I've been sucked into the triathlon world

My friend Tessa has done several triathlons, and when I told her I was doing the one this past weekend she said, "You'll love it. They're so addicting." One of the husband's friends (who has done several Ironman competitions) had said the same thing. I didn't believe it. I mean, doing a swim, bike, and run all in one fell swoop would be addicting? But, she was right. Especially since I didn't hit my time goal, I have to do more to get a better time. This week alone I've run a 5K four minutes faster than my one at the tri, and my 400m swim at the pool today took me around nine minutes instead of the 11 it took me on race day. Le sigh. So I know I can do it. If you remember, my big bike hindrance was my big bike. Haha...see what I did there? Well that problem has been solved. Not only have I been sucked into the world of triathlons, I've been sucked into the world of the expensive gear that goes with them. I knew I wanted a better bike because I've really been enjoying the biking aspect of training, then after I liked doing the tri I definitely knew I wanted a better bike. The husband and I had been keeping an eye on Craigslist for deals and found one that looked good. It was a little more money than I initially wanted to spend, but thankfully the husband is a good negotiator and talked the price down $100 from what she had been asking. I start to feel lightheaded if I think about all the money I spent yesterday on the bike, then cycling shoes (which were on sale and a smokin' deal at least), as well as pedals. I could have bought a set of really awesome cookware or an entire new wardrobe basically for what I spent on those three things. Ouch. But, my bike is gorgeous and it's fast and it's sleek, so it's worth it. The lady who was selling it estimated there were maybe only 60 miles on it total. She'd bought it from a woman whose husband had bought it for her, but then she ended up having babies back to back and sold it since she didn't know when she'd use it. Then it turned out to be too big for the lady I bought it from. There were a few adjustments we needed to make to it, but they were all pretty minor. I'm really happy with it. I took it for a quick spin around my neighborhood yesterday and loved it, although riding on the aero bars will take some getting used to. Want to see my new toy?

Just Call Me Triathlete

Because after this past Sunday, I am officially a triathlete!!! Honestly I never, ever, ever thought that would be something I could call myself. I was both excited and nervous in the days leading up to the race but more excited. Then Saturday hit, and the closer it got to be to the time we were leaving for packet pick-up, the more nervous I got. I felt a little better once we got there and checked in and got our bikes on the racks and all that. We listened to a walk-through of how it all worked which was helpful, but I was still a bit nervous. we came home and had a yummy dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, got our transition bags packed and ready to go, and the husband and I were in bed by 8:30 with our alarms set for 4:30 AM and a planned departure time of 5:00 AM.

I took half a Tylenol PM before bed and slept great until 3:30 when my oldest son came in asking me to fix his covers on his bed. I don't think I ever really fell back asleep, just kind of half dozed. Then at 4:27 my youngest came in needing me to fix his covers! I have got to teach these kids how to fix their own damn covers. I laid back down for a couple minutes and then got up when the husband's alarm went off. We had all our gear downstairs to get ready so we didn't risk waking up the kids or my mom. My BFF Jen and our friend Dani were coming to ride with us. Dani had said leaving the race check-in she'd be here at 4:45. Jen said she would too and we laughed because Jen is NOT good at getting around in the morning. So I was pretty surprised to get a text from Jen around 4:35 that she was already here. We were all ready to go and Dani was here promptly at 4:45, so we headed off early. We parked maybe half a mile from the race start and walked over, got our transition areas all set up, got our numbers on us (they write your race number on each arm, one leg, and then your age on the other leg with permanent marker), got our timing chips (a velcro band that goes around your ankle...what I'd imagine a house arrest ankle bracelet to be like only this one was easy to take off or on), and waited. I was a nervous wreck by this point...my resting heart rate was right around 118. Yikes.

