My First Tri

I've neglected blogging, but not tri training. This summer has been a pretty consistent schedule involving 3-4 days of group training a week. My typical workout schedule is:

Monday - independent swim workout from Coach Jacklynn, approx. 2000m
Tuesday - spin then trail run. Wow, the summer heat is rough!
Wednesday - 6am swim practice with the team for 75-90 minutes. After work, muscle toning and cardio for 90 minutes with Shaula (YMCA instructor)
Thursday PM - 1+ hour run with tri group
Friday - spin or swim based on what's in store for Saturday
Saturday - bike ride, lake swim, or independent long run
Sunday - REST

I think I'm probably in the best shape I've been since tennis in high school, maybe better. The Florida heat has made outdoor running a real treat for the body and mind.

So, today was my first triathalon. While the team was training for the Olympic distance (longer), I really wanted to compete in the My First Tri division and so I opted to do the sprint. For those unfamiliar with triathalons, the sprint distance is usually a 750m swim, 10-12 mile bike ride, and 5k (3.1 mile run). Each course is slightly different, but that's the norm. The Olympic distance is just about double that. My First Tri is a division that you can enter just for your very first triathalon. It's great because your ranking is just against other first timers, and they often do a slightly shorter swim course, with the bike and run the same as all other racers.

A month ago I still was not ready to race. I had two personal hurdles ahead of myself. One, an open water swim. Two, get my 5k time under 30 minutes. As for swimming, I had made great progress in the pool, and while certainly not a pro, could handle the distance. 4 months ago, swimming 10 laps (500m) was a huge pool workout to me. Not anymore :-) However, I'd never done any type of lake swimming other than putzing around to stay cool when I was a kid. I needed to get an open water swim under my belt so that I knew I could swim a long distance without touching a wall, handle swimming without much visibility and no straight line at the bottom, and also overcome a (what I believe to be rational) fear of Florida gators. Chomp chomp. On Saturday, July 24, just 2 days after my 30th birthday, I did my first lake swim, across and back (1000m). What an adjustment! At the beginning, the different visibility really threw me for a loop and I couldn't seem to put my face in the water. But swimming so inefficiently was truly exhausting and I realized it was immersion by necessity. The distance seemed like an eternity going across, but once I had one crossing behind me, the return wasn't nearly as bad. The lake swim was done at Lucky's Lake (www.luckyslakeswim.com), which is basically a super nice local dermatologist who lets people access a lake through his home. If you cross, you get to sign his wall. Cool stuff! The other thing in my own mind that I had to accomplish before signing up for a tri was to complete a 5k in under 30 minutes. Now, there is no rule that you have to run a sub-30 5k to do tris. However, it was something that mattered to ME. And, I really wanted to do it by my 30th birthday. The eve of my 30th birthday, I went to Blanchard YMCA planning to run it on a treadmill. The power was out. Another day wouldn't do because I wanted to do it before turning 30. So we drove 30 minutes to the YMCA in Oviedo, and there I did my first sub 30 5k in 29:17. Now, considering that my best race time before that was 36:54, it was quite an improvement.

With both milestones behind me, it was time to sign up. I kept putting it off and finally signed up just this past Wednesday. I was not stressed out about the race because I've been working a lot. After practicing transitions on Thursday, I made sure to get a good night's rest. Then yesterday, I went with my teammate Shirley to get my packet and drive the course. There was some sand and glass debris that we cleared using push brooms so it wouldn't be a hazard. Then came home, set all my stuff out, and went to bed!

RACE DAY.
Got up nice and early, Shyam and Rohit went with me. I got into transition zone right as it opened after 5:30am and was able to get an end spot and just one rack away from my teammate Natalie. We went down by the water, took some pictures with another teammate Nathalia and those from our Blanchard YMCA who had come to cheer us on. While people say I looked nervous, I can assure you it was NOTHING compared to the nerves before the Disney Half Marathons. I was way better trained for this, thanks to our coach Jacklynn Stroz. And, with such a great team, I'd really learned to do this for FUN, enjoyment, and pushing my own limits, but as long as you're out there racing, you're doing great. Within our tri team, at practice you see people of all levels and each is championed individually. It's such a positive environment and has helped me to gain a lot of self-confidence that bode well for not being too tense the day of my first race!

After Waves 1-3 had gone, the race organizer Zahid Buttar pulled together waves 4 and 5 (My First Tri Male and Female) to do group pictures. He said that you only get one first race and you should document it. He's right! After the guys were in the water, he had the ladies get in knee deep and then came to the waters' edge to give us a pep talk. He said everyone came from different levels of training, but we were all there to do the race. You only get one first triathalon, and it's a race you'll remember forever, so no matter what happens, DO NOT QUIT. If you're tired swimming, float on your back or do the back stroke, hold onto a boat until you can continue. If your bike breaks down, walk it back. If you get cramps while running, take a walking break. But whatever you do, push yourself to the finish line and you'll never regret it. I got chills with his message and thought 'I'm prepped for this race, but that message is so true beyond the world of tri. This guy is awesome and I am sooooo glad to be doing a small race for my first tri where the organizer is so involved and wants to individually champion each of us.'

