The Triathlon

I did it!

I'm officially a triathlete now, and completely addicted. The triathlon is such a fun event, and it's so exciting to be able to look forward to a different activity (instead of just more running). I seriously cannot wait for my next one. Unfortunately that will have to wait until spring, when the season starts again, but oh well...gives me more time to train for the next step up...the Olympic distance triathlon.

So here's how my sprint distance triathlon went on this past Sunday:

Worst part of the whole event: waiting for it to start. So it started super late. The olympic swimmers went out at around 9:15 (an hour late) and we had to wait until ALL the swimmers were back from their swim. So we (the sprinters) went out at around 10:15. Its not that I mind waiting, I really didn't care that it was late, but it was freezing out! It was only about 8 degrees, and I only had sweatpants, sweatshirt and my bathing suit on, so I was literally shivering for about an hour. This freaked me out, because I thought the water would be cold, and I thought I would get hypothermia when I was biking (wet hair+cold air=no good). But fortunately the water was SO warm and I was able to kill the swim (and it had warmed up by the time I got out of the water...or I just got warmer haha).

Once the chill was gone, I felt great. Swim was great (my best part of the event actually). My first transition was pretty slow, but I had no expectations for it, just wanted to try and follow all the rules and get my shoes tied properly...which I did!

The bike ride was definitely hard. It's known to be a hilly course, and the two times I've done it before were hard, but I survived :) I pretty much just kept a smile on my face and said hello to everyone that passed me (and there were several). I really enjoyed myself. It was so surreal because I was trying to really soak it all in, I wanted to make sure I remember my first triathlon. And the bike ride was kind of my time to sit back and try and process all the thoughts going through my head.

Second transition was a breeze...although the little jog from where we had to get off the bike, to where we dropped our bikes off was brutal on my legs, they truly felt like bricks at that point. Once I stashed my bike and helmet I was off on the run. I wasn't able to keep up the same pace as I have before in previous brick workouts, but I never had done the full distances in my workouts before so I wasn't disappointed at all with myself. In fact, I was super proud of myself. I was actually able to pass 5 people (2 who I specifically remember passing me in the bike) so that was amazing. Not that I was being competitive at all, it was just a nice confidence boost!

Once the run was over, I shoved some food in my face and got a drive home. I needed a shower and a nap badly! Overall, it was one of the most fun and amazing events Ive done. Pictures to come!