Give it a Tri

Back in January, I was contemplating the new year and what I wanted to accomplish during it. I'm not really one for resolutions because I think that choosing some audacious goal that you're not already working towards is just asking for failure. I'm more of a "new years improvement" kinda girl. I like to pick something that I've already been working on and add to it. And because I am my mother's daughter, I take almost an entire month to get around to stating my "improvements". (Hi Mom!)

So, in January I decided to strive to actually eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day AND complete an event that would challenge me. Over the past couple years I have been more and more into healthy living and have made exercise a part of my routine instead of just something I did as penance for eating cake. Last June I ran my first 5K and have since kept running for my personal workouts, even improving my pace. Charlie had taken up long distance running in the last couple years and as I would cheer for him in his races, I began to want to set more challenging goals for myself. However, you will NEVER find me running any half marathons:

(after Charlie's 1st 1/2 marathon in Charlottesville, April 2011)

So I looked around for another option and found the Reston Sprint Triathlon, which I signed up for after getting a couple friends to join me. A sprint triathlon consists of swimming, biking and running in that order. A sprint distance is a good distance for a beginner, though an even shorter distance is available called a "mini triathlon". The mileage for the Reston Sprint Tri broke down like this:

Swim: 1/4 mile (400 meters) in a pool

Bike: 12 miles

Run: 5K (3.1 miles)

After biting the bullet and forking over my money, I began to train. I trained for 4+ months, which may have been overkill but I am a bit of a perfectionist. I wanted to do my best and though I knew I would finish, my goal was to give each section of the event my all (aka- no walking my bike up a hill!). And I completed the race on June 5th!

(Cheesy! Before the race- after getting my "body marking")

The area in which you move from each event to the next is called the transition area. This is where you take off your goggles and swim cap, put on your shoes and grab your bike to go out for the bike ride. And where you return with your bike to drop it off before you go run.

(That's me setting up my transition area before the race. Charlie didn't alert me he was taking a picture so I kinda blend in with my black bike! )

My awesome friends Joy and Jarrod did the tri with me. I wore a tri suit which is a special suit that is made of bathing suit material but has padding for the bike ride and grips on the legs so that you can run without it moving around. I was worried about what to wear because there was NO WAY I was going to be running in a bathing suit and I didn't think swimming in a t-shirt would be a good idea. The tri suit was perfect- it offered support (ahem) for the run and dried quickly after the swim. And (the best part) I got it on SALE! (Hi, Mom!)

(Joy, Jarrod and I before the swim on the pool deck)

To begin the swim, you couldn't dive- you just had to jump in and start swimming. The swim was a little more difficult than my practice swims because I was excited and a little nervous so my heartrate was faster, making it harder to catch my breath. Plus there were people passing and people to be passed (which I did once-woohoo!).

(I'm so passing you lady-in-black-swimcap!!!)

The bike was a bit frustrating for me because I bought a hybrid bike instead of a road bike. Road bikes are faster but I didn't like the feel of the handlebars and knew I wouldn't be using it for lots of competitive racing so I opted for the more comfortable hybrid. So, as a result, I had a very slow bike ride compared to a lot of other riders. It was frustrating having all bikers with road bikes whiz right by me even though I was pedaling my hardest! Plus, there was one loooong hill in the course which was a four mile loop, meaning we had to ride the hill three times.

(Exiting the transition area with my bike)

(On one of my bike laps)

The run was also somewhat difficult mainly due to the fact that I had biked 12 leg-pumping miles right before it. There were some hills in the course but it could have been all downhill and my legs still would have felt like Jello at the beginning and filled with lead at the end! However, Jarrod ran the entire run with me which was so nice of him because he could definitely could have run much faster. My normal running pace is about 10 minute miles and after the bike ride this run consisted of 11 minute miles!

(Jarrod and I beginning the run)

When I finished I was so proud I had done it! Charlie came over and gave me a hug and the first thing I said was "I'm so glad that's over!". As with the 5K, I was not sure I'd ever do one again as soon as I finished but am now thinking that I should at least get another use out of the tri suit!

(Joy, Jarrod, Me, and Daniel- our friend who also happened to be competing. He finished so far ahead of the rest of us he was already cooled down and had taken off his finishers medal :)

Charlie was a great spectator, cheering every time he saw me, taking lots of pictures and providing lots of support to me before the race, especially when I got nervous. Thank you for all your support honey!!!