Finally: My First Triathlon!

Two days ago I finished my first triathlon! It is the one I have been training for about a year now and the one that I have been posting about in this blog. I almost can’t believe that the race is already over, and at the same time, it is only now starting to sink in that I really did it. I finished my first triathlon!

Sunday was the big race day. My brother, my husband and I were all signed up to participate in the Olympic distance (swim: 1.5km; bike: 40km; run: 10km) triathlon in our city and we were supposed to start at 4:10pm (husband) and 4:30pm (brother and I) respectively. The late starts and the fact that we didn’t have to travel to get to the venue gave us enough time to prepare and experience some pre-race jitters. We ate enough, checked and double-checked our equipment, and finally got ready to go at about 2:00 pm. It had been pouring rain on and off throughout the whole day and we were happy when the rain stopped just in time for us to leave. As it turned out we were really lucky because after another short downpour, which we endured amongst many other triathletes under a makeshift tent in the transition area, it held off for the rest of the day. I even sport a nice triathlon-suit shaped tan-line now!

We were assigned our spots in the transition area according to our race numbers and we set up our stuff. I had read about this in various books and magazines but was tremendously happy that my tri-experienced brother was there to give me advice on where to put the helmet and how to hook up the bike.  I was so nervous; I seriously doubted that I was the right person for this. Everybody around me just looked so experienced and fit and I had to visit the facilities more than once because it seems that’s how my body reacts to stress. I did not envy my husband who had to leave for the earlier start by himself but I kissed him goodbye and wished him good luck before I finally put on my wet suit. Just a few minutes after him, it was time for us to go and I felt as if I wanted to throw up. The swim took place in the city’s harbor with the start being located off one of the marina’s docks. We were about 200 swimmers in the group and everybody seemed to be putting on their cool faces. Among the 400 finishers of the race were only 40 women which obviously made me one of the few women in that wave. Everything was pretty intimidating and I had another short “bathroom” break right when I went into the water (sorry everyone!). I had my anti-water earplugs in and really didn’t hear the signal but all of the sudden I was in the middle of a swimming mob. That’s how I knew it was time to go and I started swimming myself. There were arms and legs and bodies everywhere. The water was so cloudy, that I didn’t even see my own hands going in in front of me! I got pushed around and pushed others a lot for the first few minutes. Throughout the whole swim, I never ended up swimming totally by myself but it got less crowded after a few minutes and I fell into my rhythm. Obviously I didn’t check my watch to see how I was doing but I could tell that I had a decent swim, because there were always many people around me. I knew that I could not be way back at the end of the field because of that. I seriously started to enjoy what I was doing and kept telling myself that everything was going great. It was great being able to get that positive feeling right at the start of the triathlon. When I was helped out of the water by the volunteers I checked my watch and was thrilled to see a 31:33 minute split. This was really a best case scenario.

Triathlons are crazy in a way because there’s not much time to dwell on anything. Once out of the water I had to focus on my first transition. I had to struggle a little to get my wet suit off and then had to make sure not to forget what I needed for the bike part: helmet, glasses, shoes, race-number, energy-gels, and then off I went. I pushed the bike to the exit where I was allowed to mount it and to my amazement managed to clip in my shoes right away. Once I sat on the bike I was cheered on by my parents and friends who were already waiting by the first turn. That was a great feeling and gave me just the energy that I needed to start the ride. Since this was the longest stretch of the whole race, I finally had a little bit of time to settle in. Everything up until that point just happened so fast, but on the bike I took some inventory. Heart rate, fluid-intake… What do the other racers look like? It was pretty windy and I managed to pass some people, was passed by many others, but continued to feel great. After about 30km I got a little cold and started to look forward to being done with this leg of the race. Before I knew it I was entering transition #2 and this was kind of a milestone for me. Before the triathlon I always thought that I would definitely finish if I only made it to the run. If necessary, I was going to walk.  And here I was. Since there were so many little positive experiences for me, I never really started thinking about how hard I was working at the time. Of course I was exhausted, but I seriously had the time of my life. I pushed the bike through the seemingly never ending transition zone, put on my running shoes and cap and ate parts of an energy bar while heading onto the run course. Only 10 km more to go!

