Indoor Sprint Tri Freak OUT

So tomorrow is my first triathlon of the season.   It’s indoor, so I’ll be swimming in a pool, riding a spin bike, and running on a treadmill.  It’s a sprint distance.  The swim is only 400 meters, the bike is 8 miles, and the run is 2.5 miles.  I know I can finish all three distances without a problem.   I’m not sure I can finish in the time that I want.

That is why I’m freaking out.  Well, that and another reason.  I looked at the results for this sprint tri from last year.   I did it while I was pregnant and it was the first one I ever did.  This is why I’m doing it again this year.  I want to see how well I can do since I’m not going to be watching my heart rate.  However I’m too competitive to stop there. I had to look up the top 5 women finishers and the top finisher for my age group.  I decided my goal was to claim a top 5 finish.  I decided I want to be top 3 for my age group.

This means that I’m freaking out this week.  The woman who got first in my age group also came in 2nd female over-all.  There is no way I can match her swim.  She did 400 meters in a little over 6 minutes. My goal was to get mine to 8 minutes. I don’t think I’ve done that.   The bike, I have no idea. It’s a spin bike so I know I’ll keep it on low resistance and therefore I’ll be faster than using my bike outside.  The run, I’ve got the run.  My goal is 7 min miles for the run.  That would beat her 8 min miles from last year.  If I can match her on the bike, I have a chance of coming in first or at least coming close to it.

This means I’m freaking out because I want to hit my goal and I’m not sure I can.  I know I do this for fun, but it’s still intimidating, It’s still nerve wrecking.  I’m also dealing with some aches/pains/possibly injuries.  My workouts the last several weeks have sucked. My last two long runs I’ve had to cut short for various reasons.   So I’m going in to this triathlon knowing I can do this distance but wondering how well I can do the distance.  Stay tuned for a race report next week!  And please wish me luck for an awesome experience tomorrow.

I’m also going in to this triathlon knowing that it kicks off a very aggressive race season for me.  A race season that doesn’t end until November. This freaks me out. 

I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m crazy, I’m a runner.  ‘Nough said.

Triathlons

Last year I got it stuck in my head that I wanted to enter the world of triathlons. This was before I could do the swimming and before I owned a bike. I'm not exactly sure why I decided I could do it or wanted to do it.  Husband didn't think I could do the swimming part of it, as we have a pool that I never swim in (it's for relaxing..how did he not know that?).   He made a deal with me that if I could prove the swimming part I could get a bike.  Well..I've proven I can do the swimming and now I'm waiting on a bike. 

Since I don't have a bike yet I knew the only way to compete in one would be to do an indoor triathlon.  When I found out I was pregnant I figured it would be even longer before I could do a triathlon.  However, I was given the ok to add swimming back to my routine and due to feeling pretty good most days I was able to remain active.

Run portion at the 3rd triathlon I completed

Husband was ok with me competing in a couple of sprint triathlons during this time as he knew it kept me motivated to be healthy and it helped my depression.   You already know about the first sprint triathlon I did, I blogged about it  in this post.    I recently completed two more, three days apart.  One was an event my work held. It wasn't open to people outside of the University, instead it was just a way to try and get people active.  The other one was held at my gym and was open to gym members and non-members.

The first sprint triathlon I competed in was at 26 weeks pregnant.  I came in 91 out of 108 total.  I was 11 out of 15 in my age group. 

The second sprint triathlon I competed in was the one at my work and I was 30 weeks pregnant.  I came in 10 out of 15 in the novice division.  

The third sprint triathlon I competed in was at my gym, also while I was 30 weeks pregnant.  I came in 55 out of 63.

While normally I wouldn't be happy with my placement for any of these events I'm actually really happy with my performance for all.  I have to watch my heart rate so I can't put as much effort into each leg of the race as I would normally be able to do.   So to not finish last or even second to last and knowing I could have gone faster is huge.   The swimming and the bike portions are the hardest for me.  Once I hit the run portion though, my legs ease up and I've felt awesome and ready to go.  

I'm actually somewhat glad I attempted my first triathlons while pregnant.  Knowing I couldn't actually race them meant that I went into each race just focusing on finishing and not on hitting a certain time/mileage or placement.  Sure I went in to each knowing I didn't want to be last but also not dwelling on it since there was  nothing I could do about it.  I was nervous, this is a new sport for me, but not as nervous as I would be otherwise.  

I've fallen in love with triathlons.  It gives me something to work towards, something that is different from just going out for a running and building up mileage and speed. Running is still my love and what I prefer to do. Triathlons just add another dimension and help me get in cross-training and feel like a more powerful athlete overall.  I love the challenge.   I hope to get a bike later this year.  If so that means I can start to do some outdoor triathlons next year.  I do want to compete in all three of these same triathlons next year when I'm not pregnant and don't have to watch my HR.  It will be fun to compare my results.  

Motivation

I really want to get into triathlons.  I wanted to do a sprint tri last year and wasn't able to since I didn't have a road bike. I actually still don't have a road bike but I'm hoping to complete my first indoor tri within the next couple of months actually.  Fingers crossed I feel well enough and baby cooporates.  

While I plan to start off with a sprint tri because the distances are all relatively low and I feel it's a great way to get my feet wet with this sport I have to admit that to one day even train for an Ironman is a dream of mine.  I mean, I have to like tri's first, so doing a couple sprint tri's will let me know if I want to continue with this pipe dream.  But if I do find that I like them I plan to do an Olympic distance and possibly a half-ironman once baby girl is bigger. 

A full ironman, most days that seems like a pipe dream. It seems like something I could NEVER do.  These athletes are crazy!  Ok..actually I don't think they are crazy, I think they are AMAZING.   Anybody wyo can swim 2.4 miles, then bike 112 miles, then run 26.2 miles is amazing.  Shoot, anybody who trains to do that and goes for it is worthy in my opinion.

The below video is very motivating for me. It's people who are at their breaking point but they keep trying. They Try to finish something they started. I think we can all learn from that.  I also have a feeling if I ever compete in an  ironman I'll make it on a video like this one. haha