We Swam, We Ran, We Rode, We Finished

Salem Spring Triathlon 2007

Brett's second Tri (and first at Salem)
Deni's fourth Tri (and third at Salem)

We arrived at to Salem Pond around 8am. The race was supposed to start at 9am. Getting there 1 hour before the race starts is not enough time, especially if you want an ideal spot for your bike. This year there were about 800 registered participants and it appeared that 85% or more were already there and had picked their spot for their bike.

Deni and I looked around for a bit to find spots for our bikes, fairly close together. Right after we got our bike spots we headed for the line for the bathrooms. We stood in line for about 10 minutes to get our turn in the lovely port-a-potties.

As we got back to our bikes, we saw my parents, along with Ben Williams. (an old college roommate). Ben and Emily Williams were also participating in the race.

The race started later than expected. I started about 9:30am. My heat was Male 30 to 34 year olds and there were about 70 of us starting at the same time. I tried to get closer to the front of the pack as I thought I had improved my swimming and didn't want to have to fight through those infront of me. My swim wasn't that great. I had to get on my back a few times as I was breathing too fast. Rounding the last bouy, I thought I was going to lose the timechip I had around my ankle. My overall swim was 13 minutes 44 seconds, for my age group that put me in 26th place and about 3 minutes and 25 seconds behind the leader for my age group.

My transition from Swim to Bike wasn't that great. I had a hard time getting my shirt on. I thought I could cut sometime off my transition by not drying off, however that didn't help me.

Once on the bike, I was feeling better about the race. On my second lap, my right leg began cramping. I could ride about 3 to 4 spins and I my leg would cramp up. I stretched my leg and drank hoping that one of those 2 would remedy my leg cramping. Overall, I felt pretty good on the bike and I completed the bike in 38 minutes 7 seconds. At the end of the bike, I was in 47th place in my age division and 6 minutes 29 seconds behind the leader.

Finally, my least favorite part of the race. The run. I had run twice before the race. I had a hard time wanting to run after I had spent so much time swimming and biking. It is very hard to fit all 3 of the disciplines into a schedule with work, family and church. That, and the fact that I hate running, I didn't train for the run like I should. However with that said, I was able to run 99% of the run. I stopped and walked a block while I drank some water at the halfway point. Our numbers and age group were marked on the backs of our legs. As I ran and when people would pass me, I would look for the age group, if it wasn't the age group I was in, I would let them run past me. However if we were in the same age group, I'd speed up a little bit and keep up with them. The last push to the finish line was uphill. I pushed as hard as I could at the end.

My overall time was 1 hr 25 minutes and 35 seconds.

Deni and I had a great time training and competing together.

Overall times:

Brett BERGER
swim - 00:13:44.050
Transition (swim to bike) - 00:04:38.040
bike - 00:38:07.080
Transition (bike to run) - 00:01:44.230
run - 00:27:22.080
Total time - 01:25:35.48

Deni BERGER
swim - 00:18:41.150
Transition (swim to bike) - 00:02:59.760
bike - 00:40:33.980
Transition (bike to run) -00:01:27.710
run - 00:28:38.830
Total time - 01:32:21.43

Pre-race work

I took the day off today to prepare for the Salem Spring Triathlon tomorrow. I'm glad I took the day off, as it was a busy day.

I started off the day by going to the Chiropractor at Novell, as my left hip started hurting a few days ago. I thought I would get it looked before the big race day tomorrow.

We went to the Mall to pick up my early Fathers Day present, which is a new watch. I got an Timex Ironman watch. It will be nice when I swim laps. I haven't had a watch in years.

Next  we went to the bike store to pick up a few odds and ends we needed.

Ryan had Baseball pictures at 5:00pm and then a game right after. Ryan had 2 really good hits today. It appears his practice is finally starting to pay off.

After Ryan's game we headed to Salem to check in for the Triathlon. We found out that they had to change the bike route because of the road construction, so we drove the new bike route to see what it looked like and headed home.

At about 8:00pm we ate dinner and then headed to my parents to put the kids down for the night. Ryan and Sydney will sleep at my parents tonight and my parents will bring them to the Triathlon tomorrow morning. My parents were at the MTC, so we got the kids to bed and waited for them to come home. They got home about 10:30pm. We got home about 11pm. Tomorrow is the big day.

Memorial Day

Deni and I started out the day at 6:30am helping with the YM/YW Flag fund raiser that we did this year. We put out about 25 flags around the neighborhood. We got done about 7:00am. When we got home, we got our bikes and equipment loaded into the van ready for our bike and swim later in the day. At 8am we went to the ward pancake breakfast as a family. Finally about 9am we headed to Salem Pond to have one last training before our big even on June 2nd.

