1st Annual Saratoga Lake Triathlon:
How To Prepare with Only 1 Minute of Training (9/11/04)

It all happened rather quickly. Pugs Theory, had been entered for weeks as an Under-19 (years old) triathlon team in the 1st Annual Saratoga Lake Triathlon, when their bicyclist dropped out. What to do?

Alliegh and Lindsay were plagued with the problem of trying to find a last minute replacement. They unsuccessfully searched high and low for a biker who would ride 24.4 miles around Saratoga Lake... until both girls chanced upon "a" at their high school's first home football game.

Of course, "a" had only logged about 15 miles on her dad's hybrid Trek 720 the previous 2 months, riding to/from work a few times. So, it was quite understandable she would ask her dad, "Do you think I can ride 24 miles?"

Well, when "a" returned home from the football game around 9:30 PM, she and her dad tuned up the 'ol bike for the early morning competition the following day. The height of the seat was adjusted, the chain lubed, and the bike was clamped to an indoor trainer for some gear changing practice.

At 0600 the next morning, "a" and her dad awoke. They had a quick power breakfast. Because their gear and bike was already on her dad's, pimped-out civic, they were on the road by 0640. Task #1: cruise the bike route from the map "a's" dad down loaded from the triathlon's web site

It was foggy. Super-dooper pea soup foggy. In about 40 minutes, they checked out the route which was adequately labeled with blue Tri markings and arrows showing the turns. At that point, "a" was still a little doubtful she could do the second leg in under 2-hours.

At 0720, "a" caught up with Alleigh and Lindsay at the race packet pickup table at Brown's Beach. The plan: (1) team swimmers (Lindsay) would swim the first leg (1-mile) of the triathlon in the 3rd of 4 waves of swimmers; (2) Upon completing leg-1, Lindsay would run to the "Team Exchange" zone and transfer her ankle timing chip onto "a's" ankle who would then run to get her bike, run with her bike over the chip registration pad, and upon reaching the road would mount her bike; (3) after completing leg two, "a" would walk her bike over the chip registration pad (the transition zone), then run her bike to her designated position on the bike storage rack (#296), and transfer the chip ankle bracelet to Alleigh; and, (4) finally, Alleigh would run 6 miles through a wooded course for the 3rd and final leg.

Here's how it all looked...