Triathlon!

I did it! We did it! It's done!

This past Saturday, I woke up at 5.00am (ugh) to get picked up at 5.45am (ugh) to drive out to Clearwater, MN. We arrived to hordes of people with bikes and wetsuits and the like... let's just say there was a lot of spandex going on. It was a pretty surreal experience. We checked in, got numbers written on our arms and calves, got our velcro ankle-chip, and set up our little corner of the transition area with our bikes and helmets, shoes and socks, clothes and drinks. We got a lot of swag with the event--one of those little drawstring backpacks, a swim cap, a towel (like shower-size, not hand-towel-size!), a slew of propaganda, and even a little squeeze pack of some sort of mid-triathlon-energy-boost gel. KC tried it and said it was nasty. I stuck with my sports drink/water mixture (the sports drink on its own was way too sweet for me).

Anyhow, we had to walk to the other side of Warner Lake (located at 9:00 on the map linked above) and then swim in waves across the lake the long way. KC was in heat 5, and I was in heat 8. Well, more correctly: I started with heat 8. I ended with heat 11--meaning I was passed by a group of 30 people, twice. Boy, I am slow. And I really, really, really can't swim in a straight line without My Favorite Swim Coach Ever, Jess, paddling along in front of me or beside me. I kept heading off into the weeds. One time I almost swam into one of the lifeguard kayaks. But I finished!

I didn't panic too much in the water--just a little, because let's face it, the lake was naaaasty, and the triathlon director said something about fish when he was giving his preliminary directions--and I made it out in 24 minutes. That's not absolutely terrible, but it was the third slowest swim time in the entire race. So much for being middle-of-the-pack! To be honest, it was a little discouraging, because it was pretty clear that I was way behind everyone else in my heat. But I was glad I could finish the swim, and considering the fact that 9-ish months ago, I could hardly swim, this wasn't too shabby.

The transition from swim to bike was pretty rough--four and a half minutes. I spent unnecessary time trying to find my hair binder. Oh well. The bike itself was nice--fairly flat, pretty scenery, well marked and lots of volunteers on every corner stopping traffic and telling me which way to go. It was hard, though--very windy, and I really haven't done many bike rides that long, so I was pretty sore by the end of it. Last Friday, I did practice getting my water bottle out to drink while biking; and I can do it, but only at pretty low speeds! So I only took two pretty small drinks the entire ride; I did remember to drink before hopping on the bike, though. That helped.

The transition to the run was much quicker, at least--less than a minute, I think. Pretty easy to drop the bike and run. The run itself, though, was a challenge for me. I apparently lack the mental fortitude to just run when I don't want to. Ha! So I actually walked quite a bit of the 3.1 miles, finishing around 33 minutes. An 11-minute mile isn't terrible, but considering I ran a 10-mile race with a faster mile time, I was a little ashamed of myself. Not really, though--I just wanted to finish and that was fine. And, in terms of overall placement within each individual event, my run was the best: Of 319 competitors, in the swim I was #316 (garrr), in the bike I was #285, and for the run I was #258. Overall, I was #259. I think... the individual events might be slightly off, but that's a good ballpark.

So: overall, good experience. That includes training, the event itself, everything. The actual triathlon-ing that I did wasn't all that great--I don't like swimming by myself in gross lakes, or even biking or running by myself all that much. I much preferred training with my friends--that was great! But the atmosphere at the race was fantastic, and the event as a whole was a lot of fun. A group of us went out for lunch afterwards, and just had a nice time. Will I do another triathlon ever? Maybe! Not this year, that's for sure; but next year? Perhaps. I have at least one friend who's interested.

If I were to do another tri, I do know exactly what to work on now: Sighting (looking up at something so I can swim in a straight line) for the swim, drinking on the bike ride--and also just biking harder!--and then running outside consistently, more than the 5k race distance. I'd like to think I could drop quite a bit off my time if I worked on those things. But for now, I'm just glad that I know how to swim now! That's definitely a skill I want to keep up.

Now I must end this ridiculously long post: I will conclude with a picture of KC and I at the finish line with our medals! Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement through this process. It has been a lot of fun!