Deni went first. She swam the 1/2 mile swim, then road the 12 mile bike route. After she was done, it was my turn.

It was nice to actually have a holiday and not work. In the past, I've always volunteered to work on holidays as the extra money is always nice, however it was fun to just be at home and have a short week of work.

I built a little grow box today that we planted two different pumpkins in it. I asked Ryan and Sydney to select which pumpkin they wanted and I asked them to come up with a name for their plants. Ryan named his "Ghostrider" and Sydney named hers "Jackie".

Lunch at the MTC

Today we went as a family to the MTC in Provo to have lunch and attend sacrament with my parents. For the last year or so my dad has been serving as a Branch President over a Japanese Branch in the MTC. My parents have taken most, if not all of the grandkids, so they can experience the MTC, however Sydney hadn't gotten a chance yet. So we decided to take the whole family when it was Sydney's turn.

We got there about 12:30 and after getting our big visitor stickers we headed right for the cafeteria. The food is much like, if not exactly the same as the BYU dorms, but it wasn't about the food, it was about going to the MTC as a family and seeing literally over a thousand Young Men and Young Women all preparing to serve all over the world. Lunch was fun. The kids enjoyed the Ice Cream bar they had there.

After lunch, we had a little time before church started, so we took a little walking tour of the MTC and got a few pictures. Here is the whole family in front of a new missionary statue behind the MTC.

This is a classic MTC picture and I'm sure I have one with my Missionary companions 13 years ago.

We continued on our tour and walked up to the Provo Temple.

Here is Sydney in front of the Provo Temple's new fountain.

Here is Ryan in front of the Provo Temple's new fountain.

Half of church was in Japanese, which was odd to sit and hear, but we had a great time attending sacrament meeting at the MTC.

Sydney -Kiss the Girl dance recital

Tonight was Sydney's first dance recital. She has been taking dance for the last few months. She has really enjoyed it. Tonight's recital was a Disney Theme.

This was Sydney's first dance of the night and is to "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid.


Sydney is very cute and quite a good little dancer.

Ryan's Underdog

The kids love to swing at the Park. They always want an underdog.

Underdog, the term describing a push on a swing where the person pushing runs underneath the person on the swing while pushing, resulting in a very high swing. The pusher often recites "Underdog, Underdog, Underdog", while pushing. Very popular with primary school children.

Although the kids don't chant "Underdog, Underdog, Underdog", they do squeal pretty loud.

Sydney's Underdog

The kids love to swing at the Park. They always want an underdog.

Underdog, the term describing a push on a swing where the person pushing runs underneath the person on the swing while pushing, resulting in a very high swing. The pusher often recites "Underdog, Underdog, Underdog", while pushing. Very popular with primary school children.

Although the kids don't chant "Underdog, Underdog, Underdog", they do squeal pretty loud.

Swimming Salem Pond

Tonight was the first time this year that Deni and I swam in open water. I've been swimming 2 to 3 times a week at an indoor swimming pool, but swimming in the open water is very different from swimming in the pool. For example, the water in the Pond is fairly clean, however when you are swimming in a pool you have a nice black line to follow. All you can see when swimming in the pond is green nothingness. It is a little eerie.


We went out to Salem Pond (Salem, Ut) got our wet suits on and swam the 1/2 mile swim. The water was cold. Deni can put her face in cold water a lot easier than I can. I started out the swim doing the sidestroke until I could keep my face in the water and swim freestyle.
Brett swimming:

My parents came out to Salem Pond to watch the kids while we swam. Ryan and Sydney were at the sandy beach to cheer us on as we got out of the water. While they were waiting they were playing in the sand and wading in the cold water.

After I got out, Sydney took my swim goggles and was acting silly.

Deni swimming:

After we got home, we both smelled like stinky pond water.

Swimming Results

I finally took Deni's watch to the swimming pool to measure my performance. I was able to complete a 1/2 mile swim in 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

	Total time (min)	Lap Time (secs)
Lap 1	41	41.34
Lap 2	1.27	45.76
Lap 3	2.14	46.99
Lap 4	3.03	49.07
Lap 5	3.54	51.2
Lap 6	4.5	56.24
Lap 7	5.41	50.79
Lap 8	6.32	51.28
Lap 9	7.26	53.81
Lap 10	8.19	53.5
Lap 11	9.11	51.78
Lap 12	10.05	53.26
Lap 13	10.57	52.86
Lap 14	11.48	50.25
Lap 15	12.39	51.23
Lap 16	13.3	51.13	½ mile
Lap 17	14.2	50.41
Lap 18	15.06	45.42

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