Swimming and biking and running....oh, my!

My super-awesome and amazing friend, Candace, who thought up this crazy idea in the first place.

If you had asked me on January first what I thought I'd be doing come the middle of July, I can GUARANTEE that I would not have said "I'll probably be doing a few triathlons". I've never been considered athletic, by myself or anyone else, and until recently, any working out I did was purely to for aesthetic reasons.

All of that changed when I started to work out again after having Riley. Very quickly, I discovered that while exercise was important for dropping the baby weight and toning up the muscles that stretched out during pregnancy, it was even more crucial to maintaining my sanity while dealing with a brand new baby, going through a divorce and trying to figure out where exactly I fit into a world that felt like it was quickly disintegrating. The gym became my refuge; the elliptical, my therapist. I pounded out out my frustrations in kickboxing and found order from the chaos in my mind during a hard and sweaty spin class. At some point, the motivation became less about looking good and more about feeling good, and that was it. I was hooked.

When the weather started to get nicer and race season was quickly approaching, my friend Candace started throwing around the idea of training for a triathlon with her. She had already competed in several and her enthusiasm made the whole idea sound fun and empowering. I started to seriously think about it. I was already biking a lot, I was doing some running...I couldn't really swim, but two out of three isn't bad. I took a deep breath, ignored the voice in my head that kept asking "what the hell are you thinking", and signed up. I was officially in training. It was April 16th. The triathlon I signed up for was July 18th, so I had about three months to get ready.

I kept up the running, added some tri specific weight training into the mix, and kept biking as much as possible. The variation of training really worked for me, and I started feeling fantastic almost immediately. I was still a little freaked out about the swimming part of it, but I kept telling myself I just needed to "tweak" my technique a little bit. My friend, Katie, helped me out a bunch and I continued to work on my own, but I was still missing something. I just didn't know what I was doing. I read some books, I did TONS of online research and luckily, I found a trainer at my gym that did swimming specific training, signed up with her, and started to really learn what I was doing. As it turns out, Malaika is a professional triathlete as well as a personal trainer, so she knows what she's talking about in all of the areas I was concentrating on. Working with her has been an absolute godsend (i'm planning a post about this whole thing later this week) and I started to feel like I really could do this. I really could complete a triathlon.


My transition area- post triathalon.

The day of the race came following a hectic week. Instead of camping at the race site, as originally planned, I drove down the morning of the event and only had a little bit of time to get ready. I set up my transition area, and talked to a few people. There was a festive, fun-filled atmosphere. The announcer kept reminding everybody to have fun, and there were 80's hits playing in the background. Some people were VERY intense and focused, some were just having a good time. Some, like me, were clearly first-timers and some were seasoned pros. It was interesting to be part of it.

When my wave was announced for the swim, I started to get a little nervous. The gun (was there a gun? I'm not actually sure.) went off, my wave hit the water, and I was off. I felt a moment of panic when I first started swimming, but I kept going, using the 'one-two-three-breathe-one-two-three-site' strokes I had been working on, and that worked relatively well for the first leg of the triangle. Around the buoy I went, started on the second leg, and was a little tired but doing relatively well. That is, until a gigantic fish showed up in my face right as I came up to site. I was prepared for little fish, I was ready for water snakes (and yes, I saw both on the first leg). But for some reason, the big fish (he seems about 12 inches long, but my mind could have exaggerated this) freaked me out. I came up, choked for a minute, laid on my back for a while and tried to get it under control. I talked myself down, started to swim again, and freaked out again. I decided it was better to back-stroke for a while so i was at least moving while I was freaking out, and that worked for me. I alternated backstroking and freestyle around the second buoy and to the finish. Some nice man in a kayak hung out by me from my freakout until the end and his presence made me feel ok about what was going on. I kept swimming, thought about the upcoming ride, and finished the hardest part (for me). I have never been more grateful to exit the water IN MY LIFE! It was time for the first transition. Next stop, bike ride.

The bike was definitely where I felt the most comfortable, so I just concentrated on enjoying the ride. My time was pretty good, especially considering I had to fix a flat at the half-way point. The course was lovely and I could have ridden for a lot longer than was required. There wasn't much to say about this part of the tri. I knew it would be my "fun" leg, and it totally was. I got into a little pissing match with one woman on the course- I passed her, she passed me, I passed her, she passed me again...but ultimately I kicked it into gear and left her behind. I told myself there was no competition for this tri (for me), but it felt kinda good seeing her ride in as I was starting to run...which brings me to the final portion: the run.


Me and my bike. Oh, how I love my bike!

I'm not a great runner. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I hate it while I'm doing it, but I love the feeling afterward. This run was ok for me...very slow time-wise, but I didn't expect any differently. My legs were shot after swimming and biking, so I took it slow and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I could feel the altitude difference by now, my breath coming harder and faster than it would have normally. The best part of this leg was the little kids at the water stops..."water, gatorade, or pepsi?" They all seemed disappointed when I didn't take them up on the pepsi offer. One little boy, who was probably 3 years old, enthusiastically yelled "YOU CAN DO IT!" at the top of his lungs for every single runner, waving a NASCAR flag madly. His brother, who was a few years older, quietly said "good job. you're doing awesome," as I passed. He was just as earnest, but a little more reserved than his gregarious little brother. Both of them melted my heart. I found myself thinking how great the world would be if we could all offer everyone our own words of encouragement in whatever form is most natural to us...whether that is cheering wildly with a checkered flag, or quietly offering our support where it's needed. I thought about this on the rest of my run, into the finish line, where the announcer called me "Jenny Cash" because I was the "woman in black" and then...it was done. I had completed my first triathalon. I have the medal to prove it.

So the question I keep getting asked now is "Are you going to do another triathlon?" And my answer is a resounding and unequivocal "YES!" I learned several lessons from this one already, so why wouldn't I keep on keepin' on? It's fun! It's good for me! It's not something anyone can do! I'm proud of myself! I got to wear rubber and lycra in the same day! It was a great time!

Lessons learned from Scofield Triathlon:
1. Expect (and prepare for) the unexpected, whether it be a flat tire or a large fish.
2. If you freak out over the unexpected, hang out on your back for a while and think up plan B. And plan B should always include a nice person in a kayak who looks like they might reach out a hand if you go completely under.
3. Find a way to push yourself to do better, even if you are comfortable where you are at. There's nothing wrong with a little friendly competition if it pushes you to excel.
4. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and listen for the words of encouragement on the way. People are waiting to cheer you on...but you might have to listen for the ones who don't carry NASCAR flags.
5. Finally, figure out what areas need work and WORK ON THEM. I don't want to think that I settled for "ok" on something that I could have done a lot better on. I know I need to work on my swim skills. That's what I'm going to do.

As I mentioned before, I didn't ever think this was something I could do, but I did it. I can now call myself a triathlete. I'm really, really proud of that.

And I'm going to do it again soon!

But first, back into the pool for a little more work on the weak spots.