The swim started. I remember thinking the water was 10 times grosser than the other lake I'd practiced swimming in, but I had to move forward anyway. My heart rate jumped pretty fast with the adrenaleine. Making it to the first bouy wasn't bad, and then somewhere between bouy 1 and 2 I got off course. There were staff members in kayaks along the course yelling, but I just thought they were cheering us on. Little did I know they were telling me I was off course. As I got to the second bouy they were screaming at me to turn around. I then looked up and realized there was nobody near me and I was alone in the lake. My heart sank. I asked the lady in the kayak if I could just swim straight toward the flags at the shore and she said no, I had to go around her kayak to get back on course. OK, fine, even though I'd added probably another 200m+ to my course already. I started swimming as fast as I could while staying calm enough to be efficient, but it seemed like the shore could not come fast enough. I could see that most of the crowd was gone and only a few people were waiting for me. As I finally got out of the water, I saw Shyam and a few of my tri teammates cheering for me and started making my way to transition. I won't deny it, my face was swelling with tears as I ran. After prepping for a few months, a careless sighting mistake pushed me to the back of the pack. Yes, someone has to be last, but it didn't feel good. I was so far behind the pack that people with flags who were going to direct me didn't see me coming and I didn't see them, so I even ran off course en route to bike transition. Oh well, I guess tris only get better from here :-) At that point, as much as my heart was sinking, I remembered Z's words of encouragement from only a short while earlier and thought 'no matter what, all that matters is that I FINISH. I'd rather finish last than not finish.'

My transition from swim to bike went pretty well once I made it to the actual transition area. While there's obviously room for improvement, the practice with coach Jacklynn from earlier this week definitely helped!

And, I was off on my bike as Shyam and a few others cheered me on. At that point, I still couldn't see any other bikers, and the only bikes that were in transition were from people in prior waves who had already completed the bike. I shifted into a harder gear and put my legs to work, eager to see if turning it up a notch might not help me rejoin the pack. I was a woman on a mission, with a comeback fire burning deep. A mile or so into the bike ride, I spotted another biker and became determined to overcome them. I realized that it could've been a casual Saturday morning rider but once I saw the transponder, I thought 'sweet, I am back in the race.' So I passed them, and continued to bike harder. I wanted to find more people, pass them, and push myself. I worried that the extra push biking might backfire when running but what the heck - nothing ventured, nothing gained! And then I went a passing. Two, three, four, five, and so on until I think I'd passed 12-13 people, maybe more. I even slowed down to help reorient someone who was lost and confused about the course. Having driven the bike course the night before and cleared some of the road debris with a push broom definitely gave me some extra confidence in this leg of the race. Most of the time my speed was between 17-18 mph, which I was happy with since I've been doing my long rides at 14-16. A few times I even got up to 21 and thought 'wow, this is probably closer to what my coach Jacklynn or former manager Dirk probably experience. Must keep practicing to achieve this consistently down the road!' As I was wrapping up the bike section, I even saw my teammate Natalie coming out of a loop and thought 'sweet, I am catching up with my peer racing group. Hope is not lost.'

As we came back into the park, I was a little confused about when to dismount, scared I'd go too far and get disqualified or penalized, so I slowed down earlier than I had to but that's ok. I saw the look on Shyam and other teammates faces, I think they were a little surprised at the ground I'd made up on the bike leg, and it motivated me to push a little harder. Somebody else had racked their bike in my spot (arg) so I just went for the next closest one, went back and got my running stuff and bolted out as fast as possible. Coming off the bike, my legs felt like a ton of bricks cemented to the ground. Early in the running course, I saw my 'cheer crowd', including Rohit who was walking onto the course once he saw me, running for a hug (bless his heart!). I think someone was telling Shyam to get Rohit off the road, but I yelled 'it's ok, the interference is my own child, I can dodge him or deal with the consequences!' I ran past and soon we were in the woods. It was a beautiful shady path and unlike anything I'd run before. I've only done treadmill and asphalt running, this was all sand trail or grass. Despite feeling really slow, by my standards I was hauling booty and going pretty fast! My goal pace was a sub 10 minute/mile, and the first half a mile or so I was at an 8-8:30min/mile pace. I slowed down some but tried to stay faster than 9:30 the whole time. It burned, but I didn't care. Just like the bike course, I was pretty convinced that if I focused I could catch up and pass other runners, and that's exactly what I did. I made it my mission that nobody would pass me biking or running - and the mission was successful! Even though I had my water bottle with me, I took coach's advice and took the cups of water offered to pour over my head. BLISS! As I got closer to the finish line, I started thinking 'oh my goodness, I've almost completed a tri. ME!' and then I rounded a corner, saw the grassy final straight and made a bee line for it. Crossing the finish line was great, but seeing Shyam, Rohit and my team there was just as amazing. Without their support I never would've done this, and certainly wouldn't have had the motivation to push harder after a really rough start. I cried again at the end, thinking 'because my swim was rough, I biked and ran harder than I ever have. I just learned I'm capable of more than I'd imagined, so the bad swim was actually a huge blessing in disguise. Next time I'll have to swim well and then push even harder on the bike and run.'