Our ages put us in Wave 4 for the swim. It was supposed to be a beach start, but that was a little misleading. You walked into the lake via beach, but you were actually treading water to start the swim. It felt like we were treading water for forever. Jen and I were in the middle of the pack waiting, Dani was towards the back. My heart rate was still on the high side considering I wasn't really doing anything, but I was feeling calmer because all I was doing was going for a 400 meter swim...no big deal. Then the gun went off. I felt okay at the start but when I was almost to the first turn buoy I started panicking I was super anxious and just felt completely out of my element. Visibility in the water was pretty much zero. With my arm stretched out in front of me, I could see about to my elbow. I couldn't tell if there was something right in front of me. The lake where I practiced open water swimming a couple weeks prior had been murky, too, but I could at least see my whole arm in that water. I ended up doing some side stroke and breast stroke because I just freaked out too much when I'd be swimming freestyle, plus I was breathing just about every stroke and normally I breathe every four strokes. I turned the second buoy and kept telling myself it was almost over, I was almost there. When I turned the third buoy it was a straight shot back to the beach. I did manage to do most of that freestyle because I knew the end was near and I just wanted to be done at that point. The timing of the waves worked out so that the husband was still waiting for his wave to start when I got out of the water, so he was there on the beach cheering for me. Jen was about 10 feet ahead of me. Dani had planned on doing breast stroke the whole way, so I assumed (correctly) she was behind me somewhere. The waves that started prior to mine had been all men, and I did pass a few men while I was swimming so that made me feel a little better. From the swim it was across the street and up some stairs to the bike transition area. I walked fast because I was worried about running and slipping on the wet pavement. The walk to the transition area counted towards the swim time which kind of sucked. I had my heart rate monitor on and checked when I got out of the lake and was at 11 minutes. A 400m swim in the pool takes me usually 8.5 minutes if I'm really hauling ass to 10 minutes if I'm at a normal swim pace, so I was definitely slower than usual.

Official swim time: 12:41

Walking up to the transition area I was thinking about what I needed to do to get ready for the bike. I don't have cycling shoes, so I had to get on my socks and running shoes, helmet and sunglasses on, have a Gu, have a few sips of Gatorade, towel off a little. I had brought some water along to wash off my feet after walking back across the sand, so I started with that then dried off my feet. Got on my shoes and socks, put on my helmet and sunglasses, had my Gu and some Gatorade and water and was off. There was music playing in the transition area the whole time, and while I was in T1, the song was "Sweet Baby James" by James Taylor. Really?! Don't get me wrong, I love James Taylor as much as the next person, but something a little more upbeat would have been nice. The lady whose bike was next to mine commented on it to me, too. She said, "Couldn't they be playing something like Tool while we're transitioning?" Seriously! Anyway, I got my bike off the rack and headed out to the bike start. There's a mount/dismount line and you have to cross that before you can get on your bike. I got over to the side, hopped on, and off I went. With James Taylor stuck in my head. :P

Official T1 time: 3:37 (this needs to get faster, and I really have no idea why I was so slow)

The bike was pretty uneventful. The course/route was a lot hillier than anything I'd ridden around my house, but they were all small enough hills that I just shifted down into an easier gear and didn't have to stand up for them. I passed a fair amount of people along the way. Normally when I bike I have my iPhone in my pocket with an app running that tracks my distance and speed and time and all that, but I didn't know if that was legal for race day, so I hadn't taken it (plus my shorts were still wet from the swim, so putting my phone in wet shorts didn't seem like a smart idea), so I really had no idea what kind of pace I was doing. I knew what time I had started and set a bike finish time based on that. Like I said, the bike was pretty uneventful. I had a Gu mishap. I had taped a Gu packet onto my bike to have with a couple miles left to ride so I'd have the energy from it to start the run. I had not practiced this at all. It seemed like a great idea, but I underestimated how tricky it was to open one of the packets while biking. I ended up with it all over my fingers and a streak of it on each leg. Nice. It looked like I had a streak of poop on my leg...fabulous. So my hands were sticky which meant that my handlebars got sticky, too. Yuck. thankfully the ride was almost done at that point. Towards the end of the ride I started thinking about what I needed to do in T2 for the run, which wasn't a whole lot since I didn't need to change out of cycling shoes.