Dress Rehearsal

Yesterday was indeed a dress rehearsal of sorts. KC and I and our fabulous swim coach Jess went down to Cedar Lake for a mini-miniathlon. It started off as a very strange experience--the environment at the beach where we started was almost too hipster to breathe. Also, there is a lifeguard on duty Thursday through Sunday, so we had to sneak off to the side and swim out through a bunch of weeds so we wouldn't get busted for leaving the tiny roped-in swim area.

We swam maybe a third of a mile or something--definitely less than half a mile, but out a bit and back. The actual triathlon (which is tomorrow, by the way!) is a straight shot across the lake. That will be nice, at least for me. KC's natural swim stroke would have him swimming in large clockwise circles. In the lakes, at least, I follow so close behind Jess that I can always see her feet, and that keeps me going straight (and not panicking that I am left alone to die in the middle of some gross lake). Hopefully in a group I'll be able to keep a relatively direct route across the lake.

So after our little swim, we ran up the beach to our waiting clothes and threw them on. Do you know how hard it is to get shoes and socks on while drying off wet sandy feet? There was definitely a lot of sand inside of my socks. I hate sand inside my socks. Oh well, at least I know what I'm getting myself into. I was able to pull on my tanktop pretty easily, so I may just throw it on over my suit then, rather than waiting until after the bike ride. Who knows. Anyhow, we biked off along the Greenway for a few miles, just to get a feel of the transition from swim to bike. I think tomorrow that transition will be a bit more harried--running up from the lake to the transition area with the bikes. The bike ride itself felt really good though. My friend Jordan helped me tune up my bike a bit on Wednesday--he removed the rack on the back and tightened my rear brake, and took the whole thing out for a spin to make sure everything felt right.

For our final leg, we dropped off our bikes in the van we drove, then ran off to Lake Calhoun. We ran a little bit around Lake Calhoun but mostly around Lake of the Isles. The run is now the part that I'm most worried about. I think the big issue yesterday was that it was pretty hot and muggy and I got really dehydrated. I forgot to drink right after the swim, and I don't have enough coordination to reach down and grab my water bottle while actually biking. I'm going to take my bike out this afternoon and practice that, because it'd be really good to be able to drink during that bike ride. Otherwise I'll be hurting a lot. Also, KC just took off at the beginning of the run, so I felt like I was dragging behind. I need to remember that it takes me a little while to get into the feel of things with running. The triathlon tomorrow has an out-and-back run, so we'll probably have fans at the beginning and end of the run--plus I'll know to pace myself for the first half, grab a drink at the water station on the far end, and then kick things up a notch for the last mile and a half.

So that's it, as far as my preparations go! (Aside from, hopefully, figuring out how to multitask with the bike and the water this afternoon!) KC and I will be heading out bright and early tomorrow morning--he's picking me up at 5.45am! Ugh. Early to bed tonight, that's for sure! There are 11 heats, so maybe 30 people or so per heat, with about 3 minutes between heats. KC is in heat #3 and I am in heat #8. The Main Event begins at 8.00am, so I will be starting around 8.24am; so I can hope to be done around 10.00am! I wonder if that guess is close at all. I guess rain or shine this thing's going to happen; they'll delay for lightning if necessary but otherwise we're triathloning no matter what! I am pretty excited--check back Monday for the full report!

Triathlon Lite

My partner-in-triathlon-crime KC and I completed a mini practice triathlon yesterday! We were inside the gym, because the weather was uncertain and we didn't want to get caught in the middle of a lake in a thunderstorm! But we still followed the swim-bike-run pattern, doing our best to have as little time as possible between each event. The swim-to-bike transition was bizarrely unrealistic, since we had to hop out of the pool, dash back through the locker rooms, throw on some clothes, then head upstairs to the stationary bikes. That transition was also bizarrely irregular in terms of gym workouts, as I was dripping wet as I climbed onto the bike! Getting clothes on over a swimsuit is a bit of an issue. My newest brain wave (meaning, an idea I had just now) would be to slip on some shorts for the bike ride, then pull on a tank top at the end of the bike ride once the wind has dried off my top half a bit. I think that might work nicely.

