First tri

Okay, so posting hasn't gotten much better, but at least it hasn't been months, right? But since my last post, I've accomplished a major feat - I'm finally a triathlete! Okay, so a sprint triathlete, but it's pretty impressive for me. On June 6th I made it through the Danskin triathlon: 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike ride and 5K run.

I'm not athletic at all, never have been. In elementary school I dreaded the time of year when we'd have the President's Physical Fitness tests. Chin ups? Forget it. I couldn't even last a second. Shuttle run? Not for this uncoordinated girl. Endurance run? Pure misery. Until my rebellious years in high school, I was an A student until I got my first bad grade...in PE. In 8th grade I thought tennis would be fun, until I realized how much running around the court was involved. I've joined gyms here and there over the years. I'll lift weights, maybe do some aerobics or something, but nothing very consistent. When I was young and had the metabolism of a squirrel, it was no big deal, but all those years of not being athletic have caught up to me.\

Then I start dating someone who wants to get physical, and not just in a naughty way. Suddenly I'm waking up at 8:30 on a Saturday morning to go to spin class. Most weeks we hit the gym at least twice, if not several times. Then I say I want to achieve a goal I've been yakking about for several years and he's all about it. And suddenly I've got a coach, someone to encourage me to get moving and tells me to get out the door when I really just want to watch bad reality TV and eat pizza.

It took me a good solid month of training - working out 5-7 days per week training - to feel like I could take on a triathlon. I tried to combine events as much as I could, going running after spin class or going for a swim then biking 10 miles. The week before I even did my own mini-sprint, swimming 14 laps in the pool, biking 12 miles and then running almost 2 miles. (Keep in mind that I am exaggerating when I say "run." What I really mean is I run as long as I can stand it - usually about half a mile - then walk for awhile, then run some more, repeat.) The practice went well and I tried to take it easy and avoid injury the week before so I'd be ready to rock it out on that Sunday.

The day before the Danskin it all became a reality at packet pick-up. By bedtime it became a terror and I kept saying, "I don't think I want to do this." I'm not sure what I found so scary, but I was kind of a wreck. I barely slept the night before and when I woke up totally groggy, all I wanted was to oversleep the damn thing. If it hadn't been for the BF, I might have just done that. But he got me up and to the park and then there was no turning back.

I made the mistake of signing up in the mixed age group, so my start time was almost an hour after the first waves began. I'd had delusions of recruiting someone to do it with me and I didn't want to risk being in a different age category if that actually happened. Well, because I was already slightly iffy, I didn't try very hard to get someone to do it with me, so there I was, waiting to start the swim, alone in a pack of women doing the race with their friends and family. Ironically, I discovered the day before the race that a childhood friend was also doing it for the first time, so I could have at least started with someone I knew. Oh well. I needed to be in my own head anyway.

The swim was pretty terrifying. I grew up swimming, taking lessons for years and spending summer after summer at the pool. As an adult, I have horrible technique and I am certainly not fast or particularly strong, but I've never had much anxiety with swimming. I focused on this quite a bit while training because I wanted to improve and have some form of technique. I didn't think I would drown, but I knew I'd get tired and I'd be slow. I signed up for an open water swim clinic where we swam the half mile in the same lake and practiced the big group start (albeit with only 30 instead of 100 women). I thought I was prepared, but no. I hadn't even made it out to the first buoy before I was freaking out. I couldn't catch my breath and every muscle in my body was completely exhausted. Not only could I not handle the crawl stroke, but any sort of movement resembling a stroke at all was out of the question. I wasn't even far enough out that I was anywhere near a kayak or swim angel with a noodle, so I forced myself to at least get to that point. I remembered what the swim clinic instructor said about how when she needed to focus or calm down during the swim, she'd do a back stroke and stare at the sky. And it worked! After awhile I was able to breathe and didn't feel totally fatigued. I kept going with small goals - get to the next buoy or kayak, pass that tree, swim X more strokes. I kept telling myself that when I got to the next swim angel with a noodle, I'd let myself stop and rest, but then I'd keep on swimming by. I never really got a good rhythm down and eventually gave up on any delusion of doing a crawl stroke. There were just too many people and no matter how I tried to "make my own space," I never got over the alarm of swimming into someone. I mostly did the breath stroke with a little side stroke thrown in here and there and I got through it. I came out of the water and walked up the hill to the transition point and wasn't even super tired at the end of it. I finished the swim in 23 minutes and 20 seconds. Could I have gone faster? Certainly, but in comparing my results to some of the top finishers, I wasn't that much slower.

