Galena Tri Race Report: Friday and The Swim

Well Kids, I did it. I finished my first triathlon. I'm pretty excited about it. But here I go with my full report, I will try and spice it up alittle.

To get to Galena was not fun at all. First, we had to drop our pooch off at my moms and second it was Friday traffic time. After sitting in traffic forever and getting lost we finally made it to Apply Canyon for a course talk and transition set up. One thing we noticed once we got to Galena and T1 was that it was pretty hilly. See it never really crossed my mind that the swim took place in Apply canyon. And that to get to Galena I needed to bike out of the canyon. Yeah, that never crossed my mind. But I will get to my bike experience later. Since barb and I are both virgins at tri's we had no idea how to properly set up my transition area. So we surveyed the area and did the best we could. Once we got done setting up T1, barb and I tried to make it to Galena to set up T2. Barb and I followed the bike route and all she could say was "this isn't so bad", with a concerned look on her face. Once we made it to T2, we set stuff up quickly because we haven't eaten and it was already 9pm. So we kinda got directions and went on our way. After once again getting lost, and having a "little" tiff in the car we finally made it to our hotel which was attached to a houlihans. Barb and I quickly scarfed down dinner and made it to our room. After our little adventure to Galena, barb and I both decided that if we had to travel for another tri, we would take the day before off to get up there.


6AM on Saturday morning came pretty fast. We got up, I actually had breakfast and I prepared myself. My lovely wife was sweet enough to drive me up to Apple Canyon lake for the swim, instead of making me take the shuttle, which meant I would have had to of gotten up a lot earlier. Once I got to the lake, I was feeling pretty good. Which was surprising because I was most worried about getting the swim over with. Mainly because I'm not that strong of a swimmer. I ended up going back to T1, and setting everything up for the bike.


Everything was going pretty until I put on my wet suit and the course coordinators told us that the transition area was being closed. Then my nerves started to get the best of me. One of the best things of the race was that everyone was really supportive of each other, and it wasn't long until I was relaxed. Since I was so freaked out by the swim, I decided to do a couple laps before to warm myself up. And holy crap the water was cold, but I'm glad I went in. Before the start of the swim, I was doing pretty well. My wave was the 2nd to go which was great because I didn't have to wait around. After the 1st wave went, I made a little announcement that I was a pretty slow swimmer and if anyone wanted to go in front of me go right ahead. Once I said that a couple of guys went in front of me, and a bunch came in the back with me. I was in good company.


Once the horn sounded, I slowly jogged into the water and started the swim. I made it a good distance in the water when my wet suit started to feel really tight around the neck. I looked back and noticed a few other guys in my wave already doing the backstroke. So I thought, hey that's a good idea. After calming down in the water, I was on my way. One thing I was told before I even got to Galena was that during the swim, people will just swim right over you if you are slower and not care. Well when I did get hit or swam over, I was surprised to have them come back and make sure I was ok. After almost swimming off course, and getting water in my goggles, I started to make my way to the finish. I ended up catching up with a couple of guys I started with, and we all pushed each other to the end. Once i got out of the water , I had a big sigh of relief that I finished the swim. I actually felt pretty good. I thought I was going to be more tired than I actually was. So I quickly pulled to the side on the grass and removed my wet suit and then booked it to T2.

My swim time plus wet suit removal took 21:43, which I know it not really the best, but I'm happy with it. I'm glad that I finished and that the swim was behind me.

A little advise for next time, place a pair of flip flops next to T1 because it was placed in a graveled area, which is not good on your feet. But I finally made it to my bike, quickly got changed and went on my way to the mounting area. My T1 time took me 4:55.