From FAT, to FIT, to IRONFIT: Desert Triathlon Report

Desert Triathlon, which took place on April 20, 2008, featured two distances, sprint and olympic. The sprint option offered a swim of 400 meters, bike 10 miles, and a 3 mile run, while the international distance featured a 3/4 mile swim, 24 mile bike and 6 mile run. I completed the international distance. There is really nothing exciting about this course, other than it's dirty water incredibly fast and flat bike course, and a two-loop easy and flat run around Lake Kahuilla. Now, my experience in this event was a whole different story.

Before I dive into the different segments, a bit of prologue. Friday night, after having dinner with my girlfriend and her boss, I contracted food poisoning, stayed up all night on Friday throwing up. Saturday all day, I did not eat anything, and overall, was extremely dehydrated. I was contemplating on whether I should really do the race or just walk away. Then, I remembered Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Stop Whining" attitude and that's exactly what I did. So, come Sunday morning, I felt a little better. Went to the start line, picked up my packet, racked my bike, put on my wetsuit, and went down to start line.

Swim

The bell rang, I ran in the water along with hundreds of my fellow participants. The first five minutes, felt really strong and was surprisingly fast. Then, my hamstring started cramping, followed by my other hamstring, arms, sides, even neck. It was horrible!!! My rhythm went down the drain, I didn't even care where I was going. The lifeguard stopped me twice to tell me I was going the wrong way. That was really embarrassing! From that moment on, I knew that this race was not going to be easy. Long story short, I finally was able to finish the swim, got out of the water and was still cramped. Walked to the transition area, changed into my cycling gear and was ready to start pedaling.

Bike

Surprisingly, as soon as I got on the bike, the cramping went away. There is not much to say about the bike, other than it was a really fast and flat course. There was absolutely no wind, no hills, nothing that would prevent one from going as fast as they can possibly go.

Run

Again, nothing exciting about the run. After running a healthy 4 miles, I started cramping again. Luckily, the onset was slow and I was able to finish the race before I cramped up again completely. I did have to slow down a bit at the end.

After the event, Cynthia and I went to Denny's. This was interesting because the service we received at this Denny's restaurant was unlike any other. These people really seemed to care... I have yet to see service this good, not just in other Denny's restaurants, but also everywhere else. Our next highlight was when we stopped for snacks & gas (no, not the fact that it cost me almost $60 to fill up my Toyota Camry). Upon going to the register and using my credit card, the teller requested to see an ID.... no big deal, I showed her driver's license. Then, she commented, "Sir, do you have a second form of ID? This doesn't look like you." Reason being, I had a triple-chin on my photograph. When I re-took my driver's license photo, I weight around 210-220 lbs and I ended up showing her a photo of my Bank of America debit card, in which my weight was around 190 lbs. So, I guess, that extra 20-30 pounds was the deciding factor for the teller that I, in fact, wasn't trying to pull a fast one. In all seriousness, she really did make my day... most people would get upset when asked to present a second ID, but I took her comments as a compliment. This goes hand-in-hand with not only thinking positive, but also "being" positive to reach your goals, whatever they may be. Anyways, our last stop was at the outlet stores and back home for a nice evening of movies and popcorn.

Enjoy some pictures: