My
name is Chad Soileau and this is the account of my first 'official'
USAT sanctioned triathlon, the Athens Triathlon in Athens, Texas. A
little under 2 years ago I weighed 464 pounds. I have since lost 254
pounds and have added long distance running, swimming, weight
lifting, cycling, boxing and now triathloning. I say this is my
first 'official' event because my friend Hunter and I ran a
triathlon in late January that he and I organized. We invited a few
friends to do it with us but we ended up being the only
participants. I won the first annual 'Hunad Challenge' so
technically I was undefeated going into Athens. Hah, that was about
to change! To be fair to Hunter I was on a road bike and he was on a
mountain bike. He smoked me in the swim but I caught him quickly on
the bike. Had he had a comparable bike the race would have been much
closer.
Beth and I arrived in Athens at 6:30PM Friday night after an 8 hour
drive from Baton Rouge. We went straight to the Cain Center to check
in and pick up my race packet. The Cain Center was the location of
the pool and also the transition area for the bike and run. When I
picked up my packet the lady looked at me kinda strange because I
asked her about changing into dry clothes before transition 1. (T1)
The weather was going to be around 28 degrees at the start of the
race and I really wasn't very excited about doing the bike soaking
wet in such cold temperatures.
With a strange look on her face she said, "Well most people just go
out on the course wet but you can go into the locker room and change
if you want."
I was seeded 31 because I put down 4:30 for my 300m swim time. I
found it odd that the guy behind me in line that had done a dozen
triathlons was seeded in the 200s.
I was thinking to myself, "Do they let the slow, fat guys go first
or something?"
I was about to get a big surprise in the next few minutes as I
walked to check out the pool. All of my swim training is done at
Southeastern Louisiana campus pool in Hammond, LA. During one of my
first swim sessions I asked the student worker the length of the
pool and he told me it was 50 yards. I based all my swimming on that
distance. Well strangely enough the 25 meter pool at the Cain Center
looked EXACTLY the length of the Southeastern campus pool. Panic set
in and a sick feeling came over me as I realized that all of my
training had been half of what I thought it was. 300m still isn't
and issue because I was swimming 500m every morning in my training
swims. I'd be ok if I was calm going into the water and didn't get
kicked in the face or anything. Getting kicked in the face and
having your goggles broken early in the race would probably suck
right?
I had intended to ride the route that evening but we were running
late to the carb loading dinner at a local church. The hosts at the
church were amazingly nice and really made us feel welcome. We ate
well and they sent us off to our pre-race slumber with well wishes,
a full belly and a few bananas.
I still intended to change after the swim before I went out to T1 so
I made sure I had everything packed. I double-checked my bike, set
my 2 alarms and tried to prepare myself mentally for the morning.
Similar to the night before the Mardi Gras Marathon I wouldn't get
much sleep. I guess that will be a pattern for me before races. I
did get a good 8 hours on Thursday night so I guess that's all that
matters. I was wide awake at 2:30 and tossed and turned until the
wakeup call came in at 5AM from the hotel front desk. I popped out
of bed and sucked down a quick cup of coffee and munched on a
granola bar as I dressed. I'm still a little self conscience of
wearing my onesie tri-suit but I figured I wouldn't be in it long
because I still planned to change when I got out of the pool. One
last check of my equipment and we were out the door at 5:20AM.
The temperature outside was 28 degrees with little to no wind as we
arrived at the Cain Center at 5:30AM. For me 28 degrees is extremely
cold but there was no wind and the humidity wasn't bad so I guess it
didn't really 'feel' that cold. I rolled my bike around as Beth
carried my gear as we waited for the volunteers to get into place at
their various check-in stations. First stop was the transition area.
After
a quick helmet inspection by one of the race officials I was allowed
into the transition area. I dumped all my gear on the ground so I
could go through the stations to get marked and get my timing chip.
I thought it was kinda funny that they were marking everyone because
I surely would be bundled up like Ralphie from A Christmas Story for
the bike and nobody would be able to see my markings. I guess the
body marking is triathlon tradition and who am I to argue with
tradition. The volunteer wrote 31 on my left arm and the outside of
my left calf and my age on the back of my right calf. I thought
getting marked was kinda cool anyway. Heh heh. It's Sunday evening
as I write this and I still have the markings on my legs.
From body marking I went to pick up my timing chip which was a
little coin sized device that hooked to my leg via a Velcro strap.
From there I headed back to the transition area to lay out my towel
and arrange my gear for the bike and run.