Anyway, back to yesterday's miniathlon. We swam for 17 minutes (it was supposed to be 15 but I set my watch wrong and was too lazy to switch it), then biked for 20 and ran for 15. It was a pretty accurate half-triathlon; I'd anticipate the real deal to be very generally 30-40-30 minutes, for the swim, bike, and run respectively. If I were to guess more exactly, I'd say the swim will take less than 30 and the bike will take more than 40, but I like to run a 10-minute mile, so that brings me in at 30 minutes almost exactly. I've been looking at last year's results, and seeing that even the end-of-packers are finishing the swim in 20-25 minutes. Maybe I'll catch the right wave and be up there too. I'll admit, yesterday, I was flying through that pool. I totally lapped KC (and totally threw that in his face afterwards. I'm not very nice sometimes...), but actually a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was doing flip turns and he wasn't. Those flip turns, man--they definitely gave me the competitive edge yesterday!

The bike part was also just fine. I felt good, and the transition didn't seem too hard except the initial part of running out of the pool and trying frantically to get into some clothes. Putting on the socks and stuff is hard. But I have a pair of mesh shorts that will go on nice and easy, and I plan to just bike in my running shoes. I'm not fancy enough to own a triathlon suit or biking shoes or any of those biking clothes that involve spandex. Maybe at the end of the day you're more aerodynamic or something, but you're still also wearing spandex in public, which is a phenomenon that belongs with scrunchies and crimped hair back way before my time.

Anyhow. Based on last year's results, I would guess the bike will take me 45-50 minutes; so with a steady pace on the run, if I finish in these average times for the swim and the bike, I can expect to finish around 1 hour and 40 minutes. Again, guessing from last year, that puts me solidly in the middle-back of the pack: 230 or so out of 367. That sounds just about right to me! I hope I can just enjoy myself the entire time. That would be ideal. I felt good and really was enjoying myself the whole mini-race yesterday, aside from a brief while at the end when I was getting pretty tired. But I imagine that will be fixed by the adrenaline of heading to the finish line and seeing all of my fans there cheering. (Seriously! We've got a big fan base coming out to watch us! It's awesome!)

KC and I plan to have an even more miniature miniathlon on Thursday--mostly just to get the feel of the transitions in a more realistic environment. Other than that, we're taking it easy this week and making plans to take our awesome swim coach Jess out for a big celebration after the race! I'll admit--I'm getting pretty excited!

Climbing the Wall

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

I know people here are more focused on the Fourth of July, but on behalf of my dear friends who happen to be Canadian, I want to also celebrate with them. I very nearly went to Canadia with two of my dear Canadian friends, in order to celebrate this grand holiday in person, but instead I stayed here and went for a run. Lucky me.

It was a pretty great run, though--I'm glad I did it. I've been having trouble getting the miles in that I should; I've been hitting some sort of wall around 2 or 2 1/2 miles (usually... earlier this week I totally called it quits after half a mile. I blame the 105-degree heat. Never mind that I was inside on a treadmill...); since my triathlon ends with a 3.1-mile (5k) run, I was starting to think I was in trouble!

Today, however, I did it! I ran 3.1 miles over my lunch break (again, inside on the treadmill). How in the world I managed to muster the motivation (mmmmm... alliteration) is beyond me. Hot weather totally drains me. Case in point: Yesterday, one of my (Canadian!) friends and I were supposed to go to the beach, but we couldn't even summon the energy to do that and instead she took a 3-hour nap while I laid on the couch and watched a movie and dozed. Heh. Well, anyhow, when I got to the gym today, they had the semifinals at Wimbledon playing. What can I say? It was exactly what I needed. There's nothing like superb athletes playing tennis to keep me going on that treadmill. Also, I happened to catch the Nadal-Murray match, which was fabulous. As a tennis player and in fact a left-handed tennis player, I really appreciate watching Rafael Nadal. He is incredible. Go Southpaws.

