I Tri-ed!

I Tri-ed and I liked!

I can't tell you how nervous I was before the race and I can't even say why. Maybe it was because the books were talking about placing your shoes in this exact location, and your socks precisely here, and do this just so. And then the announcer lady in the transition area mentioned how much the triathletes have to think about this morning like putting their bike in the gear they want to start in. You've got to be kidding me right??? I skipped that little bit of advice.

We got to the race area about 5:30. This is what Minneapolis looks like at 5:30. A bueat huh?

This is my swim. Out to that buoy way out there between the other buoys.

Not so bad I thought comparing it to the Olympic distance. And speaking of the Olympics, I saw Olympiads racing!! How cool is that! I saw Sarah Haskins and some guy representing Canada, but I won't be cheering for him for obvious reasons. It's going to be mighty fun watching them in Beijing in August.

Right up to the swim I kept thinking "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe it." In fact until I was up to my neck in water and started to swim I was thinking that. But then, it all went so fast.


The swim left room for much improvement. Mostly I could have swam better, longer but there were so many times where I had to putz around and plan a strategy of how I would get around other swimmers. Plus I could improve my swimming over all. For my next (yes, I said next) I will be working on swimming the most.

The bike was great. I passed a lot of people and was feeling really strong. In fact, my placement in the swim was probably like 79th percentile and for the bike it was like 52nd percentile (or something like that) so I feel confident in that area.

On the run, I told myself to just run for 10 minutes like in training and if you still feel weird, just walk. I made it way past 10 minutes. I walked through the 2nd water stop which was about 1.25 miles in, and then blew through the last one. I ran 10:31 minute miles after all that! I figure that means that I am totally NOT reaching my potential when I run just regular. Sad. I figure I should never be over 11 minute miles unless it is extra hot or I am coming off a particularly grueling run.

It was so much fun, and the thing is I was right. I think I was in relatively good shape to do this so training was not exceptionally hard. The short course was a great distance too. I didn't get in over my head on my first time out. For as good as I felt doing the .4 swim, 15 mile bike and 3.1 mile run, I was glad to not be doing anymore. I think there are a few more short course tris in my future. Maybe an Olympic distance farther down the line, but I would like to stick to this one again because now that I have the experience I know I could do better. And better is not a slam on this event. I did great. I gave it my all and I didn't give in. I'm very pleased with the outcome.
They said in the morning "You came to this race today as a cross trainer. By the end of the day you will be a triathlete." So there you have it folks. I'm a triathlete.

More pics to come.