I still was convinced that after the swim I was going to run into
the bathroom and change into warm clothes. I pulled aside a USAT
official in the transition area and asked him if it was against the
rules for my girlfriend to hand me my dry clothes bag as I exited
the pool.
He responded curtly with, "Sir, that is against the rules and you
will be penalized for outside assistance." Similar to the lady
yesterday he curled up his face and said, "MOST people just go out
onto the bike course wet."
I polled a few of the other triathletes that were standing around
setting up their gear and they all concurred with the official. They
would be going out on the course wet. I guess in retrospect, when I
think about it, the guys that were around me in the transition area
were actually COMPETING and they cared about their time. Being
seeded so low at place 31 because of my pool training distance
mishap had me right in the thick of the athletes and not the slow
guys like me. I bet had I been seeded in the 200s, where I SHOULD
have been, the answer to that question would have been a little
different. It was at that point I made the decision to dry off in my
tri-suit in T1 after the swim, bundle up as best I could and go out
on the course wet. It wasn't a mistake because I really wasn't very
cold on the bike course. I wasn't comfortably toasty but it was
tolerable.
At around 7:25 an announcement came over the loudspeaker that
transition would be closing in 5 minutes. I stripped down to my
tri-suit, dropped off my sweatshirt, shoes and socks in my little
area and headed off to the mandatory pre-race meeting. I don't
remember much of the meeting other than the race director saying
something about Lance Armstrong holding the course record for the
Athens Triathlon. My heart started racing and I started to get
really concerned about the swim. This concern would turn to fear
very shortly. The race director announced that bibs 1 - 50 needed to
head to the pool for the start. I kissed my girlfriend goodbye, she
wished me luck and I headed down to the pool.
I'm
not a small guy and I like to consider myself somewhat muscular
since I lift weights heavily multiple times a week. Imagine all 215
pounds of me standing between a couple of guys that weighed around
140 pounds soaking wet. I told them my dilemma regarding my seeding
mistake and apologized to them in advance if my slow swimming held
them up. At this point I was more concerned about slowing the guys
behind me up because I would only start 10 seconds ahead of them.
Everyone was nice and they understood my dilemma.
Bib number 1 hit the water at 8AM sharp. The Athens Triathlon had
officially started. The race official staggered each participant by
10 seconds and by 8:05ish it was my turn to jump in the water and
start my race. I'm not a great swimmer by any means because my
freestyle stroke is so inefficient. I get by with a silly half-ass
side stroke or a crazy looking slow breaststroke to get my breath
when I get tired from freestyle. During my training swims I breathe
on my right side as I recover from my right arm. Any and all
training went out the window when I started the race. I
held my head
under the water without breathing at least three fourths of the
length of the first lap. Big mistake. By the time I was on the other
side of the pool for my first lap I was winded. At the 50m point a
couple of swimmers had already passed me. I moved as far to the
middle as I could avoiding the oncoming traffic of swimmers moving
in the opposite direction. Things went south at the 75m point. I
don't know how to do kick turns so as I got to the ends of the
'deep' end of the pool I dunked under the lane buoy rope to get to
the next lane. When I hit the 75m point I dunked under the buoy
rope to start back towards the 100m point. When I surfaced I
received a swift kick to the face by the swimmer that was doing his
(or her) kick turn. They got me good. They got me really good. The
blow hit me right in the middle of my nose and broke the bridge of
my goggles. Water flooded my eyes and stunned, I sucked down what
felt like a gallon of water into my lungs. Panic set in. I surfaced
hacking and coughing and started my side stroke towards the 100m point. After being
passed by what felt like another 10 swimmers I made it to the 100m
point which was thankfully in the shallow end. I stood up and tried
to adjust my broken goggles while rubbing face thinking it would
make the throbbing go away from the roundhouse kick I received. Beth
caught a great picture of this moment. I was right below one of the
lifeguards and I was hoping that I wasn't going to get disqualified
for standing.
I asked him, "Is it OK if I stand here for a second? I got kicked
and I need to catch my breath."
He shrugged and responded with, "I dunno."
I continued on after a few more seconds of rest and managed to
finish the swim doing very little freestyle and lots of my
sidestroke. At just over 9 minutes my swim was finally over. The
swim, which I thought would be the easiest event of the day for me,
would prove to be my most difficult.