The run is really the part of a tri where the athletes can actually take in the spectators along the course.  On Sunday we had to do four 2.5 km loops and that way we kept on passing our fans a couple of times, which was great. Right at the exit of the transition zone I was greeted by my boss who came to see me. Just when I started to focus on my tight calves, my brother passed me who was already about to finish his race. He yelled out and we both were happy to see that we had safely made it to this point. The first two rounds were pretty rough, I must admit. I was going slowly and my legs were tired. This fact did not deter me, however, because I knew I was going to finish the tri running. I also saw my parents and friends along the course and waved and smiled at them whenever I passed them. Some even ran along with me for little parts of the run to cheer me on. When I finally entered the fourth lap, my brother joined me on the course to guide me to the finish line. We talked (I ran slow enough for that) and he told me about his great results. I was a little confused to hear that my husband had only finished shortly before me although he started 20 minutes earlier but I figured I would find out what had happened in no time. I enjoyed the last minutes of my race that went so smooth. I was really aware of running down the final stretch of the course where everybody was already waiting for me. The announcer called out my name and I high-fived all the friends and family who had come out to support us and finally crossed the finish line. It was really one of the best feelings ever!

I finished in 3:04:43 (Swim: 00:32:04; Bike: 1:20:53; Run: 1:02:08). I came in place 361 out of 399 and to me it feels like I have won the whole triathlon. Writing about this, I can still recall the way it felt to cross the finish line and it was worth every minute I spent training during this previous year.

When I finally met up with everyone after the race I learned that my husband got kicked in the head right at the swim start and was not able to gain back his composure throughout the whole swim. He could not do the freestyle stroke, which we have spent so many hours training with our coach. He ended up doing the breaststroke throughout the whole 1.5km swim to be able to finish. Of course he continued to go and he still finished the whole race. I am so impressed by this and am tremendously sorry because of the way his race went. The good thing is that we are already signed up for our next tri where he will hopefully have an incident-free race as well.

On a last note: My little brother came in 16^th overall and 4^th in his age group in 2:11:59 hrs. Unbelievable!

Half-Marathon Recap

The most sporty looking runners before and after the race

Not too long ago I would have never thought that I’d ever run that far. But here I am writing a recap on my first half-marathon last Saturday. You might have noticed that I refer to the event as my first one and I do surely think that this wasn’t my last attempt to cover this particular distance. Anyways, let me take you through the day.

The race took place in a forest by where I live and was scheduled for 3.30 pm, which I thought was a pretty late start. However, since I am always concerned about taking in enough nutrition and fitting in all the necessary bathroom stops before exercising, this was rather convenient. My brother and husband had signed up for the same half-marathon and it was very nice to have company on this big day. My husband and I were going to run together although he usually runs much faster than me. But unfortunately he couldn’t stick to his training schedule and decided to run at a slow pace to be able to cover the whole distance. My brother, on the other hand, had already participated in the race twice and set out to break his PR in this attempt. His goal was to finish in under 1:35 h. I had calculated a finishing time of 2:21 h if everything went according to my plan.

We eventually got to the race venue 1.5 hours before the start and proceeded to get our race numbers and figure out the area. It was a really cold day (we were lucky it didn’t rain) and we stayed dressed in our regular clothes as long as possible before changing into our running gear. All of us lined up twice to use the facilities and then it was 20 minutes to go when we headed to the start. The run course was an out and back loop. It zig-zagged through the forest and circled a lake.

By the time we were standing at the start with the other runners I wasn’t really nervous. I was just ready to get going after the months of preparation. Eventually the cannon went off and my husband and I let the crowd pass by because I was determined to run my own pace and not get distracted by the faster runners. Somehow I hadn’t anticipated every single other runner to be that much faster because after about 5km we didn’t even see the crowd running in front of us anymore. It was as if we were doing a training run all by ourselves. The only signs of this being an actual race were the race volunteers along the way (not many spectators in the woods) and the arrows on the path.

At first I had problems with my heart rate monitor because it picked up my husband’s signal. Although the stupid things are supposed to be blocking the wrong signal, for some reason it displayed the wrong heart rate and for the first couple of miles I was fumbling with my watch and the pick up around my chest. So here we go, me checking the watch, my husband talking to me about him monitoring his heart rate and me watching the split times when all of the sudden we hear a group of people yelling at us from behind. We didn’t pay attention to the course and missed a turn. Because we were literally running by ourselves at that point, it took the race volunteers a little while to realize that we were part of the race when they called us back and steered us back on the course. Yup, we actually ran a half-marathon plus a little bit!

