On Thursday morning I’m going to participate in my first triathlon. It’s called a Sprint Triathlon because the distances are short in each event – at least they are short for real athletes. For someone like me, they are plenty long!
The course requires that I run 2 miles which is about the max that my legs, lungs and funky left knee will take. Then I transition to my bike and ride for 12 miles which should be fairly benign. And I finish by swimming 400 meters in an outdoor heated pool.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been half-heartedly training in between laying wood floors. I know I can do each event on its own – what I haven’t done is put them all together!
Today Mike took me to the YMCA which is hosting the event and showed me the course layout and let me do a mini-tri along with a tutorial on how to transition.
The run starts in a wide drainage culvert – we run about .2 mile, climb a short hill, run on a soft gravel trail for another .5 mile and then out into the street. I was glad I got to experience the start of the run because I’ve done all my training on hard surfaces and this is definitely different.
I did the drainage ditch run along with a short bit on the gravel trail and then doubled back to the parking lot where I had laid out everything I’d need to transition to the bike. Under Mike’s guidance, I changed shoes, put on my helmet and took off on a run with the bike to the “mount line” where I could then get on the bike and take off.
The biking course is a 3-loop route around several blocks and due to heavy traffic, I did a simulated bike ride in the parking lot and returned to what was now the “dismount line”. I got off the bike, ran to my transition point where I put the bike up, took off my bike sandals and helmet and grabbed my goggles and hat.
I then ran across the parking lot and through the YMCA (a more direct route will be available during the event), jumped in the pool and swam. Since I couldn’t remember how many laps I had to do, I swam several more than necessary but it was good to get the feel of the pool.
It was encouraging to know I will end at steps where I exit and then cross the finish line. I feared if I had to hoist my bod out of the pool, I might be there next week!!!
I really appreciated Mike putting me through the paces and I think it was fun for him to share this passion with me and teach me the ropes. At least now I’m not quite as nervous as I was. He also told me the men will start 10 minutes before the women so I won’t have to run in a crowd of 500 at the start.
We have to have our bikes in place prior to 6:30 on Thursday morning and since Mike wants to snag a prime spot (first come, first served) he suggested we leave home about 5:00. That’s 5 in the morning! Since the youth race is first, maybe I’ll have time for a nap before I start.
We’ve been so busy these last few days that I haven’t had much time to think about training. I did get in a 20-mile bike ride yesterday and tomorrow I plan to do a long walk at a more leisurely pace than normal.
My goal is to finish in under 95 minutes. I’ll keep you posted!
I’m so impressed, Anne! Happy Thanksgiving and good luck with the tri! Can’t wait to read all about it.