practice tri

Well, I haven't posted in forever. Mostly because I've been so discouraged from the practice tri. It's not that it was absolutely horrible; just harder than I thought. I'm 3 days away from the real thing. I can't believe it's finally here. I've struggled with motivation these past three weeks. Combine that with a week at the beach and a kitchen remodel- needless to say, it's been hard.

But back to the practice tri. I got to Columbia at around 10pm Thursday night. Traffic was really heavy, and I didn't know where I was going. I got settled and went to bed. I had a really nice room and was temped to skip the whole practice tri and spend the day by myself in my room. I woke up at 4:50 to get to Centennial Park by 7. I was really nervous and couldn't really stomach my oatmeal. You have to understand, I'm not comfortable doing new things by myself. It's way out of my comfort zone. The fact that I drove to MD by myself, stayed in a hotel by myself and went to the start of the practice event by myself is huge! I struggle with feeling of inferiority and I had to fight them.

I'd say there were about 500 women there. At around 7:30 they started the swim. I was one of the last waves to go (based on age). They were giving the waves a 3 minute separation, but by the time they got to me they just sent everyone. The swim was good and bad. Good in that I didn't freak out swimming in open water. I didn't think I would as I've spend many summers swimming at a lake. What wasn't good was that I couldn't get into a rhythm at all. Every time I tried to do freestyle I either ran into someone or was run into. Now, I'm not a straight swimmer and really rely on the lines at the bottom of the pool. I know it's going to be a struggle for me to stay straight. However, I did breast stroke about 75% if the time. That's just not acceptable. It took me 26 minutes to do 800M. The race is 1100M. Not good. I was also a little wobbly when I got out of the water which I didn't like. I'm sure my breathing wasn't regular.

I tried as fast as I could to have a quick transition which I did. I put on my shoes and socks and took a swig of water and off I went. I thought I heard there's be water on the course. It turned out there wasn't. Had I know that I would have brought some with me. I was really hurting as it was very hot. The run was more discouraging than the swim! I couldn't believe how hilly it was. I wasn't expecting it, so in that case it's probably good I ran it before hand. I was exhausted afterwards (I ran about a 9:30 pace) and all I could think was that I hadn't even biked yet.

I brought my bike but didn't think I would do the course. It was so late by the time I finished the run (and so hot), I decided to drive it in my car. It's also on a very busy road and on a Friday I didn't feel safe riding it. I'm glad I didn't. When I drove it in my car, I saw that there's very little shoulder and traffic was very heavy. There were women riding it, but I'm glad I wasn't one of them. There are two big hills but nothing I don't see here. I think I'll be okay. I just have to figure out how hard to go in order to save my legs for the run. One of the things that disappointed me during my trial tri here was that my bike was so slow. I thought I could do the distance in a little over an hour and it took me more than an hour and 15 minutes. I'm not sure what to expect race day.

After the drive I headed back to the hotel to shower and nap. I was really tired from not being able to sleep the night before. When I took my tri suit off there was green lake grass underneath. Gross. I had it on my goggles during the swim and it was pretty thick during the swim. Yuck! My feet were also soaked from the water dripping down after the swim. I felt the squishing during the run. I hope that won't happen during the race as I'll be biking before I run. I showered and passed out for about 30 minutes and then headed home.

In the time I've had to think about my experience, Ive realized it was good to go. I think I had some unrealistic expectations about the tri and I'll be happy just to finish. I've really struggled getting myself motivated to keep up the level of training. I'm ready though. I need to remind myself that I am and I can do this!