About IowaTriBob
10About Myself
I consider myself to be a businessman by day, dad by night. I started running several years ago and just recently got hooked on triathlons. I completed my first sprint event at the Chicago 2012 Life Time Triathlon (http://www.chicagotriathlon.com/) with a time of 1:50:03 and look forward to many more to come.
As I considered my first triathlon I knew my race time and preparation were going to be less than stellar and wanted to document and share my experiences with others as I continue to learn and improve. This site is dedicated to sharing my findings on equipment, training, health topics, events, and experiences as I continue with my triathlon pursuit.
Below is a little more about myself (as of September 1, 2012):
Age: 40
Weight: 170 lbs
Height: 5’11″ (being a little generous with the 11″ – actually more like 10-1/2″)
Current Residence: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Previous activities: Active in high school sports, no exercise during college unless you consider walking to class and lifting draft beers an activity, started jogging on random years after college, and began participating in some of the local 5K runs in 2010.
Why try a triathlon?
I really had no interest in or knowledge of triathlons until I participated as a team in the Pigman 2012 Sprint Triathlon (http://pigmantri.com/). The decision to enter the Pigman was decided over a few cocktails in late 2011 with a couple of good friends. At first we had all signed up individually but as race day approached we quickly decided that we really hadn’t trained or done anything that would make us think we could finish separately, so last minute we decided to combine forces and participate as a team.
While attending the Pigman I was amazed at all the people that were signed up. I was even more amazed at the demographics of many of the participants. I had always assumed it would be a bunch of young 20 year olds in the best of shape running around crazy but it wasn’t. There were people of all age groups and body shapes and sizes participating in the event. The atmosphere was incredible and I instantly found an excitement and competitive desire to see if I could finish a triathlon by myself. This started my journey into triathlons. I hope you find this site useful and wish you the best of luck on your first or continued triathlon experiences.
Very cool. I’m a beginner myself too, and only found hard core IronMan people out there who didn’t think my Sprint Triathlon was cartwheel worthy. And you know I did plenty of cartwheels when I finished my first race
So I’m glad to meet a fellow beginner. Thanks for the tips they’re very useful and thanks for stopping by 
I’ve never done a triathlon, and may never will. I am happy with just a run here and there but after becoming a mom 2 years ago, I totally lost my drive to run any race. I am hoping to get motivated again, so here I am following your blog.
Goodluck on your races!
Thank you for following and I wish you the best on finding the right motivation again. It definitely needs to be for the right personal reasons.
You were the first person who “liked” one of my posts, and I just wanted to say hi. I liked your recent post about “Slown To Speed Up” – I’m getting a HR monitor just so I can do that myself.
My wife has cousins all over Iowa, and I have a cousin who taught at Iowa State a couple of years. I’m down in Alabama, but It’s a small world.
It most definitely is a small world and an HR monitor will do wonders, besides being another cool gadget to tinker with. Being in IT guy myself I really enjoy seeing others in the field with a focus on getting healthy (most of us IT folks can use it).
I just realized that you are slated for an April 7th triathlon as well. Should be a fun day since you, myself and mcunningham are all slated to begin our seasons concurrently!!!
The Pigman was my first triathlon, too — about a million years ago. Now, due to a problem with my hip, I almost exclusively run. Best of luck with this year’s goals.
Thank you and I’m looking forward to the sprint this year and maybe even the long course one of these years.
Funny how so many of us do our first tri on a “lark”…and are instantly hooked. Best of luck to you in Memphis!
Thank you and so very true!