I did another sprint triathlon!

This morning I did a sprint triathlon (700 yard swim, 18 mile bike, 4 mile run) called the Tri for Real. On the plus side, I had an actual road bike this year. On the minus side, I broke all the rules of preparing for a triathlon: I only got four hours of sleep the night before, I worked out the day before, and I only trained for a short time after coming back from Kilimanjaro. So how did I do?

In 2009, I completed the same race in 2:03 (two hours and three minutes). In 2010, I finished the race in 1:53:02. I shaved ten minutes off my time from last year! Yay! Here I am afterwards:

After the Tri for Real sprint triathlon

Sweaty, but happy. Afterwards, my wife and I ate a tasty breakfast at Stacey’s Cafe in Pleasanton. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, co-owns that restaurant, so I got to work out my geeky side along with my physical side today. πŸ™‚

57 Responses to I did another sprint triathlon! (Leave a comment)

  1. Matt:
    All the training looks good on you!
    Best,

    Jay

  2. Nice job! You’ve got to step your shoe game up though – I know you can rock a more stylish/effective pair of shoes than those!

  3. Congratulations, that really rocks! πŸ™‚ What place did you come in? And out of how many?

  4. That’s awesome, Matt. Definitely a great way not only to shave time off your previous races, but add years to your life. I did the Maui marathon last year and doing the Honolulu marathon this year. I’m just not strong enough of a swimmer to try out for a Triathlon. So how did you place on your age group??

  5. wow,, nice matt πŸ˜€

  6. Photoshop! Just teasing, but the perfect hair does make the photo seem surreal. Congrats, 10 minutes is a huge improvement.

  7. That’s awesome brotha!

    It’s cool to improve each year. I ran the same 10k run in Atlanta for 5 years in a row and improved every year. In year five I was training like a mad man to make sure I could beat year four and after the race I was burned out and have missed the next three years!

    Interested in how your overall time breaks down in the three events, since I know nothing about swimming or biking.

  8. 10 minutes is actually a huge improvement. Congratulations on that. Look like your climb up to Kilimanjaro compensated for your training. It actually did you a lot of good by being somewhere with a high altitude. Cute kid on the background by the way.

  9. Matt you are an absolute beast! I was doing a ton of running for a nike+ contest that ASE had going on and I would do about 5.5 mile routine in about 50 minutes. To get all of that in under 2 is CRAZY. Nice job.

  10. hey! Matt good spirits, congrats, Hope you enjoy your tasty breakfast at Stacey’s Cafe.
    Good Luck for next time.

  11. Matt, your Kilimanjaro journey was for sure a best way to prepare for triathlon. I know that: after high altitude mountain climbing in Bolivia I ran ultra-marathon and it was unbelievable easy. When you spend a month on altitude from 4000 to 6000 meters, you just cannot run as intensive to start to breeze heavily πŸ™‚
    I was planning for my first sprint triathlon this Spring, but had problems with my back.

  12. Looks very photoshopped.

  13. You’re like a machine! I have to admit, you’re starting to inspire me πŸ™‚

  14. Oh, and just so I’ll have this info in the future (and for Michael VanDeMar): In 2009, I finished 56th out of 66 people in my age group. In 2010, I finished 46th out of 60 or so people in my age group. That might sound not-great, but I console myself by thinking of all the other people my age who weren’t doing a sprint triathlon that day.

    Ooh, and I just found where I did the “Bay to Breakers” 12K race (7.46 miles) on Sunday, May 18, 2008 in 1:39:42. I was toward the back and it’s hard to do a serious run around all the people in costumes. πŸ™‚

    Nick R and Tugrul, it’s a picture from my Nexus One. I didn’t notice at the time, but it was set for indoor lighting instead of outdoor, so I threw it into Picasa and let it do its autocolor magic.

    Rob M, I used my Nexus One to record my bike and run tracks. Biking was 51:53. Running was approximately 40:00; the Nexus One said 40:29, but I forgot to stop recording my track for maybe a minute). That leaves ~21 minutes for swimming and transitions (switching outfits/gear). I’m guessing about three minutes per transition, so approximately 15 minutes for swimming. I suck rocks at swimming. I never really learned to swim freestyle correctly, so I was doing some hideously bad attempt at the breaststroke, the backstroke, and the flail-around-stroke.

  15. Great photo, not just because there is Matt in the center, but love the way that li’l girl in the background does a physio for her father.

  16. Hi Matt,
    Congratulations, 46th out of 60?
    that’s not matter, the important things is that you do it, the most people don’t do it.
    I admire you, you have time to work, sports and climb the kilimajaro.
    nice job!

  17. hay matt…nice to see you enjoying ….keep it up….

  18. Congratulations on your Tri ! If you ever want to talk geeky tri stuff, you know where my office is :). I might be able to provide some useful recommendation.

  19. Hey, this sounds really great, and it is obviously a running day, (or it way yesterday), I’ve finished my first 21 km run, with an awesome time….
    Running is great, isn’t it?

  20. I’m with the copped crowd!

  21. Great way to work off the Google 15 Matt – i realy must get my ass in gear and get a bike for my commute and losse some of my spare tire. Question is do I go for the super light TI upgrade to the brompton or not πŸ™‚

  22. Congrats Matt! Isn’t a great feeling when you finish a tri?
    For the sucking rocks at swimming part, I’d strongly recommend reading and trying the Total Immersion method by Terrry Laughlin. There are also some good demo videos on YouTube. Hope that helps – I also sucked at swimming but finally learned a decent freestyle so that I could start the bike and run legs with a little fuel left.