Back to the topic at hand: triathlons. Mine is coming up one week from tomorrow--eek! I'm feeling pretty good about it. My triathlon buddy KC and I did another great lake swim (felt so much better than the last one, plus we avoided most of the seaweed-y areas so I didn't even scream once) and followed it up with a bike ride, to get the feel of moving from one activity to the other. It was a little unrealistic because our transition time was pushing ten minutes--no good for race day! We did happen to run into someone else who's doing the Graniteman, though; how random is that?! It was fun. I doubt that I'll even recognize her on race day, though, oops. Anyhow, I think I'll try to get a long bike ride in tomorrow or Sunday, and then early next week KC and I will practice the transitions: swim to bike and bike to run. I hear the bike to run transition is actually harder. We'll see how it goes! I can't believe how close this thing is.

My Achilles' Heel

As the fates would have it, my Achilles' heel is, in fact, my Achilles' heel tendon. For the purposes of this triathlon, then, my Achilles' heel has been the running. In other words, I haven't been doing it. Oops.

This is potentially a little tiny bit of a problem. I am competing--well, that's an overstatement; how about participating--in a triathlon in two and a half weeks (eeks!) and I have yet to run the full distance my training regimen suggests. The final leg of the triathlon is a 3.1-mile (5k) run. At this point in my training, I should be running about 40 minutes. The program I have definitely over-trains the trainee, so that you're absolutely for sure ready to go on race day; I'm hoping to complete the run in less than half an hour. I train at a 10-minute mile on the treadmill, but probably run closer to a 9-minute mile outside; and who knows how I'll be feeling on race day. Anyhow, I've still been calling it quits around 2.5 miles. Not cool.

To be honest, I really don't know what my hangup is. I've been running inside recently--the last two times I've had runs on the schedule, it's been raining or obscenely hot or something--so that might have something to do with it. But both times I also happened to be on a treadmill next to someone I knew, so we could chat it up during the run, which usually helps keep me motivated. Apparently "usually" in this instance means "not so much."

Anyhow, part of my struggle with running is my Achilles' tendon, as I mentioned before. It gets really tight when I run if I'm not careful. About a year and a half ago, it froze up to the point that I could hardly walk for a week. I took so much ibuprofen that I think it's still coursing through my veins, rested and iced constantly, and after a few days things settled down. I happened to mention it to my boss when I was getting an adjustment, and he started working on my calves to get them loosened up. It hurts something fierce, but it's helpful! I also him adjusting my feet, because something happens that he explained but I have forgotten--maybe it's called my metatarsal arch? Anyway, basically the ball of my foot goes bonkers from running and it hurts a lot but then he fixes it. I think I need to have my feet worked on this afternoon again, come to think of it. Maybe that will help me get motivated to get moving. We'll see.

I think I will try to hit the gym this evening for a run. I do need to go a few more times before the month is up, so that my insurance covers some of the membership costs. My training buddy is out of town for a few days, but we might try another lake swim on Sunday or early next week! I need to go for a few more long bike rides in the next few weeks, but then I'll be good to go for race day! I'm really appreciating the more relaxed approach to triathlon training. Maybe I'm just that lazy, but at least I'm enjoying myself!

Lake Swim

That's right, folks: I swam in a lake. A gross, murky, seaweed-infested lake full of sharks and shipwrecks and squids and probably the Loch Ness monster in there too. At least, that's what my crazy brain kept thinking every time I had to put my face back in the water. I miss my nice clear pool water! I want to see that blue tile stripe showing me where to go! But I have done the lake swim and will do a couple other lakes in the coming three weeks (eep!) before The Big Day.

Let's share some more details. First, a picture! (I don't have a lot of those, sorry. I'm not one of those people that wants to put pictures of myself sweating on the Interwebs.)

Thanks to the magic of cell phone cameras, we have this picture of me, my friend/swim coach Jess, and my training buddy KC. This was shot moments before we plunged into Silver Lake, shown behind us. Just look at us in our swim caps! My roommate Anna sat on the beach with our stuff, and she reported a child saying of us, "They must be really good! They have hats!"

