My first Triathlon season

My first Triathlon season is now complete. It's amazing how I even got talked into it, but it has been a great incentive to get back into shape. In April, I was talking to one of my friends about my new bike, and somehow the conversation shifted directions, and I found myself saying "yes" when Anita asked me to do the Danskin Triathlon with her and Jennifer. When I searched the internet about the triathlon, I found out that it was considered a Triathlon SPRINT: 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. I thought that I could probably do that. I may not be a runner, but 3 miles shouldn't be that bad, along with swimming and biking that I love. Yikes! I was in for a surprise.

I had 2 months to train and prepare for the Tri, so I used my gym membership more frequently, and tried to get into jogging (I hate running). I have been a strong swimmer, and I biked long distances a few times in SD (thanks to my brother Wayne..), so I thought I didn't have much training to do, just combine them to increase my endurance. What I neglected to remember at the time was that it's been QUITE a while since I've been on a bike and since I've been in a pool. My endurance did increase, but I later found out it still wasn't enough.

By the time the Triathlon came I already was able to swim 1000 meters (in a pool) and bike the 12 miles (lets not talk about the jogging). This was my first time to swim in open water. A couple things about triathlon swimming is that it's in open water (Decker Lake), and you're trying to swim around a lot of arms and legs of other swimmers. This is the biggest women triathlon sprint that Austin has, so there were A LOT of arms and legs. I started off pretty good, had a good rhythm, but ran into someone's legs and got kicked. When I slowed down to recollect myself, I got slapped by someone's arm that was swimming by. I was told that if I got tired during the swimming to just float on my back to rest before continuing on, but when I did that I got splashed on that there was no rest. What would take 20 minutes for me to swim, it took me nearly 40 minutes. The good thing was that there were plenty of volunteers in Kayaks to rest and wait until there was an open spot in the sea of people to continue on without battling others to swim. When I finally made it to land, I praised God that was over, until someone yelled, "Way to go! One leg of the race down, 2 more to go!" WHAT?! Can I just finish now?

The biking and running were not as bad, since they were both on dry land, and I could rest more often without worrying about drowning. I did pretty good with the biking, except with 2 steep hills that a lot of women actually walked their bikes up. There's one interesting hill that surprised everyone even when we were warned about it at the pre-race meeting. There's one hill that you would go downhill and pick up speed, but as you turn the corner of the trail there's an even steeper hill to bike up. You would have to change your gears to the lowest gear as possible before you get to the bottom just to take the steep hill around the corner. I didn't get to that low gear in time, so I got half way up the hill before I had to walk the rest of the way up.

Of course, its not a complete bike ride for me unless I fall off at some point. While I was biking, my seat somehow became loose. I decided to stop to fix it. [Ok, before going on I need to say this: I don't like clips on my pedals (instead of pedals, bikers clip special bike shoes into specially made pedals for more pedal control). Fearing that my shoes won't unclip off the pedals in time before I stop, I decided to use a cage and strap pedal that you can slip the toes of your shoe into.] When I was slowing down to stop, I slipped my right foot out of the strap and was going to lean to the right as I stopped (you know where this is going, don't ya.) Instead, my bike started leaning to the left, and I couldn't get my left foot out of the strap in time and I fell down on my left side (I'd say "how embarrassing", but that's me --I might as well embrace it), and I almost got ran over by another biker. Needless to say, I got my seat fixed, my abrasions cleaned up, and what pride I had left back on the bike and rode on. By the time I got back for the running portion, I was ready to walk the rest of the way. I did jog every so often, and especially at the last mile. Praise God I made it to the finish line on my feet.

After the Danskin triathlon, I was determined to finish a triathlon sprint, but swim non-stop, bike non-stop, and run non-stop. I signed up for another Tri Sprint with my friends Jocelin and Dana, and trained a lot more. My second and last Tri Sprint of the season was this past weekend. The swim distance was 500 meters (less than Danskin's), but I still remembered my last experience in open water and was getting nervous. I prayed I wouldn't choke like I did at the Danskin, and the Lord reminded me what I've always done whenever I swim: find my swim stroke rhythm and pray while working out. I went into the water with my swim wave group, and prayed how awesome He is. I had friends motivating me, but none did as great a job as the Lord did. Thank you, Jesus. I swam non-stop, and had a few arms and legs, but not as bad as the last time. I got out the water, and ran to the transition area where our bikes were racked at (1/4 mile away from the lake shore). I got my bike equipment on, and off I went. I biked 14 miles, non-stop, and then run/walk non-stop (it was hot (96 degrees)). I ran the last mile in, but felt a whole lot better in my accomplishment (especially the swimming portion). Maybe I'll do another Triathlon season next year, but let's see how in shape I am by then. Hopefully, I might have actually found the love for jogging by then.

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