Geneva International Triathlon 2006

So I competed in a triathlon last week. To be specific, it was the 2006 Geneva International Triathlon, held in and by the lake in Geneva. And to be even more specific, I was a competitor that never actually entered the race.

The sprint distance (called "promotion") involved a 500m swim, 20K bike, and 5K run. For the US equivalents, it was a .3 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. Now individually I could perform the distances asked, but the real challenge was linking them together in serial, surviving the transitions, and not puking (outside of the water). Growing curiousity in the sport over the past few years coupled with my general averseness to physical harm culminated in a do-it-or-don't online registration that had me sweating over my keyboard for a good 15 minutes.

For the days leading up to the race, I trained with a fellow co-worker by running the loop along the lake, swimming the approximate distances in open water, and even borrowing his more road-worthy bike. We weren't completely prepared, but were anxious to challenge ourselves and at least finish. We received our numbers (yours truly was registered as #1203) and rooted through our competitor goodie bags to find if they had given us any good swag for the 80 CHF we had paid as entry. The night before, we carbo-loaded on gigantor amounts of spaghetti and bread, went to bed early, and mentally steeled ourselves for the gruelling day ahead.

When I woke, it was raining and somewhere around 63 degrees F (17 C). I sighed, got my swimsuit on, slipped on street clothes, and rode my bike in the rain down to the triathlon start. The rain relented for a bit and ceased its downpour enough for us to hear the really annoying French announcers repeat "wetsuits are highly recommended". Knowing that neither of us had a wetsuit (nor any of our coworkers - thanks to a company-wide email plea for wetsuits the Friday before the race) my buddy and I knew we were in for some tough few minutes ahead of us.

We had jumped in 10-12 C water the weeks previous (see this post) but really had not prepared to swim in 15.5 C (60 F) water for an extended period of time. Watching my buddy get ready for the first heat (I was in the second), I was crushed but somewhat relieved to hear "wetsuits are now mandatory". We stepped away from the start line and spent the rest of the day watching people emerge out of the water with chattering teeth. Although it would probably be a super-small market, I think that vans filled with rental wetsuits that drive around to sporting events like this would make a pretty good profit. To add insult to injury, the skies opened up later in the day, creating perfect conditions for the bike-run portions. The water, however, never got above 18 C.

Officially, I have no idea what my finish was categorized as. The dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish) doesn't even apply in my case - I was a full-on DNS. The lessons learned have encouraged us to buy some Orca tri wetsuits off eBay and find new opportunities in the spring. Unfortunately, I will be back in the states by then and will have to hone my tri skills by ruthlessly dominating geriatric athletes and small children.

Revenge will be mine. 2007 Geneva International Triathlon, you are marked!

Flickr pics from the elite women and men races at TIG 2006 are here.