Lissa and Me at the Finish after the race!
Saturday I had the opportunity to compete in my first Triathalon, oh what an experience. I have been wanting to train and do one for several years now, ever since I bought my road bike but the opportunity was never there. Then in Jan a group of people from work decided they were going to train for one in April, I thought I would train with them and compete in April, well that never worked for me.
My friend Lissa and I decided we would do the next one, and that ended up being June 12th. The Triathalon was a sprint triathalon, that meant it was a 300 yard swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 5k run (3.1 miles.)
Its hard to find olympic size pools that are 50 yards long, the pool we practiced swimming in was 15 or 20. The week before the race, we went to Golds Gym and swam in their pool, theirs was a little longer than one we had practiced in but nothing compared to the real thing. I guess what you don't know can be a good thing. :)
The morning of the race I was getting my bike all ready to go and checking the tire pressure, when the gold presta valve (the valve that it used to pump the air up in the tire) broke in half letting all my pressure out. I felt awful, I don't know a whole lot about bike tires, but knew this could not be good, and I would not be racing. There is not a bike store open at 5 am and I did not know anyone with a bike I could call and borrow. I called Lissa and told her what happened and she said, "Well if your not racing I'm not either." I told her, "No she has too and I would be there to cheer her on." She called back a few minutes later asking if I had a spare bike tube, I said, "Yes, I have two." She said that Cory, her husband, said that the presta valve is attached to the tube so I would just need to change my tube out and I could still ride. I was excited, I could still compete. YES!
I hurried and put all my stuff in my car, woke my little sister Kyla up, (she was staying with me for the weekend, and my little cheerleader for the race) and we left for the tri.
I changed my bike tire with the assistance of Cory, (Lissa's husband) and Lissa and I went and found a place for our bikes and met up with a co worker named Oscar that was competing with us. We got our racing chips and then went and lined up at the swimming pool. The way the swimming works is they have each individual enter the water every 10 seconds, and they have you line up in the time it will take you to swim. I knew I could swim it in about 8 1/2 minutes and if worse came to worse 10 minutes at the most, but to be safe and not have people kicking me and up in my face I decided to stand with the 12 minute swimmers. Lissa did the same. That was a good and bad idea, good because I didn't feel pressured or pushed during the swim, but it was a bad idea because It meant we were close to the last ones, and there was about 20 people behind us.
So I will not lie the swimming was a lot more challenging than I anticipated or practiced for. It definetly makes a difference swimming in a 50 yard pool as opposed to a 15 or 25 yard pool. But I finished and thats all that matters.
This is at the begining of the swim, I am waiting for them to tell me to start!
This is the last lap, Yeah! I was tired
Finished with the swim! Lissa was right behind me
I got out of the pool with Lissa close behind, and ran over to my bike and started putting my bike shorts and shirt over my wet swimming suit. (Fun, not:)I Put my shoes on and ran out of the bike area. Got on my bike and away I went.
Transition area, I am putting my biking gear on. Lissa is on my left.
Start of the bike ride, Lissa behind me. We are leaving the transistion area.
I had rode the bike route twice before and my best time was 50 minutes, I was not worried about it at all, and it ended up being pretty good. In all the effort that morning to get my front tire ready I forgot about my back tire, so I was a little worried and just trusting that it would be fine.
The first major hill I came to, I was not paying attention to my shifting and what gear I was in and my chain came off, that was a little frustrating. I hurried and put it back on and continued on. I passed Lissa as I was coming back, she had about a mile to go before the turn around and I could tell she was frustrated and tired. She had hurt her wrist very badly at work a few weeks ago and had a brace on, and she also was having bike troubles. I guess her chain had come off twice, and her first bike she had, broke on wednesday before the race, and Cory had gone and bought her a new bike on thursday, so she was still getting used to it. ( I don't reccomend that, but you do what you have to.)
I rode in, in under an hour and put my bike away and started the run. Now I had not really practiced this part. The longest I had gone was 2 miles if that and I have not ran in about 9 months. If worse came to worse I knew I could walk 3 miles so I was not too worried. Well I surprised myself and ran the whole way, it actually felt really really good.
Coming up on the last little bit
I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 59 minutes, which I was super stoked about. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours, so I did it with a minute to spare. :)
The Finish Line. Yes!
Kyla was waiting for me at the finish line like a good little sister would do. (she is the best.)
Kyla and I
This was a great experience and I am excited to train for more. There is a lot to learn from the first, the do's and dont's and I definetly know what I get to do differently the next time.
I am so grateful for my body and for the health I am in, I started getting all emotional right at the very end, with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the beautiful, amazing body he has blessed me with. Thank YOU!
