I'm rock solid on the bike as far as endurance goes, but weak on speed. Running is my absolute weak point. Though I've shown incredible improvement over the past few months, I still take no joy in running, and find it to be my weakest event. On a good day, I can turn in 8:30 minute miles one after another, but that is NOT after swimming and biking.

Here I am in the transition area. This is where you come after each event, change clothes, equipment, or whatever else you need to do. It's about 6:30 AM at this time, and I'm looking a little restless. Looking forward to getting the race started!

Here I am on the Crystal Cove shores, getting ready to head into the water.
I knew from my practice swims with the OC Tri Club that I was going to be strong in the swim portion. I did not realize HOW strong! I started towards the back at the starting line, hoping to strategically avoid any kicks to the head, but ended up finishing VERY strong. I remember passing one person after another, and even smoked a few folks from the heat that launched ahead of me. But I knew the speed was to be short lived.

Here I am coming out of the surf. It was a really exciting swim. I was a little worried about the entrance and exit, as I had not practiced those at all. No dolphin jumping practice here! However, I think things went very well. The entrance was done into a relatively calm shore, and on the exit, I actually rode a couple of waves in. I swam for as long as I could, getting myself as close to the shore as possible.

This is one of the MANY things in this event that I was simply not prepared for. After the swim, you had to run up a pretty steep incline to get to the transition area. In all of my time trials I ran at home, I would simply run from the pool to my garage where I would get changed. That's a flat surface without any trouble spots. VERY different than a 100 yard run on the sand followed by a huff up a big hill. It really took the wind out of me, and added a lot of unexpected time onto my total.

I made a strategic decision in my tri planning to wear the same clothing during my bike ride and my run, though I favored running attire over bike. Plenty of folks go the opposite direction, but I guess it's a personal choice. Since I'm not competing for time, I didn't figure any benefits gained from wearing aero clothes would really pay off, especially when it meant extra minutes in the transition area getting changed. This is me heading northbound on Pacific Coast Highway. I'm in what I call the "Please Pass Me" lane. As far off to the right as possible.
All competitors have their age written on the right calf, which came in really handy for me during the ride. It allowed me to figure out just how well I had done in the swim, and how quickly I had made it out of the transition area. For almost the entire first half of the ride, I was being passed steadily by people in my age group, i.e. people who had started the swim at the same time as I had. That meant I built up a 20 minute lead over some of the folks in my wave. Sadly, since they were passing me, it meant my lead had been lost. BUT, I kept telling myself that for every person who passed me, there were 10 million other people who weren't even running the race. That's the kind of psychological warfare I've been waging with myself for months now!!
Another part of the race surprised me here. PCH is ALL about the hills! I train on flat trails. I think I did hill training ONCE over the past six months. SO I wasn't too confident with my energy distribution techniques, or my use of the bikes gears. I think I only passed two people during the entire bike leg, but oh well.

I'm sort of hidden in this photo, but that's me about 100 yards away from the finish line.
After all that swimming, ramp climbing, and biking, it was time for my least favorite event, the run. My legs were absolute rubber when I got off the bike. By my watch, I had just set personal best times for the swim and bike portion, and I was tired!! I came into the transition area, gulped down some water, then walked over the to run start, and took off. The first half mile was MURDER, but I knew that would be the case. MANY a time the thought entered my head to just give up and walk my way to the finish line. But I kept reminding myself of all the hard work I put in, and how badly I wanted to finish this event and meet all of my goals. I was absolutely at a wall... but I broke through. After about 10 minutes, I found my feet. Fortunately, the first 95% of the running course was actually downhill. So it was very smooth. The downside to that is that there was a VERY steep, VERY long ramp to climb up 300 meters before the finish line.
Prior to that, we actually ran along the surf for the last mile and a half. Really nice run... but again, I didn't train for that. Running in the sand is VERY different than running around my one mile square park in Irvine, with all its lovely paved trails. Totally works your legs in different ways, and you need to pay attention to different things. I did end up getting creamed by a wave a few minutes before I hit that big incline, but running with wet feet was just another element of the experience which made it unique.

And here I am after the race, getting ready to pack my bike into my car. A little worse for wear, very tired, but feeling pretty good about the way the race went, and the fact that I finished!!!!