My overall time was 2 hours, 15 minutes. I really should have finished closer to 2 hours, but I never really read up on any transition tips. Between the swim and the biking, I took almost 10 minutes. I walked up to the transition area. I dried off, put on my shoes and shorts, ate a snack, drank some water, went to the port-o-potty. The top finishers spend less than 2 minutes on the first transition. I have no idea how they do that, but clearly that's an area in which I can improve!

The bike ride was great. It was a fairly hilly course, but not too bad. I think I could also make up some time in biking, maybe get those shoe clip thingies to improve my pedal efficiency. Twelve miles isn't bad at all and I rather enjoyed the course. I was fairly quiet and rural, with rolling hills, farms, ponds, wildflowers. It took me about 53 minutes, averaging 13.5 mph. I can go faster than that if I train longer and try harder.

My second transition was 4 minutes, thirty seconds. The gold standard there is less than a minute. I could have run, not walked my bike in, ripped off the helmet and ran out, but there was more drinking of coconut juice and water and general lollygagging. The 5K took me 45 minutes, which is about what I average with my run/walk method. And I walked quite a bit more than usual, too. I tried several times to make myself run but OWWWWWW!!! My legs just don't like running and I've been struggling with pulled hamstrings for the past few months. I am not a runner. Never have been and don't know if I ever will be. But I would like to get to the point where I can run a 5K. Seriously, it's only 3 miles! It didn't help matters that the cloud cover had dissipated by this point and it was blazing hot. That's another reason never to sign up in mixed age - later start time = higher temps. About halfway through the course, I passed a woman who was cheering on the bikers and I asked her what time she had. All day I had no idea what time it was or how long things were taking me (wear a watch!) and after finally finding out, I estimated that I was going on two hours. My goal was to finish under 2.5 hours, so I felt inspired to get my ass in gear and started running. Fortunately, I was also on a downhill stretch at that point, so I had some good momentum. I burned out a little before the final water stop, but put in a good solid effort for the final stretch. As I came over the final hill and could see the finish line, it hit me that I had done it! I was a triathlete! I ran a little harder and faster and it didn't hurt at all. Hey, maybe I can be a runner after all! Maybe it's all in my head because I was rocking it! I couldn't help but smile as I ran past the bf and my roommate.

I crossed the finish line! I expected to get one of those little finisher medals so I could wear it the rest of the day, proud of my accomplishment. But the guy at the finish line apologized to me; they'd run out of medals. Yet another reason to sign up in my age group - so I'm not so late in finishing that they run out of medals! I eventually got it in the mail, but nothing makes you feel more like a slow loser than not getting a stupid finisher medal. I know it's petty, but it was disappointing. However, I wasn't going to let it ruin my day. I did it, dammit! I finished that triathlon and it really wasn't bad at all.

Afterwards, I located my mother, who was there at the finish line but neither one of us saw each other. I felt bad that she drove 2 hours in the early morning and missed me crossing the finish line. I guess it took me so long that her attentions were directed elsewhere. Then there was teh brutal mile-long walk to the parking lot, mostly uphill and in the heat. I really should have waited for the shuttle bus, but perhaps my lack of sore muscles the next day was due to working out all the lactic acid on that walk.

Then we all went out to eat, but I really should have planned that better. We ended up waiting for almost an hour and in the meantime, I hit a pretty intense wall. I thought I was going to pass out (or murder a restaurant host) and I developed a massive headache that kept going the rest of the day. Lesson learned: eat right after you finish! No Trudy's waiting lists. The rest of the day was spent snoozing on the couch.

Overall it was a great experience and I will definitely do it again. It was an incredible motivating factor in getting me to work out, evidenced by my serious lack of regular work outs since then. I loved the all-female aspect of the event and I can't wait to push myself to do better next year. New goals: finish in under 2 hours and run the whole 5K. Who wants to join me?