Sink Or Swim at the Penn Yan Triathlon

I did the Penn Yan triathlon today - allegedly Olympic distance (1500/40k/10k), but actually a bit longer (mile, 25.1, 10k). They don't skimp on things in Penn Yan. Weather was hot (80+) with a strong south wind. My total time was 2:58:10; I don't know the place - BUT, nobody passed me the entire way! That was cool. Sort of like lining up in the TNT/17,000 Corral at Boston. The story...

I have, in fact, swum for more than a mile in a row before. It was in 1990, and in a pool. If you're planning on a trip to Keuka Lake in the near future, rethink any swimming plans, because most of the water there has been recycled through my nose. I lined up in the absolute back of the pack of roughly 80 or so long course people. I finished the swim 53:20 later, in 4th from last position. The course is 2x a half mile triangle - 250 meters parallel to the waves, 300 right Into them, and then 250 back to shore "downhill" with the waves at your back. I did sidestroke for the 2 hard lengths, then a mix of freestyle (head above water - it's free, right) and sidestroke for the easy side. The best thing about it was that I didn't get lapped. There was no worst thing. It was all terrible.

Stacey and I are going on vacation to a lake in NH in a week - I may try to talk her into going to New Mexico instead. No open water there as far as I know. The swim was in the north end of Keuka Lake, with a strong south wind, meaning that there were big (well, 18" high) waves wrapping you in the face all the time. There were gross little bits of seaweed that got tangled around your arms. There were probably also man-eating piranha and stuff out there too, but I was so slow they mistook me for barge traffic and ate faster swimmers.

On to the bike. 5 miles on S.R. 54 along the lake shore, 1.5 miles east on some little hilly road (straight up a hill), then south along a road on the ridge between Seneca and Keuka Lakes. The roads were open to traffic, but in Yates county, that doesn't matter. The local division of the Harley club were enlisted as course marshals, so there were no problems with motor vehicles.

There were wind and hill problems. Into the south wind and up the ridge, I only averaged in the low 'teens for the first 13 miles. I played golf with Ron Herried once last year. He made some bad shots and shouted obscenities at the hills of Trumansburg. I followed his example and shouted at the hills of Barrington NY. I was hoping to average over 20 on the bike, but with those conditions I only managed to make 18.0. 13 miles at 4 minutes a mile are hard to make up even if you can do the last 12 at almost 30. (The last 12 on the bike were a LOT of fun though). I managed getting through the bike leg in 1:23, out of the second transition in 2:20:00.

The run was fun. Running is easy. Wind and waves don't matter too much, and plus, I have lots of practice. I did the 10k in 38:10, which is faster than I run 10k's with no preamble lately. The run course was a double looper - to the extent of having to actually cross the finish line twice. That was hard, but I was running good and passed a lot of people on that section, so it was fun anyway.

In sum, triathlons are fun, but I think that it may be a deception aimed at runners. The last two legs are fast and enjoyable, and make you forget how you were about to drop out after the 10th wave whopped you up the nose, 200m into a mile swim. (Please, no comments from anyone who knows how to swim about my 53:20 split!)

--CMM (aka Chris Mansfield)