The Triathlon

I had NO pictures proving that I did a triathlon.  It is a little bit hard to take pictures of yourself when you need to swim, jump on a bike and then run...luckily I had family there cheering for me.  My sister Shelly sent me a couple pictures. And now, I'm finally getting around to posting my race report.  So, here it is...The Triathlon!

The first question you might ask.  Why in the world would I want to do a triathlon?  I had never thought about it until a friend in Michigan did one.  She had 2 little kids at the time, the youngest was barely 1.  We were at a BBQ with friends and she looked fabulously in shape.  I think at that point Ethan would have been maybe 2 months old and I was wanting to get rid of the after-pregnancy body.  The fact that she was also a mom of 2 young kids made a triathlon seem possible to me.  I talked to her about it, and put it on the back burner in my mind.


That was at the time James was graduating, we sold our house, moved from Michigan to California and worked on getting settled here.  I started running regularly and competed in some events.  After finishing this past ragnar I was looking for the next thing to sign up for.  James came across this triathlon in Utah that would take place while I was there for the family reunion.  I signed up, encouraged my family to sign up, and started training!


The running I had been doing and knew I could finish, the biking I felt I could work up to.  But as for the swimming...well, I grew up in Utah.  There were not a lot of opportunities to swim.  I think I took swimming lessons one summer as a kid.  We went as a family to the swimming pool at times, but it has never been something I've done for exercise and I've had a couple of experiences being stuck in rapids underwater that have made me a little water-weary.  As such, swimming is not my strength, at all!  At the beginning of training I knew how to keep myself above water to survive, but I didn't know how to stroke, breathe or kick correctly.  I had James watch me and give me some tips, and then I just tried to figure it out.


Fast forward to race day...

It had been about 95 degrees all week, so I was concerned that it would be too hot by the time the run happened (I hate running in hot weather), but it was perfect temperatures with a rain storm looming.  It was a bit cold getting into the water, and windy for the bike, but overall it was beautiful.

The swim was in a very small man-made lake.  The 500 yard swim went around almost the entire perimeter of the lake.  By the day of the race I still wasn't sure I really knew how to swim!  We have a small pool in our complex at my house.  It is about 13 yards, so I would lose track of laps going back and forth.  I knew how to not drown, but I still have a long way to improve. I was just glad to get the swim done first and move on.  

Our first transition was on the beach of the lake.  We had to run in the sand to get to our bike, try to get some/most of the sand off and then continue on to the bike portion.

The bike route was 14 miles/22.5 km.  I was riding a borrowed mountain bike.  There was a long uphill stretch and my front gears were not shifting.  It was a bit demoralizing to be passed by all the nice/fast road bikes, but I plowed through and felt good about it.  I loved the 2 mile downhill stretch, but even on that I was passed by the lighter road bikers. (note to self, save money and get a road bike!).

I still had sand in my shoes when I started running, but didn't want to stop to get it out.  I was running on the adrenaline and had to just keep moving.  I tried to keep a steady pace for the run.  There was supposed to be a water station half way through, but I found out later that it was earlier than that (which explained why the last half of the run felt SO long.)

There was a total of 197 males and 133 females (330 people total), so it wasn't a huge race, but it was well organized and had a fun atmosphere.  The youngest person doing the race was only 8-years-old.  I was impressed!

Anyway, as for the times, I was shooting for under 2 hours.  I didn't know what to expect since I hadn't done all 3 sports back to back before.

There were 24 in my age group-I finished 14th.  

Swim 12:36 (20/24)

T1 4:08 (9/24)

Bike 1:03:55 (18/24)

T2 0:45 (2/24)

Run 29:53 (6/24)

Total Time:    1:51:14.8

I'm excited about doing more triathlons, and have PLENTY of room for improvement.  I was happy with my effort though and felt good about it at the end.