Official bike time: 51:10 (about a 14 MPH pace, not bad on my heavy bike)

Initially I had a time goal in mind of 1:45. Actually my initial time goal was to finish in under two hours, but the husband convinced me I could do it in 1:45. I had a secret goal of 1:30 if I really busted ass on each leg of the race, but when I got off my bike and saw what time it was I knew that wasn't going to happen, but 1:45 was still attainable. In T2 all I had to do was take off my helmet, switch to my running hat, throw on my running belt with my race number attached, have a quick sip of water, use my inhaler, and then I'd be off. Yeah, I forgot the water and inhaler part. Oops. But my inhaler was in my race belt so I took a puff off of it once I realized I'd forgotten to take it. T2 went pretty smoothly.

Official T2 time: 2:35 (still a lot higher than most in my age bracket)

My total time at this point was around an hour and 10 minutes, giving me 35 minutes to run a 5K. Normally that wouldn't be a problem at all since I tend to run anywhere between 10:30 and 11:30. But it was hot. And there were hills. I don't like running on hills, so any uphill on the course, I walked. Thankfully there were aid stations every 3/4 mile (or maybe it was 2/3, I'm not sure). At the first aid station there was a guy handing out sponges soaked in ice cold water, so I just squeezed that over my head and held it on my neck for a second. At the third aid station there were some kids volunteering who asked if they could splash me. I said sure, so they threw cups of water on me. I figured my boys would love to do that, and it would feel good, so I might as well let them. It did help cool me down. It was only a little after 8:00 at this point, but it was already getting pretty warm. I think the high that day ended up being around 105. Ouch. The last leg of the run course was up a hill. Really?! Who planned that?! I refused to let myself walk the last 0.1 mile of the run, so I toughed it out. Once I hit the chute for the finish line I sprinted to the end. The picture of me finishing is NOT going to be pretty. I was just so ready to be done. It ended up being one of my worst 5k times, and I did not meet my goal of 1:45, but I was close.

Official run time: 38:14

Total official time: 1:48:20

I did enjoy the challenge of the race and pushing myself. Honestly a triathlon is something I never, ever would have imagined myself doing, so I feel pretty bad ass that I've done one (and plan to do more). And it really helped me figure out what I need to work on to improve next time.

Swim: practice more open water swims...that's really the only solution to improve my time, I think. The husband thinks I should get a wetsuit, too, and that would help me. I probably will because not every swim is going to be in a 75 degree lake.

Bike: get a new bike that's not as heavy. The bike I used was a cheap Walmart bike the husband bought when he wanted to see if he liked biking. He then bought a nice tri bike and passed the crappy one along to me. If I really pushed on a flat straightaway I could get it around 15 MPH but that was about the fastest. I have no chance of improving my bike time unless I get a new bike, which I'm working on.

Run: I wish I would have done longer training runs instead of just doing 30 minutes or 5k runs. My running had really been slacking ever since the Rock and Roll Half back in January, so I kind of anticipated it being a problem. I think I just need to get back out there and do more runs, not let myself walk and slack off on them. I've signed up to do a summer 5k series with some of my friends, and a couple of them are fast. I may try to force myself to keep up with them for at least one or two of the races to see if I can do it. But really I think I just need to get back into my running groove. I know I can do significantly better on the run, I should be able to shave at least five minutes off my 5k time, if not closer to eight.

Transitions: Having never done transitions before (except the couple of times I did a bike to run workout), I know now what to expect from them and what I need to do. Practicing transitions more would have helped, too, I'm sure.

I'm already looking for my next race to sign up for. There's another sprint tri in Tempe in late September that sounds good. There's a great swim area set up at the lake we went to for the open water swim clinic, so the husband and I are thinking we can go do some open water swimming there during the summer.

I didn't have a camera with me, and the official race pictures haven't been posted yet (although I imagine all of mine will be AWFUL), but I did take some on my phone before and after the race.

My bike racked up the day before the race. Like the pink handlebar tape? I did it myself. ;)

Race day! Apparently I should have squatted down or had the husband get me from a different angle.

Transition area. Glad I took a picture so I can study it and see if I should change anything, although I think it was just my slowness and nerves, not my setup.

We're triathletes!! Jen and me after the race. Dani finished almost 10 minutes ahead of me and I think had already left by the time I was done, or at least I didn't see her anywhere.