The
temperature had increased by a few degrees by the time I ran the
short distance to T1. It was still numbingly cold though and I
shivered all the way to my bike. My poor bike was all alone on my
rack as I grabbed my towel and started to dry off as much as I
could. The other racers, who were properly seeded, finished their
swim in under 5 minutes and were already out on the bike course. I threw on my Jackson Day Race sweatshirt and slipped on a
pair of shorts as quickly as I could. Next I slipped on my socks and
shoes, grabbed my helmet, unracked my bike and ran as quickly as I
could to the red mount line. 4:53 was my T1 time. That time could
have been MUCH worse had I stuck to my original plan of changing
into dry clothes.
I remarked to a volunteer before I mounted, "Sheesh! Slowest
transition in history!"
He replied, "Don't worry about it. I think everyone was slow getting
out of T1. Good luck and go catch them on the bike!"
I buckled my helmet, mounted my bike and I was off on the bike
course.
I figured I would have been freezing on the bike but it really
wasn't that bad. The tri-suit did it's job and wicked away most of
the moisture and left me comfortable throughout the ride. The bike
course was great. It was very scenic and it had some really
challenging hills. At least they were challenging for me on my tiny
bike. Tiny bike you ask? I like my bike but it's just too small for
me. I can't really stretch out and get aero because the frame is so
small. It's a 52cm frame and I should be in a 60cm.
I would hear the distinctive 'whomp, whomp, whomp' sounds of the
nice tri bikes before I would hear the riders shout out "On your
left" as they passed me. I was passed by quite a few people but I
also passed a few as well. I still haven't really figured out what
gear I'm supposed to be in for what situation but I managed to get
up the smaller hills at the beginning of the course without many
problems. We turned off the main road that runs north / south in
Athens onto the state highway after around 3 miles. The hills on the
highway were a little more difficult. I struggled with my gearing
but I managed to find a happy medium with the middle sized sprocket
on the front and the small sprocket on the back. I hope they still
call the teethy wheeled things sprockets because honestly I'm not
mechanically cycle inclined. Had I gotten a flat my race day would
have been over. I guess I'll have to eventually learn.
At the 6.5 mile mark I crested the last 'big hill' before the
turnaround point and was speeding down it at close to 50mph. What a
rush! I got to the turnaround point much faster than I expected. The
weather was warming up as I started on my 6.5 mile trek back to the
Cain Center and with the exception of my feet I was actually quite
comfortable. Climbing back up the huge hill after the turnaround was
difficult. I peeked down at my watch at one point and noticed I was
traveling 8 mph while traveling up the hill. I remember glancing over to the other side of the
road and feeling sorry for the guy that was speeding down the 'big
hill' approaching the turnaround on a mountain bike. He was in for a helluva ride up this hill in a few short moments.
The ride back to the Cain Center was uneventful. I sped back to the
dismount point where the volunteers were screaming at me to slow
down. I hopped off my bike and shuffled back to my little spot to
get ready for the run. My total bike time was 55:50 for the 13.8
mile course.
I
don't have bike shoes so I was already in my running shoes. I
slipped off my sweatshirt and donned my Team 464 jersey that I wore
for the Mardi Gras Marathon. I left T2 after only 1:39 which is OK I
guess. That time included stopping for a second to down a few swigs
of Gatorade.
The first half mile of the run I felt like I was running on little
toy blocks on all points that my feet struck the pavement. I guess
of all the portions of my body my feet were the most affected by the
cold. It took that first half mile for them to 'thaw'. The race
summary advertised the run course as mostly flat and that was
accurate. There were a couple of hills but it wasn't anything I
couldn't deal with. I maintained a 9 - 9:30 minute pace for the
first couple miles and I sped up for the last mile and had an
average pace of around 8 minutes. I felt really great. I munched on
a couple of energy jelly beans and downed a bit of water at the aid
station just after the 1.6 mile turnaround. I felt the twinges of
emotion coming on as I rounded the corner for the last 200 meters
but I held it back and finished strong.
My
overall time was 1:40:52 and my overall rank was 240 out of 444
athletes. The people of Athens, TX and more specifically the
volunteers at the race were super nice and I had a great time
running the race. I'll definitely be making the Athens, Triathlon an
annual event. This event did demonstrate that I desperately need to
do some heavy swim training. My first open water swim event is a
quarter Iron distance triathlon in Galveston at the end of the
month. .6 miles swimming in the Gulf of Mexico seems a little
daunting right now but that just means I'll have to train harder
with my pool distance mishap. It's only training and I'll be ready.
Hopefully I can avoid the roundhouse kick to the face in my next
event.
Best of luck on YOUR life journey!
May you reach all your goals and achieve all your dreams!