A few details about the swim: First of all, it was c-c-c-cold. Hopefully another 3 weeks will warm up the lake in Clearwater! It was manageable, though, so I'm not worried about it. Second of all: I am SO THANKFUL for Jess! Without her, we would have been... well, sunk, pun more or less intended. KC would consistently swim off at a 90-degree angle to the direction we wanted to go; and I freaked out every three strokes or so about the nasty murky water. Thanks to goggles, I could open my eyes underwater, but I couldn't see anything. It was gross and kind of nightmare-ish for me. I have anxiety about deep water a little bit. Oh, also, any time I would swim by a piece of seaweed I would scream. Couldn't help it. It's gross enough when it touches my leg when I'm not expecting it, but when I put my face back in the water after taking a breath and there's this piece of something nasty staring at me, waving in the current or whatever, it's kind of terrifying. Seriously, I would never survive in the wild. I better stay away from the ocean.

Anyhow, the solution that the three of us came up with was pretty great. KC would swim to one side of Jess, so she could keep him steering in the right direction. Then I would swim close behind Jess, so I could see her feet and knew that I was not left alone to die a murky death in the middle of some godforsaken lake. (Did I mention I have anxiety about deep water?) With that foot security right in front of my face, I made much better progress, except when we swam around an island that had enough seaweed by it that I had to stop every stroke and a half to scream. But the swimming part itself was not bad. The only problem was that I was not relaxed in the water at all, so I was having a much harder time breathing. Hopefully a few more lake excursions will get me accustomed to the ick. Also, on Race Day, there will be hundreds of people swimming together, so unless I'm really super awful bad, I should be able to see other people throughout the duration of the swim. That will help a lot.

I'm not a good enough swimmer to go fast enough to actually fatigue my muscles; so in that respect, I hope I'll do all right for the other two legs of the race. I'm feeling pretty good about the swim portion of the tri. Now I just have to convince myself to train a little more with the running and the biking. I've been pretty complacent in both areas, I'll admit. One of these next couple swims, I'm hoping we'll be able to swim for a while and then get right on a bike. That transition will be weird, I think, so good to practice before The Event. Same thing with the bike-to-run transition. All right, Ruth. Let's go.

Strange(r) Encouragement

There are some strangely friendly and easily impressed people at my gym. Yesterday I went for a quick swim and the lady in the lane next to me started talking to me. She asked if my goggles worked. Strange question right there, if you ask me. But I told her all about how goggles changed my life. (Side note: I have to type that word twice every single time because I always write googles the first time! Anyone else?) Anyway, she commented on my flip turning... apparently she was in the pool during one of my flip turn lessons. She was pretty impressed with my progress, I guess. That's not the first time someone in the pool has taken note of my swim routine and talked to me about it, either! Several months ago, a lady in the water aerobics class noticed the drills I was doing in the open lane at the end of the pool, and spoke to me after class. She was very impressed with a one-arm-only drill I did.

Both of those instances were pretty strange to me. I generally don't talk to people I don't know at the gym. I love seeing people I do know there--and I often do--but sweaty or swimsuit-clad strangers? Eh... I'll pass. Nevertheless, it was pretty great to get some truly unbiased encouragement. I have a fantastic amount of support from friends, family, patients, and my boss and his wife, and I am so grateful for that! But getting a random unsolicited compliment from a total stranger is also kind of awesome, especially when they notice an area where I find myself struggling. The one-arm drill that caught the first woman's eye was really hard! And flip turns are definitely not my strong suit. (Is that a swimming pun? Oh, I amuse myself...)

Anyhow, I did appreciate the encouragement from this random lady in the pool last night. Every little bit of motivation helps! This afternoon I'll be going for a short run--should be about 21 minutes--over my lunch break. There is some fantastic weather going on outside, so I am looking forward to that. Tomorrow my plan is to fit in a long bike ride (70 minutes) and a long swim (35 minutes)--we'll see how that goes! Swim first, probably. Between the two, that's a large percentage of my day spent on training! But Friday I head out of town for a wedding, so I've got to cram things in a bit more this week. I'll definitely keep y'all posted on how the double workout goes.