We stayed around for the awards, I got first in the My First Tri 30-34 female division, which really shocked me. I then learned that I was the only MFT competitor in that division today, but who cares. I just came in first compared to everyone else who didn't even race. More importantly, this race validated the absolute power of self respect and the determination to push harder. It's really hard to imagine my life pre-tri. I've made so many amazing friends on my team, have a more positive outlook on activities beyond the gym, and believe in myself, what I can accomplish, and what I offer to those in my life. THAT, in my opinion, is the ultimate prize.

Tomorrow I'll be back bright and early to cheer on my teammates who are competing in the Olympic distance. Can't wait to see them succeed!

Update: 1 week in

I must say, I've rather surprised myself and am really glad I signed up to do tri club. This week, I swam 2,200 meters (Monday). I think the longest I'd done before then was 800m, so nearly triple! Certainly not speedy, but the endurance was there and I can't wait to join the team for a swim practice so I can work on technique.

Spinning - coach Jacklynn is great. She makes it hard but you can tell you're not in positions that aren't good for your body.

Running - my biggest surprise of the week. When with a group of people I know and who will rally with me, I can actually run longer distances. Novel concept, heh? I couldn't tell you the last time I ran more than 2 miles, and then on Tuesday ran 3 in the 90+ degree heat AFTER having done spinning. Totally surprised myself. It wasn't easy, but I kept identifying milestones on the path and running toward them.

This evening, our one hour run. I was so scared I kept thinking of a million and one reasons to skip it. But if you don't practice, you can't improve. So - I went. I ran a good portion of the time, walked probably 10 minutes total in 1:15. We did hills, which makes it even more amazing on top of the temperature. And, I think I got my first compliment ever as a runner. Someone called me fast! I am by no means the fastest in the group, but was ahead of the back 1/3, and I think they were surprised because I am heavier than almost everyone and also a newbie. It felt really good and I am so motivated to continue with this.

On our cool down at the Y, I chatted with the guy who was on the tri club blog as 'tri member of the month' for April. He was middle age, maybe 50, not pretentious at all and had the appearance of just doing this for general health. I learned that in high school he was a nationally ranked track athlete who could run a mile in under 5 minutes. Wowzah. I feel a bit unworthy, and also grateful, to be training with people who bring so much experience to the plate. Everyone is so nice, and we even cheered on and equally supported a member who was just getting started with fitness and could only do half the workout. Other members shared stories of how far they've come, their own breakdowns, and begged her to continue coming back and not to be embarassed. I hope she does. It's a great group.

Can't wait to see where thie journey goes!

Tri It Out

Nearly three years after abandoning this blog, I'm back......

I have completed the Disney Half Marathon twice (2008 and 2010), a handful of 5k, 10k and other shorter runs. Oh, and along the way Shyam and I had a kid. How could we forget mentioning our wonderful Rohit?

So, when I got pregnant I was still overweight. And then I gained 50lbs in pregnancy. Since Rohit's birth, I've been working to lose that and then some. I have days that I'm good, and days that I say 'to heck with exercise and eating well' but for the most part I've been good. I rejoined Weight Watchers on April 16, 2009 and have lost 65 pounds from my highest pregnancy weight. Do the math, it means I'm less than when I got pregnant, hooray!

But there's so much left to lose. At the local YMCA, I did a triathalon challenge last summer, wherein we had to run, bike, and swim a series of distances over the course of a month. I was not a biker or swimmer by any means and it was a great way of varying my workout. I enjoyed the challenge a lot and have redone it on my own solo this May.

Then I got a little daring and decided to sign up for the triathalon club at our YMCA. When you consider that our coach is nationally ranked and her goal is to race at a sub 7 minute mile pace, one could quickly be intimidated. But she's the sweetest thing ever and I'm looking forward to getting to know the others.

This evening was my first swim routine from Coach Jacklynn, it was a solo workout but another tri club member happened to be in my lane and gave me some pointers. I haven't had a swim lesson since I was 10, Lord knows I need help with form - but at least I'm moving! Tomorrow is my first group spin with the tri-group.

Wish me luck!