Mini Triathlon (aka dress rehearsal)

I have some things to catch up on before the actual triathlon. Which by the way is this SUNDAY!!!!!! I cannot believe how fast it has come... I am interested to go back and read my posts from the beginning and laugh at some of the things I was afraid of :) I really have come a long way and I am so proud of myself for sticking with this.

First off, we had a mini triathlon about 2 weeks ago. We did a full half mile swim in the lake, 8 mile bike ride, and 2ish mile run/walk. Now the actual Triathlon will be a little longer, the swim is the same, but the bike is 12 miles and run is 3 miles. It was the getting use to all 3 events together that we were working on. So here is how that day went for me.

I get there bright and early, check in and find a area to park my bike and unload my bucket of stuff. We use a bucket so that you can flip it over and sit on it to put your shoes on during transition. Of course I had to paint my bucket pink! What else would you expect of me? lol... so I get my area all situated, talk to some tribabes and then I walk down to the lake to see our swim course. My stomach sank when I saw the 3 large buoys out in the middle of the lake that we had to swim around! Yes when we swim Tuesday nights it is away from the shore, but never that FAR from the shore! It was once again time to get my "big girl panties" on and get over it! :)

So we all head to the water about 7:50am... just in our swimsuits or wetsuits... cant take your towel or anything like that... she starts the time and we all at ONCE head out for our swim. I take my time and let the crazy fast people go by so that I don't get kicked. I will admit it was a little scary to be out so far from the shore. I freaked out a couple times and just rolled onto my back like we are taught, caught my breathe and then kept on going! It took me a LONG time to finish, 35 minutes to be exact. The fastest person was like 15 minutes and the last but not least was at 55min... There is no shame because I didn't QUIT! I kept going... so I get out of the water... Lisa yells my time at me, and then I walk up to our transition area. Let me remind you, no towel is right when I get out... so yes... here I am walking in my swim suit for all to see! lol... I get to my area, towel dry off as fast as I can, throw on my Capri pants, which were not too hard to put on being wet... put my shirt over my suit, socks (those were hard to get on) shoes... eat a couple power blocks, drink some water, helmet, sunglasses, and racing belt and then I am OFF! :) I get on my bike and realize even though I am in an easy gear my legs are already tired! We have never put swimming with the rest and my arms hurt already! lol... the 8 mile course was not easy, lots of hills, and I was pretty pissed at that! lol... but of course I survived and of course all those stupid hills I have to go up... i forget I get to go DOWN them later! :) After my ride, you walk your bike back to your transition area, take off helmet, grab some water, and off to the run I go! I actually did jog a little this time... but I mainly walked it and that is ok! Because guess what??? I finished! :) I can officially call myself a triathlete...lol

Putting all 3 events together was crazy, scary, and fun at the same time! I feel like I can actually DO IT now... I am already looking forward to next seasons training, and thinking about the things I can work on during the winter!

Danskin is something I have been so nervous about since the first day I signed up! It is less than a week away now and as we get closer my nerves get worse. I have no doubt in my ability to complete this... the thing that scares me is the amount of people that will be there! I am so thankful to all my fellow tribabes though! There will be a lot of us there this weekend and I will feel so much better knowing they will be there until the end with me! :)

I have already said it, but I am going to say it again. This has been a crazy hard journey, I am so proud of myself for sticking with it until the end. I cannot tell you how many fears and obstacles I have faced these last couple months! I know my grandparents who have passed would be so proud of me today!

Wish me luck! I probably wont write more until after the official triathlon!