Swim, Bike, Fall Over, Pt. 1

Yesterday was a big day, the thirteenth annual--and my first--Züri Triathlon! For those unfamiliar, triathlon consists of swimming, cycling and running (in that order) over more or less standard distances from short to long, culminating in the well-publicized IronMan events lasting 8-12 hours or longer. Triathlon ranks as my sport of preference the past seven years or so since I found training for my one and only (thus far) marathon in 2002 too monotonous, and since my introduction and illustrious beginning at the infamous if not famous Magee 3 Triathlon in Plymouth, Indiana, annually organized and hosted by our good friends.

For this first generously informal event of around 40 competitors, mostly friends, I "swam" the short 400 yard swim the first year with a flotation aid (a noodle, I think, not water wings) and the second year just as slowly without one. While some consider me lucky due to my absence of body fat, a short thin build is not a swimmer's gift; my body (especially my legs) sinks and drags through the water, making efficient progress a real struggle. With two years of study and practice, I improved my form and balance enough to qualify as a below-average competitive long-distance swimmer. Steph and I also "competed" that first Magee 3 on mountain bikes with fat tires and heavy frames akin to dragging a piano vs. a road bike; I subsequently invested in a decent entry-level competitive road bike a year or two later.

The shortest "Sprint" distance triathlons consist of around a 400-800 yard (meter) swim, 13-15 mile (22-25 km) bike and 3 mile (5km) run, requiring for me around 1:15-1:30 hours to complete. I primarily stuck with the Magee 3 and Chicago Sprint triathlons each year until pushing the endurance a bit farther to "Olympic" distances, i.e., the same distance competed in the Olympics, a 1 mile swim (1600 m), 25 mile bike (40km) and 6.2 mile run (10km), about double the sprint distance and lasting twice as long, for me 3 hours (the winners finish in 2 hours and Olympics are one-quarter of an IronMan).

From 2005-2007 I successfully completed two Olympic autumn triathlons in Lake Geneva, WI (ironic name, eh?) in under 3 hours, and limped and cheated through one disastrous early summer 2006 Olympic event in Elkhart Lake, WI; undertrained in the spring (perhaps due to crummy Chicago spring weather?), I couldn't complete the full mile swim (guiltily ducking under a buoy 3/4 distance out to join others already swimming back) or the oftentimes brutally steep hilly bike course (I had never experienced a single real biking hill in flat Chicago). We were headed to the World Cup in Germany the following weekend, and I still remember panting and swearing, a complete wreck on the bike, "I don't need this crap, I'm going on vacation in a week!" Not so mentally tough that day, eh? Steph jumped in bandit to help me--completely physically and psychologically exhausted--finish out the 6.2 mile run after I tried to sneak onto the 3.1 mile run course but took a wrong turn. I still love that story (and learned a lot that day!).

I completed my last U.S. triathlon in early Septmber 2007, an Olympic distance in Lake Geneva (fair and square, might I add) about six weeks before moving to Europe. Last year despite not working and training fairly consistently, my lack of Swiss pre-planning and one day of terrible weather negated all my planned races. Zürich's and another nearby sprint were fully booked by the time I applied (the completely German web sites slowed me down as well), and after I signed up (on a French website) and paid a nominal fee for an early September Olympic event in the French-side town of Aubonne near the actual Lake Geneva, an all day thunderstorm washout (we get some nasty ones in Switzerland) combined with some common sense kept me from traveling 3 hours across the country to a completely unfamiliar French-speaking village to attend. I instead finished the season and placed well in a perfectly enjoyable half-marathon in Basel in late October.

So the Züri Olympic Tri made my first triathlon in approaching two years, my first in Europe, and only my fourth longer-distance event ever. And several work and vacation trips to the Caribbean, Asia, and the U.S. in the ten weeks leading up to the event wreaked some havoc with my training schedule. How did I fare? Tune in again please soon!