Tri for Fun #3

I did my first triathlon ever this morning, more than 10 minutes faster than my ultimate goal! I'm so excited about it!

It started off with a 400 yard swim in a nice clean lake. Before the tri, I read as much as could about peoples' experiences on this course and discovered that it helps to start off to the left side of the big pack of people when you start the swim, so I did, and I was able to jump right out into the front group of swimmers. The swim was much better than I feared it would be--I was worried that people would be kicking me and splashing water in my face the whole time, but I barely touched any other people at all! Peter told me I was one of the first people to finish in my heat, which was exciting. My time for the 400 yard swim was 6:25.

I took a depressingly slow amount of time in the first transition area, and my friend who came in a minute and a half behind me in the swim headed off onto the bike ride right in front of me. She rode off in front of me never to be seen again, because she's a blasted fast sort of person. I was expecting the swim to bike transition to be easy, but instead I was pooped because I swam much faster than I normally do in the pool. My legs were so shaky and tired and my heart rate was really up! But I managed to get into a groove and completed the 11 mile bike route without any problems. I even managed to muster up a really loud cheer for my friend when we passed each other on an out and back section of the ride.

Once I got off my bike, all I had to do was take off my helmet, but I had no idea where I was supposed to be running, so I wasted a few seconds figuring that out, but not too many. The transition from bike to run felt AWFUL! I definitely did not train well enough for that part. I ran really slow for the first half of the run or so and was finally able to get in stride for a little while, but then I was really tired so I slowed down a little, but then I was at the END and saw my friends and family cheering for me so I sprinted past the poor woman several yards in front of me who didn't have friends and family there to cheer her on and help her push her little red button. My finish time was 1 hr 18 minutes and some odd seconds. And it was so much fun! I can't wait to sign up for another one and actually train right this time! (I don't think the stuff I did could really be considered training, aside from the running, which definitely did count.) (And in case you're wondering, my blasted fast sort of friend runs a lot faster than me too, and finished the race in 1 hr 10 min.)

I'll post pics soon, probably along side the pics from the half marathon that I have yet to post (but are finally edited!).