Triathlon: Invitation to a Drowning

When you stop pedaling, you can coast.
When you stop running, you can rest.
When you stop swimming, you can drown!

This my self-defeating mantra as I sign the liability waiver for a triathlon. This has been sitting on my to-do-list for some time, because of my inability to swim! Well, that's not completely true. I am able to to swim my way from one end of the pool to the other without touching the bottom... but I'm not able to swim my way back without resting and catching my breath.

For those that are not familiar with the marathon's crazy cousin, a triathlon consists of a swimming segment, a biking segment, then a running segment. Like running (5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon), there are standard set lengths for triathlon competitions. I've listed them below for your reference (and mine):

Try-a-Tri:

• Swim: 300 m
• Bike: 8 km
• Run: 2 km

Sprint Tri:

• Swim: 750 m
• Bike: 20 km
• Run: 5 km

Half-Ironman:

• Swim: 1.9 km
• Bike: 90 km
• Run: 21.09 km
  

Ironman:

• Swim: 3.8 km
• Bike: 180 km
• Run: 42.2 km (This is a marathon!)

Needless to say that the half and full ironman triathlons are currently out of scope. My goal is to complete at least one sprint triathlon this year. If you know of any good newbie triathlons, please let me know. I've listed some likely candidates below:

• Subaru Series: Guelph Lake
• HSBC Series: Toronto Island

Now I admit that I'm going to need a lot of work to pull this off, which is why I joined the Triathlon group at my workplace. I'll be learning with a group of other new triathletes, and we will have professional coaching and training. This was the catalyst for me signing up this year.

The weak link is obviously my swimming. At this point, my maximum swimming distance is 15 meters. That is only 5% the distance of a Try-a-Tri. Also, I will be swimming in open water with my manic co-competitors swimming over and under me like a salmon run. It's not all bad though. My wet suit will be my new best friend, as it will give me some life-saving buoyancy. I am also told that most reputable triathlons will have kayaks in the water to help poor souls like me. I have mixed feelings about the swim cut-off. If you don't finish the swim portion within the alloted time, you will not be allowed to continue the rest of the race. It's added pressure that I really don't need... but it's incentive for me to reach a certain level of swimming ability before I wade into the start line.

Well, that's all I have to say about the triathlon for now. Official training starts in January, but I'm going to hit the pool more often starting today. Wish me luck.