My First Triathlon - Murten, Switzerland

I had had a succesful running season and I have always wanted to do a triathlon.  My friend Mike wanted to do one as well so he and I signed up for one at the beginning of the summer.  It was in Murten which is only about an hour and a half from Leysin.  Mike had to get a wet suit so ordered one from England, since it is so much cheaper.  Even though he got it sent express delivery it didn't show up in time so he couldn't race.  That left me alone, but luckily Steve decided he would come as a spectator. So the stage was set.  Here is the story.

The day started by me picking up an incredibly hung over Steve. He had partied with Sion and the Coops until 3am and was still half drunk. With the promise of McDonald’s he decided he would join as race photographer/manager/groupie. Of course he got Swissed. The first one in Villanueve didn’t open until 8 and then when we got off the highway in Fribourg there was another one but this didn’t open until 10. Not that it mattered, he was passed out in the seat and almost didn’t wake up upon arrival.

The beautiful Murten See.

We got there and it was a cool scene. Compared to most of the other athletes I was incredibly obese. I think this was a pretty big time race, because everyone looked super serious and you should have seen all the crazy bikes. The tri bikes look like alien bicycles because they are so weird. Also everyone had these bib belts that you clip your bib on. You attach it after the swim and bike with it behind you, then flip it to your front for the run. I was the only one who used safety pins to attach it to my shirt. I also was the only one who didn’t have a super cool tri bike, I took my old titanium bike.

It took a long time to figure out where to put everything. It is very gear intensive with the bike, all the swimming stuff (goggles, cap, wetsuit) and a pair of running shoes. I found my transition spot and left all of my gear there. I put on my wetsuit and splashed around a bit. I was really intimidated by the swim. It is one thing to do 1.5 km in the pool but standing on the beach looking at the buoy which seemed like forever away out in the lake made me really nervous. You start in the water in this little cove. The men (about 200) started first and then the woman (about 100) started 5 minutes after us.

Preparing for the swim.

So the gun went off and I started. The first 5 minutes I sorted of panicked. I was thinking what the hell am I doing swimming so far out from shore. But after a bit more I got comfortable and started cruising. Only freaking out once more when a piece of seaweed attacked my face. This was the third time I had swum in the last two years (the other 2 this last week in the Leysin pool) so the pack left without me. It was fine I was glad to be swimming alone. It is weird swimming in a group because I crashed into about 5 people at the start. Unfortunately my tranquility didn’t last that long, because the 100 woman caught up to me by the half way point, and I spent the next 10 minutes crashing into many of them.

Swimming in the open water was challenging because I could really see where I was going and it was hard to stay on course. Looking at my GPS I think I added about 2km since my path was so curvy. I thankfully finished the swimming leg and ran over to my bike. I was ahead of maybe 5 people, so not quite dead last as predicted. The swimming made me really dizzy from turning my head back and forth for 40 minutes so I first I had an epic battle with my wetsuit and then struggled getting my bike shoes. It took me 3 minutes but I managed to get changed and off I went.

Wetsuit battle, followed by the start to the bike.

The course was a 23km loop and it was in the Jura so it was rolling hills. I was so much more powerful on the hills that I was blowing by people on the ups. But those cursed tri bikes haul on the flats so half the people I would catch going up passed me later. I started feeling really strong though and pounded away and gained on a lot of people. I got lost once on the bike course missing a turn but managed to correct my mistake. The biking was so much fun and I loved it. I think people were shocked when I blew them away in my old school road bike with my safety pinned jersey as they pedaled their alien death bikes in their fancy one piece skin suits. I did my second lap and towards the end I was in a strange place where I was in front of all the riders I could catch and couldn’t see any more ahead. It was eerie being alone like that. I averaged 32km/hr on the bike.

On the bike.

Back at the transition it went much better. I put my bike on the rack and through off my cycling shoes and on went my running shoes and off I went. The run was a 5km loop that I had to do twice. One of the top woman was ahead of me on her second lap when I started. Just like the bike I felt pretty good and caught up with her (granted she still was 5km ahead of me) and then proceeded to reel in more racer. I managed to keep a 7 minute mile pace and felt good. Needless to say I got lost again, my brain is so fixed on moving that I missed a sign but realized when all the runners I were near had disappeared that I had gone a stray and corrected it. Of course I finished my race with my 100 m sprint and completed the course in 2 hours 52 minutes.

The running leg.

I was 55 out of 90 in my age group and 128 out of the 200 overall. Not a great result but I know I’ll get better. I didn’t really feel like I had pushed myself as hard as I could have and I have a lot to learn about how to do everything correctly. I then found Steve who was still incredibly hung over and we went to McDonald’s finally which made him feel a million times better. I really like the cross training aspect of the race and am excited for my next tri. I need to learn how to swim but overall it was a lot of fun. I am super psyched on the sport and plan to do my next one in RIchmond Virginia on 24 July.