In my case, it included swimming 1.5K, biking 40K, then running a 10K at the Las Vegas Triathlon. And let me tell you, it was HOT out there! The triathlon took place in and around Boulder Beach at Lake Mead.

The swim started around 7:15am and the temperature was only in the lower 80’s (but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the air was quite still – no wind). By the time I started biking it was 86, and by the time I started running it was closing in on 100. By the end of the run it was 106. Phew! But I finished, and did okay. According to the Garmin I wore, my total time was 3:24:51. That’s not official because, although everyone wore timer ships, the results were futzed up and didn’t get posted. So I’ll have to wait for official confirmation. I played tag with a woman in my age group (and there’s no mistaking your age, as they write it on your leg in black marker!) for the 10K until she pulled ahead of me in the last mile. Which as far as I could tell meant she was second and I was third, but according to the race results (not the official timer results) she wasn’t even on the list of finishers! We went to the race, uh, authorities, and made them aware of this, so that’s why I’m actually not sure where I placed.

I have to say that rarely have my legs been as tired as they were the last mile and a half of that 10K. It wasn’t the muscle-cramping misery of a marathon, it was just downright, lie moving through molasses tired. Last year I did the sprint distance (.75K swim, 20K bike, 5K run) and felt GREAT – which gave me the cockeyed notion that the Olympic distance would be loads of fun. Okay, it was fun, but it was also a LOT harder. I trained pretty well, but today’s experience has given me a healthy respect for the distance, and I can see ways that I can improve – I don’t know by how much, but some at least.

So now I’ve got my legs up in our very nice room at the Lake Las Vegas Ritz Carlton (didn’t know there was a Lake Las Vegas? Well there wasn’t until about 1991 – it’s a man-made and very glorious resort hotel/condo place) and am thinking about next year’s tri season. I definitely have the bug! Now if only I can convince Chuck to try one…