The Ground Rules

Alright. In order to complete a one man triathlon I have to act as the race organizer.  Easy enough. It's not like I have to coordinate with the city to block off roads; but I do need to lay down some ground rules so I don’t cheat.  I also have to create a simulated tri that is as real as possible. Here are some of my thoughts as well as my rules and how I will overcome some of the criticism of my little triathlon.

• Transitions -making the transition from swimming to biking and biking to running takes time in a real triathlon.  Because I cannot bike in a gym wet, I will have to take time to dry off completely before moving on to the bike section.  This will obviously impact my time negatively. Therefore, I will take the average transition time from actual triathlons and add it to my times swimming, biking and running. I am going to add 6 minutes total. I researched that the average transition time is around 2 minutes per transition. I add a minute on top of that as I am a beginner.
• Terrain – running and biking across completely flat ground is not an accurate simulation of a real triathlon.  Consequently, I will choose predetermined “courses” on the treadmill and stationary bike that will simulate hills.  I am still trying out different examples but trust me that I will not run/bike a completely flat course.
• Swimming - I cannot simulate swimming with other people around, nor waves/currents in the water.  Sorry bout it.  Deal.  This is a one man tri and there are bound to be a few things different.

So will all this in mind I am going to undertake my one man triathlon.  I am attempting a sprint triathlon which is 800 meter swim, 14 mile bike, 5k run.  I hope to complete this is under 2 hours.  25 minute swim, 45 minute bike, 40 minute run.  I will also do this all without using a single paper cup.