We reached the 7km mark according to our plan and high-fived because we had completed one third of the run. We also started seeing another runner in front of us and it was nice to get the feeling of being part of a race somehow. I felt really strong and good the whole time and was excited to see that we were just a little bit faster than the splits I had calculated beforehand. We were going between 6:30 and 6:45 minutes per km. I was surprised to see that pretty much everybody else was going so much faster than that. But I didn’t feel bad about being so far behind the crowd. I knew I was giving my best and was just happy to be there. We plodded along and by km14, after two thirds, we had passed two more runners. This is also where I started to think that it would be nice to finish this thing sooner or later. I still felt strong, but was looking forward to reaching that finish rather than just focusing on the present moment of the race.

I had two small water bottles and one energy gel with me on my belt and started thinking that I should have taken in more energy before the race around that point as well. The kilometres came and went and around 17km I really could tell that things weren’t going so smooth anymore. By now I was just longing for that finishing line but it wasn’t because of poor preparation or because I wasn’t able to run that long. I had miscalculated my intake of calories that day. I had two bread rolls for breakfast and one banana-oatmeal shake around 1 o’clock. And to be honest, I was kind of hungry right before the race when I saw the spectators eat cake and barbecued stuff at the venue. It was as if a switch had turned and from one kilometre to the next, I simply wanted this to be over. My heart rate went sky high and my breathing didn’t stay within its usual pattern. Talking to my husband after the race, I know he was also ready to be done and I could tell because he was breathing harder. But we only had a little bit left to go and didn’t slow down so much. In fact, we overtook some more runners who probably started off too fast when we decided to stay back. We finished in 2:22:09 h and I think we could have reached my predicted 2:21 if we hadn’t run that little extra stretch in the beginning. We averaged 6:50 minutes per km. Although I didn’t really feel elated and strong at the finish line, I now am proudly looking back at what we did that day. My brother even broke his PR and finished in 1:33:00 h!

This was so much fun over all, in my mind, I am ready to do another race this second! We’ll see what the future has in store but I am sure this wasn’t the last time I did a race and I would want to say that this isn’t going to be the longest distance I will ever cover.

Tri Plans

After focussing on running and the upcoming half marathon for the longest time, I am setting myself up to commence my triathlon training next week. In my case that involves creating excel sheets and mapping one or two things out. First, I created my training plan based on two tri-books I have and some advice I found online. It's a 12 week plan with 5 days of training each week. It does not include specific strength training units but I figured I will fit them in as I see fit (haha). Probably in the evenings after work during the week. Some pre-set training plans don't give you distances you need to complete in training but they tell you how long each session should be, i.e. 70 minutes of biking. I must say that I prefer the style where you get a target distance and an intensity level to go by. This way I make sure that I'll get in 10 km for sure, whereas I might not, if the training plan asked for a 60 minute run.

The other thing I took care of is writing down the gear I would like to purchase for my first triathlon and possibly after. There's some things I know I'll definitely need, like a tri-suit. Others would be extremely nice to have but are not a must (like aero-bars). That's why I came up with list of a few things, figured out what I would be willing to pay for them and prioritized my need for each item. 

Things like this make this whole triathlon endeavor more accessible for me. I know what lies ahead and I can literally cross things off my list when they're done or purchased. Another plus is that I can hang up a sheet of paper on my fridge and don't have to remember everything I will need to do, to get me to that starting line. 

Pre-Race Relaxation

As of today it’s three more days until my first half marathon and I am looking forward to the race with great anticipation. I am not really nervous but excited about what’s to come on Saturday. I realized how cool I am about the big event when I received a message from my brother this morning, telling me to stay calm. All I could think was that there’s no need to worry since I am more excited about the half marathon than anything else. Obviously I have no clue how it’s going to go. I don’t know how I’ll react to the added pressure of the race situation. I could worry about whether I’ll be able to take care of all necessary bathroom stops before or during the run and I could be concerned about not making the cut off- but I don’t. I am curious and confident. And I think that I’ll be able to reach the finish line in a rather decent time. Then again, even if I won’t, I am not going to beat myself up. I have been strictly following the training schedule and I have seen a lot of improvement in my running. That alone is reason enough for me to be satisfied. It also gives me confidence in my triathlon pursuit. I believe that I will be able to finish the olympic distance race come July if I stick with the training plan (which I have printed out today). All is good in Readytotri-land. And I’ll let you know how it went on Saturday. Until then I’ll be hydrating and eating lots of carbs!