The Day After The Day After Tomorrow

That's how long until my first triathlon. I guess I'm as well prepared as I can be. It's only a 400 meter swim, which is equivalent to eight laps in the pool. Except this is in open water. Thankfully, the husband, my BFF, and I went to an open water swim clinic a couple Sundays ago. The husband has done a couple open water swims, but Jen and I had not. As we were getting into the lake we were both wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. I was really glad I went to the clinic, if nothing else to just experience swimming in lake water instead of the pool. It really is much different, then throw in having to turn corners around buoys, as well as massive amounts of people swimming around you. Yikes! I did get kicked in the face once, which was my biggest fear. Not much you can do but keep on swimming. I had a hard time sighting while at the lake because so much of the scenery looked the same for most of the swim. Swimming back into shore I had an easier time sighting off a tree. I'm not too worried about the sighting aspect, but who knows. That may very well change once I'm in the water. I did a few 400 meter swims in the pool at the gym earlier this week, and my times ranged from 8.5 minutes to 10 minutes. I've pretty much fallen in love with biking. It makes me feel like a little kid. :) The longest ride I did in preparation for the race was 14 miles. We live near an Indian reservation, which it turns out is a great place to ride because there is very little traffic, it's totally flat, and there are no stop signs or stop lights. Too bad I just found out about it for my last three rides. I did three brick workouts where I went straight from biking to running. Last week's was supposed to be a 12 mile ride and then a 5K run, just like the tri. Jen bailed on the run (she had a decent excuse, she'd been sick the whole week leading up to it), and I was going to but decided to do at least a little. I only did 1.5 miles, but at least it was something. When we did a 10 mile ride followed by a two mile run, the run went pretty smoothly. I was a lot faster than I thought I'd be, averaging under 11:00/mile. My first mile was 10:30, I don't remember what the second was. It's a weird sensation to start running off the bike because you feel like you're going SO SLOW. If I had a nicer (i.e. lighter weight) bike, I could shave several minutes off my bike time. I generally have an average pace somewhere between 4:15 and 4:30, with a few of the miles at a 4:00 pace. (The husband tells me that cyclists talk in terms of MPH, but I run and talk in terms of pace, so that's what I stick with. that and I can't convert times like 4:15 or 4:30 into MPH in my head quickly) We drove the bike course last week, and it's definitely hillier than what I'm used to riding. Not hilly, by any means, but it's not flat like when I bike around my house. I'm not sure how that will affect my time/speed. if I can stick with a 4:30 pace, that should put me around 54 minutes for the bike portion. I really don't know what to expect for the run. It's a flat course which is great, but my running lately has been awful. I just haven't been feeling it. I don't know if it's because I had such great runs when we were in CA for spring break and my runs here haven't been as good, so I'm just discouraged? I don't know, but it's been awful. I have had good runs the last few times I've gone out at least. I had originally hoped to keep about a 12:00 pace for the run portion, assuming I'd just be tired at that point, but since I kept about a 10;30 pace for the two mile run brick workout, I'm fairly confident that I can do faster than 12:00. Plus as my husband pointed out, I might as well go balls to the wall and give it all I have, it's not like I'm working out the next day. Regardless, I'm estimating a 35:00 total run time for the 5K. Not super fast by any means, and ideally I'm hoping to finish it faster than that. Overall I'm hoping to finish in about 1:45. I had originally estimated 2:00, but when I said something about it to the husband he thought that was way too high a time and I could do it in less time. When I really calculated it out, I agreed. I'm hoping the transitions don't take me too long, but I don't think they will since I don't have cycling shoes. Once I'm done with the swim I'll put on my socks and running shoes and helmet, then for T2 (the bike to run transition) all I have to do is remove the helmet, throw on my running hat and running belt thing and I can be off. I go back and forth between excited and nervous, but I guess that's to be expected of any race. I know I can do each leg on its own just fine, so I think if I go into it thinking of each event as its own thing (i.e. "I'm just swimming 400 meters" then "I'm just going on a 20k bike ride" then "I'm just doing a 5k run") it won't be as bad. And it will be pretty freakin' awesome to cross that finish line and be a triathlete!!