  23. Congratulations Matt!

    And whatΒ΄s your time goal for next year?

    Or maybe you want to switch to an Olympic Triathlon (meaning double each distance?)

  24. BIathlon. You were supposed to do a BIathlon!

  25. 10 minutes off your previous time – that’s awesome!

    Well done buddy.

    – Paul Barrs
    Internet Business Podcasts

  26. Congratulations on the endeavor Matt! I know for personal experience how such an event with lack-of-sleep can punish your body. You do look much stronger than you did last year. Keep it up!

  27. 700 yard swim, 18 mile bike, 4 mile run,that`s great,wish you more stronger.

  28. that was awesome ! good job !!

  29. Great Matt ,didn’t know you do suuch thing .

  30. Wow! It’s very inspirational! You look awesome!

  31. Well done Matt, I am really impressed. Next stop “Iron Man” … my neighbour did an Iron Man to celebrate turning 50, so it’s definitely achievable!

    See the guy on the left in the red cap? That’s about how I feel after my one mile walk to work in the mornings …

  32. Good Job!!! I am currently training for the Amsterdam marathon on October 17 and in the spring 2011 I am thinking of running Prague or Tel Aviv marathon (both in May 2011). Would you like to join me? πŸ˜‰

  33. Great work!

    I suspect that a similar athletic feat would take me two days as opposed to your two hour performance…;-)

  34. You look great, Matt. Thank you for sharing your accomplishments with us. You truly inspire me to be healthy and strive for my best. Yesterday, I took my first hot yoga class and though I was going to die, but after reading this, I’m going back, today.

  35. Heck, that placement is good non-the-less! Exactly what you said, YOU were out there while millions were not! Keep it up!

  36. Matt,

    If you’re looking for some good running shoes try getting the Newtons. I just bought a pair and they’re great. They take a little getting use to but I was immediately able to shave time off my runs.

  37. It looks like a photoshop work.. !! Really ..
    I think something wrong with the camera πŸ™

  38. Matt,

    That’s funny and the same reason why I never participate in Tri’s thought I love the concept.

    Underwater and doggie style won’t cut it for a 700 yard swim!

    “I suck rocks at swimming. I never really learned to swim freestyle correctly, so I was doing some hideously bad attempt at the breaststroke, the backstroke, and the flail-around-stroke.”

  39. Wow, you are looking good. I hope to meet you one day. I moved to the Bay Area a few months ago, and often dance at Cheryl Burke Dance which I assume is somewhere near where you work. There is a Google Search Engineer that is also a ballroom dancer like me, so that’s kind of cool. Anyways, keep up the good work!

  40. Matt, when you’re running do you get people saying “Oh my it’s Matt Cutts! Can I have a picture?”

  41. I really thought you put your head on someone’s body. Looking good dood. All the training has paid off πŸ™‚

  42. Pretty good – well done. I did a few sprint tris and just looked up my last 3 times which were 1:50:45 , 1:52:47 & 1:55:54 – 400 metre swims with 5 mile runs. Mind you that was 20 years ago and my times were slowing.

    I used to train tri-weekly, then I’d try weekly but now sadly I can only try weakly πŸ™‚

  43. Matt, congratulations! I used to do a number of triathlons β€” but after doing Ironman I was exhausted. Sprints are still one of my favorites (and off-road triathlons).

    Keep it up!

  44. Man you look GREAT!

  45. Wow look at the muscles on those legs πŸ˜‰ Keep it up. That is awesome.

  46. Come on Matt we all know you photoshopped yourself in πŸ™‚

  47. Wow, you got skinny Matt!

  48. Dude, You face looks kind of photoshopped πŸ˜›

  49. Matthew,

    One question? Are you trying to make the cover of Tech GQ?……..keep it up man, i wish I could drop a couple of dozen pounds

  50. Matt you’re amazing! I used to think you were an out of shape computer nerd. Wow, you really changed my impression! Since when did you start exercising?

  51. Congrats on completing and significantly improving your time! Something to be very proud of. When’s the next race?

  52. Hi Matt,
    I am so impressed! I don’t think I could do sth like that and I think I wouldn’t enjoy it as I am rather lazy πŸ˜‰
    But you look like you enjoyed the triathlon. In Germany we have a book that is called: “Achilles’ Verse: Mein Leben als LΓ€ufer” and the guy in this book describes who you get hooked on runnig. So I believe this was not your last triathlon.
    All the best from Germany

  53. Congratulation, i know how hard is do this. I run sometime in marathon, but i think check myself in triathlon.
    Great job!

  54. Looking quite svelte! Good for you.

  55. Dude, you actually look like you’ve lost tons of weight! How did you do it? I’m kind of chubby right now, but as you know our profession and the junk food that comes with it is responsible for it. From all those battles with Google, I don’t have the time to actually exercise properly… hence the result.

  56. Congrats man! I need to start doing some 5ks…the first one I did was down at Avila Beach. It was a blast, and hitting up these competitions/events makes training a bit more fun as there is a goal. Just running & getting sweaty for the sake of getting sweaty, for me, isn’t nearly as motivating as having something to aim at… eg; lemmeh’ get a few minutes off of the last race.

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