On August 2, 2014 I completed my first “official” triathlon (swim/bike/run). It was the Mad River Endurafest. I had decided to sign up for the triathlon approximately one month prior to the event which didn’t leave a ton of preparation, but enough to get comfortable. The day or so before the event I had adjusted my seat position to attempt to eliminate the knee pain I was experiencing from the 2013 running of the inaugural White Mountain Gran Fondo. Read on for more.

Swim Leg

One week prior to the race the water temperature was approximately 64 degrees. The night before the race, the water temperature was 58 degrees. Upon arrival the race director announced the water temperature was a balmy 54 degrees. I didn’t have a wetsuit. No worries. It was only 0.4 miles of swimming. I entered the water and found it wasn’t as cold as everyone made it out to be. I finished the swim comfortably and exited transition.

Bike Leg

My first transition took a little longer than I had liked, but again, this was just inexperience showing. Once I hopped on my bike I was flying down the first 10 miles (all downhill). At the bottom we made the turn and began the 10 mile or so uphill climb to the transition areas. As a result of my bike position change, my lower back began hurting around 2/3 up the climb. It became pretty sore on the remainder of the bike leg and caused the average speed to drop.

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Run Leg

My second transition was very slow. Also due to inexperience but also stretching my painful back. After I put on my running shoes I quickly realized that I’ll need to practice the bike/run transitions as the legs felt very sore. The legs coupled with my lower back soreness from the bike resulted in not my best 4.5 mile run, but still was a great experience and fun to finish.

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Results & More Triathlons

Overall, my times were as follows:

Segment	Segment Time	Average
Swim	00:15:02	2:09/100 yds
T1	00:03:03
Bike	01:06:51	18.8 mph
T2	00:02:02
Run	00:39:46	8:50/mile
Total	02:06:43

Yea, I was bitten by the triathlon bug. I enjoyed it and will be training for more in 2015. Full results are posted here.