First Race of the Season

In four weeks I am going to run my first half marathon. I am entering the last third of my training schedule and will have my last long run this weekend. It's going to be a 20 km (12.4 mile) run and the longest distance I will be covering during my training. I am pretty confident that I'll be able to finish that run without any major problems since I have been steadily building my endurance since January. I have been running 3 - 4 times a week. Throughout the week I usually do shorter but faster runs and on the weekends I have been steadily increasing the distance. My long runs so far were a 16 km (10 mile) and a 18 km (11 mile) run and I felt pretty good about my performance. I did go slow as my schedule asked for the runs to be at 70% of my HF max. I am hoping that I can increase the speed during the actual race and I would like to be running at about 80%. But since this is my first half marathon I am also going to play it safe and am thinking about going for a negative split. That would have me starting the race off pretty slow (maybe 75%) until the halfway point. I will then see how I feel that day and try to pick up the pace for the second half of the run to finish that one faster than the first. But all in all this is not about results. I will be truly happy and excited if I can cross that finish line with a smile on my face! I'll let you know how it goes!

Bike Trainer

After I posted about my plan to purchase an indoor bike trainer yesterday I did some research on the different models. I would like to have a basic model that is not too loud since we live in an apartment building. My three cats will also greatly approve of a trainer that doesn't sound like a vacuum. I checked out the different online shops and forums and basically found two models that I liked. One was a little bit more elaborate with a computer included that tracks your sessions, the other one is similarly built but doesn't include the computer. After going back and forth between the two and watching several video-reviews on them, I settled on the version sans computer. I already have a computer hooked up to my bike and figured that the information I'd get through the trainer's computer would merely double the ones I am already getting.

Finally the thing is ordered and I hope to receive it early next week. I am eager to try it out and will let you know how I like it!

2012

Well, well... I am realizing that I am not a daily blogger. But whenever I get around to posting here, I enjoy sharing my thoughts and training efforts with you. 

So, here's what's been going/what will be going on:

First of all I turned 30. This makes me have to change the "about" section of this blog. This is hopefully going to be the year of my first (and second) completed triathlon, completed half-marathon, and relay-marathon. The first event is actually going to be the half-marathon in early April and my twelve week training plan for that will start in 1.5 weeks. Although I have been steadily running, I am excited to officially start my half-marathon training soon. If you ask me now, I find it quite hard to imagine that I will be ready to run a half marathon in about 4 months from now. Crazy! But I am a training-plan person and know that I will stick to it once I start. I guess it kind of has a placebo effect on me because I am positive that I will feel ready to go the distance when I have stuck with and completed the training plan.

For christmas I got myself the new and improved p90x program which is fittingly called p90x2! I have finished the first week of the 90 day program and am hooked. I like the challenge this routine poses for me after I have gotten used to the moves in the previous sequel. I am going to have to see how often I will be able to fit in one of the workouts since I will be running about 4 times a week and I will also be cycling and swimming. In any case, it's a great supplemental workout and since I like it so much, I am sure that I will make time to fit it in here and there.

I asked people to give me money for my birthday because I still need a lot of equipment for the triathlon. There's so much stuff I need and I just couldn't decide what to do with the extra cash I got. I am definitely going to need a triathlon suit and wet suit for the races, but I will have rare use for them during training. My road bike definitely needs to be a little pimped and I would like to get aero-bars and proper bike shoes. Right now it's just so cold outside and I am mostly using my stationary bike. Having said that I have come to the conclusion that I will use the b-day money for a indoor bike trainer that holds my actual bike. That way I will be able to use my bikey and I can work on my my position and set up. I have also found a series of indoor-bike-training-videos that I would like to purchase. That way I should be able to get through the second half of the winter with some nice cycling-sessions.

As you can see or read, I am totally pumped and ready to go! 2012 here I come!