After having Aspen, I decided to complete one sprint triathlon this summer. As a non-swimmer, I figured the swim on a sprint, about 750 m, was the most practical goal. I soon found that I was able to accomplish longer distances and decided, instead, to compete in one Olympic distance and one half ironman distance triathlon. (I just added a sprint to the end of the month, too...but only because it is local). People had told me that competing in a triathlon was simple. You just need a bike and could basically ride anything. Huh...that's all...a bike.
Triathlon competitors either don't have children or get paid more than I do. (They certainly aren't thinking about how and when to nurse the baby before the event.) With my $40 road bike purchase, I felt I was spending left and right. Entry fees are steep (and so they should be...it is quite an event), bike maintenance can get costly, and then there are the extras, like tri-suits, wetsuits, goggles, race belts, hotel stays, etc. I was able to get a lot of great race gear through craigslist. But, I hadn't anticipated the extras.
One of the greatest challenges with competing was doing it with a baby in tow. I'm lucky to have such great support from Duane, who really felt like my manager in this challenge, packing all of my gear into the car and somehow finding balance with the oodles of baby gear that came along as well. The race was two hours from the house, so we stayed in a hotel. This adds more challenge to the event. Aspen sleeps rather poorly in hotel rooms, which translates into me sleeping poorly. However, she did surprisingly well through everything, even waking up at 4 a.m. She stayed up all morning during the race, and joined Duane in cheering me on at different points of the course.
Up until the race, I admitted that riding would be my weakest event. Swimming, however, was the poorest. Though, as someone who couldn't swim 2 consecutive laps in December, I think I did pretty well swimming 1500 meters in a lake. It took me somewhere around 38 minutes to complete the swim. This was slower than what I was anticipating. I don't breathe on both sides so I can only see to the right of me. I ended up swimming out further than I was suppose to at a lot of points through the course. I've decided to take some swimming classes at the Y to finally learn how to breathe on both sides. Then, at least I'll be able to see what is going on around me.
My ride was shockingly strong. I finished around 1:39. I passed a lot of riders (who paid much more for their bike than I did for mine) and was able to redeem myself in this leg. The 30 mile course was mostly rolling hills, uphill on the first half and downhill on the second. There were a handful of flats in the crowd and an ugly collision. I think I've decided to sign up for some bike maintenance classes to gain more confidence changing a flat.
My run was really strong, and assured me that my training had been pretty solid. I wasn't much slower than normal with an average pace of 7:42 and total time of 47:47. It was an out and back course. The terrain was flat with road and sidewalk, following the circumference of the lake. Though, you can only see the lake for a short time. During this leg, I did have some chest and quad cramping, but gatorade seemed to help. Accounting for the wave start, my finish time was 3:10ish.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I'm really grateful to have added two awesome sports, swimming and biking, to my regular workout schedule. I can't see myself doing a lot of these races. Mainly, they are expensive and are challenging with a baby. I added the Rocky Mountain State Games sprint for July 30th, but only because it is in Colorado Springs and might help me with transitioning and the open swim before the September 11 half distance. This was not the most difficult thing I have ever done...that award goes to the Pikes Peak Marathon...which is trumped (in many ways) by natural childbirth.