While my goals were humble, I'm incredibly proud of myself to have completed one of my life goals. Many of the goals I have made for myself over the years are focused on finances, experiences, travel, and the types of things that don't require the level of mental discipline and physical dedication that this even required. And even though it was only the smallest of triathlons, it was still a HUGE deal for me. As a child and young adult, I was always "The Fat Kid", so it's a real miracle, and a total change of lifestyle for me to find myself crossing the finish line of a race that 20 years ago would have seemed like an absolute impossibility. It just goes to show that when you put your mind to it, you really can accomplish your dreams. Especially the ones that you thought were impossible.

Next stop, an Olympic Triathlon!!!

	Here I am in the transition area. This is where you come after each event, change clothes, equipment, or whatever else you need to do. It's about 6:30 AM at this time, and I'm looking a little restless. Looking forward to getting the race started!		Here I am on the Crystal Cove shores, getting ready to head into the water. I knew from my practice swims with the OC Tri Club that I was going to be strong in the swim portion. I did not realize HOW strong! I started towards the back at the starting line, hoping to strategically avoid any kicks to the head, but ended up finishing VERY strong. I remember passing one person after another, and even smoked a few folks from the heat that launched ahead of me. But I knew the speed was to be short lived.
	Here I am coming out of the surf. It was a really exciting swim. I was a little worried about the entrance and exit, as I had not practiced those at all. No dolphin jumping practice here! However, I think things went very well. The entrance was done into a relatively calm shore, and on the exit, I actually rode a couple of waves in. I swam for as long as I could, getting myself as close to the shore as possible.		This is one of the MANY things in this event that I was simply not prepared for. After the swim, you had to run up a pretty steep incline to get to the transition area. In all of my time trials I ran at home, I would simply run from the pool to my garage where I would get changed. That's a flat surface without any trouble spots. VERY different than a 100 yard run on the sand followed by a huff up a big hill. It really took the wind out of me, and added a lot of unexpected time onto my total.
	I made a strategic decision in my tri planning to wear the same clothing during my bike ride and my run, though I favored running attire over bike. Plenty of folks go the opposite direction, but I guess it's a personal choice. Since I'm not competing for time, I didn't figure any benefits gained from wearing aero clothes would really pay off, especially when it meant extra minutes in the transition area getting changed. This is me heading northbound on Pacific Coast Highway. I'm in what I call the "Please Pass Me" lane. As far off to the right as possible. All competitors have their age written on the right calf, which came in really handy for me during the ride. It allowed me to figure out just how well I had done in the swim, and how quickly I had made it out of the transition area. For almost the entire first half of the ride, I was being passed steadily by people in my age group, i.e. people who had started the swim at the same time as I had. That meant I built up a 20 minute lead over some of the folks in my wave. Sadly, since they were passing me, it meant my lead had been lost. BUT, I kept telling myself that for every person who passed me, there were 10 million other people who weren't even running the race. That's the kind of psychological warfare I've been waging with myself for months now!! Another part of the race surprised me here. PCH is ALL about the hills! I train on flat trails. I think I did hill training ONCE over the past six months. SO I wasn't too confident with my energy distribution techniques, or my use of the bikes gears. I think I only passed two people during the entire bike leg, but oh well.		I'm sort of hidden in this photo, but that's me about 100 yards away from the finish line. After all that swimming, ramp climbing, and biking, it was time for my least favorite event, the run. My legs were absolute rubber when I got off the bike. By my watch, I had just set personal best times for the swim and bike portion, and I was tired!! I came into the transition area, gulped down some water, then walked over the to run start, and took off. The first half mile was MURDER, but I knew that would be the case. MANY a time the thought entered my head to just give up and walk my way to the finish line. But I kept reminding myself of all the hard work I put in, and how badly I wanted to finish this event and meet all of my goals. I was absolutely at a wall... but I broke through. After about 10 minutes, I found my feet. Fortunately, the first 95% of the running course was actually downhill. So it was very smooth. The downside to that is that there was a VERY steep, VERY long ramp to climb up 300 meters before the finish line. Prior to that, we actually ran along the surf for the last mile and a half. Really nice run... but again, I didn't train for that. Running in the sand is VERY different than running around my one mile square park in Irvine, with all its lovely paved trails. Totally works your legs in different ways, and you need to pay attention to different things. I did end up getting creamed by a wave a few minutes before I hit that big incline, but running with wet feet was just another element of the experience which made it unique.
	And here I am after the race, getting ready to pack my bike into my car. A little worse for wear, very tired, but feeling pretty good about the way the race went, and the fact that I finished!!!!