Athens Triathlon in Athens, Texas March 8th, 2008

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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.