11 July 2011

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!

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