tri training

Last week I did my first triathlon!  Nothing official but a good way to finish off the training program I was in  and it was so nice to get a gauge for what a real race is like without forking over nearly $100.  It was a good deal shorter than a real sprint triathlon (we did 750m swim/12 km bike / 3km run instead of 750/20/5).

I walked nearly the entire last leg since I haven’t trained for it at all and the swim took me by surprise.  I swam it rather than kicking like I do in most of our workouts and I had no idea how hard it would be to get out of the pool.  I was caught completely off guard by the wobbles and diziness and my transition was painfully slow.  It was a good bike ride (I used my mountain bike with slicks and it was still so much slower than my dahon would have been).  The “run” that I walked was okay.  I always missed our running sessions by being at play group and with my knee injury I never quite had the motivation (or the time) to run.  Since I haven’t been able to find a cheap enough luggage bag I’ve opted to just pack my running gear so I can work on it while out east.   If I’m lucky I’ll find a pool and do a bit of swimming too.  If all goes well I’ll be in shape for a real sprint tri soon after I get home.  I can’t believe I’m going to be away for nearly 4 weeks!

I’m tri-ing

Last week, in addition to starting my blog, I made a significant step towards another of my bucket list items – completing a triathlon on my own.

Up until almost four years ago I was fit and not much stood between me and the triathlon goal.  There was rarely a weekday where I didn’t have at least one sporting activity planned.  Then I got hurt.  Again.  And I let laziness, disinterest in the available programs, and health issues stand in the way.  Last week I put all those things in the past when I started my triathlon training.

I know it’s only been a week but I can feel the difference already.  It’s been so long since I was able to feel “good” muscle pain.  You know, the kind that tells you you worked those muscles but not the wicked ache of doing too much?   It was so nice (and probably necessary) to have a day off yesterday because there was a lot of that good pain.   I feel much better today, ready for tomorrow’s bike and swim.  Woohoo!

There are still many months between now and my first triathlon but at least I have something to work towards.  I just need to decide which triathlon will be my first.  There are so many to choose from.. women’s only, pool swim, lake swim, close to home, far from home, etc.   And they’re a lot more expensive to enter than I expected – probably because the last team tri I did was circa 1992.

I’m so excited… in 8 more months I’ll have one of my most important  items off “the” list!