Jail Break Triathlon

When I got laid off, the weather was crap for two straight weeks. I thought I was going to be outside everyday and play. I was wrong! It rained all day long, everyday for two weeks. I was doing a brick work out at the Y (for those that do not know me, I hate training inside. I hate spin bikes and equally hate treadmills!) on another rainy day when an employee came up to me and asked it I was triathlete and I said yes. He said there was another person training at the the Y today that was a good triathlete and that I should meet him. He introduced me to this guy named Rob. He told me about a triathlon that he was wanting to do but needed a team mate. Naturally, having so much free time on my hands, I offered to be his partner. The race was 3.5 mile canoe, 8 mile mountain bike and a 2.5 mile trail run. You and your partner start off in the canoe and then they combine your total times for the bike and run to get a final combined time.

Race Day: This race is called Jail Break because it's held across the street from a prison and the inmates come out and get to help at the event! I'm sure some of us in our tights looked more like jail bait to some of these guys!





The river was up about 10 feet because of all the rain. The excess rain also made for some extremely muddy conditions. The rain definitely did not let up for the race. It was a complete down pour for the entire race! We were in the 3rd group to start the canoe because of our mountain biking experience. This would turn out to be awful because two groups were already in front of us making a complete mess of the course. Me and Rob came in 1st place out of the canoe and then carried our canoes up a long hill to the transition area. By the time we got to the transition area, it had filled up with 6 inches of rain and mud! The bike started off with this 60 degree hill with rocks and tree limbs all over it. You're bike just slid all over the place. I had mud in my teeth from the very start. Just imagine jumping into a mud pit. That's what I looked like. The course was exceptionally difficult on the steep hills. I had to unclip from my pedals and run my bike up the hills. Sometimes even having to crawl on my hands and knees to make it to the top. I caught up and passed almost everyone in group two on the trail. When I started the run I knew it was going to be difficult because it went over the first 2 miles of the bike trail. If I wasn't slipping all over the place I was on my hands and knees again crawling up hills and grabbing onto trees to pull myself forward. I caught and passed several people from the first group on the run and finished with a really good time. We ended up taking 3rd place overall out of 100 teams. We only got beat by two teams that were professional mountain bikers. If I had more experience riding trails, I think we could have won the entire race.



Experiencing this type of race really made me want to try Xterra races. Xterra races are similar to road triathlons but they have a mountain bike and trail run instead of a road bike and run.

The rain finally stopped at the end of the race and the sun actually came out! I had a blast at this race and will definitely do it again next year. Except next time, I'm winning the entire thing!