Anatomy of a (beginners) 1st Triathlon...

Before I start, let me say these two things:

1) There is no doubt that without my Jesus I would not have been able to overcome my own head & finish this triathlon. The why's & what fors I will talk about in a minute but I wanted to make it clear that God gave me the strength to get this thing done.

2) There may be moments in this blog where I sound disappointed in myself. I want to make it clear that I am not, somethings I would have liked to be different but I am very proud of my accomplishment!

There, that being said, lets talk tri :).

Honestly, never in my life had I thought I would do something like this and as the hour ticked closer I began to question my sanity in attempting it. Barely over a year ago (15 months to be exact) I could barely finish one 12 min mile on the treadmill, what was I thinking in doing a triathlon?!? My girlfriends (Kenya & Paige), who were crazy enough to do it too, and I had a great night the night before. We set up our bikes, sharing many laughs together, then had dinner at the Brewhouse- being sure to have dessert (we needed carbs after all:). It was a nice relaxing pre-race evening. I honestly did not feel nervous when I attempted to go to sleep that night, maybe it wasn't nerves, maybe I had caffeine too late- whatever the reason I did not sleep well. I think I maybe eeked out 5 hours, so when morning came I was a bit tired and we were nowhere near starting. There were so many people who entered the race, that our start times were not until afternoon. Kenya, Paige & I decided at about 11 that the waiting at home was not helping so we headed into town. Passing the runners on the bike path a long the highway set my nerves into high gear and a new flood of "what the heck do you think you are doing" thoughts my way.

My heat was supposed to start in the pool at 1:30, I had eaten at noon (a small lunch thanks to some nasty gluten free bread) anticipating being in the water no later then 2:30. You see, I am one of those people who has to eat every three hours or so, nothing big but something, so I had planned my lunch around this fact. Unfortunately I did not get in the water until 3 and my stomach had already began to rumble. I ignored it, of course, and began my swim. Let me stop for a minute and mention that I am not a strong swimmer. My hope was to finish the 500m in 14.5 minutes, but I swam my heart out and felt like I was cruising a long faster than normal. At about lap 7, as I turned my head to breathe, the girl swimming next to me splashed a huge amount of water- right into my gaping mouth. I swallowed hard, made it to the end coughing and spluttering, hoarked a minute then continued my laps. After another lap I could feel my stomach starting to object to the massive amount of chlorine water I just dumped into it. I have acid reflux, which has been flaring up pretty bad lately, chlorine on an empty stomach was doing me no good. At the end of lap 9 it happened, what I think is an esophageal spasm but haven't seen my ND about it...yet. For those who have never suffered from GERD, it may sound like a silly thing to slow you down. I can tell you it is a frightening experience, what it feels like is that my heart has leapt into my throat, pounding wildly (duh I'm exercising:), it is hard to swallow and does not feel pleasant, not one bit. I had to stop, I had to hug the side of the pool, willing this feeling to pass all the while trying to prevent my over reacting (& prone to hypochondria) brain from kicking into panic mode. I did manage to avoid the panic attack but the sensation was replaced with crushing disappointment, the longer I held on waiting for it to pass the more tears began to fall. After what felt like eternity (in actuality was around 3 mins) the spasm dissipated enough for me to swim my last lap...slowly.

Climbing out of the pool was rough. I was still shaky from my episode and by now I was feeling the effects of not having eaten soon enough. I was slow getting out of the pool building, stopping to collect myself & say a quick prayer before moving on. My transition between swimming and biking was slow, very slow. I did manage to get it all done, eating a gluten free bar as I tried to quickly dress. I walked my bike out and climbed on, pedaling slowly at first. I will tell you this, my mind at this point wanted to quit. I was discouraged, frustrated, slightly freaked out (because only until today while researching the web did I discover that I think is the cause, it honestly feels like your heart is about to explode, although I know it wasn't) and a bit weak. The first 6 miles of the biking was something close to torture, I wanted to be done, I entertained feelings of complete lunacy for even being out there. I began to pray, knowing that a big part of me wanted to quit but another part of me knew that I couldn't. So I did the best thing, had a little conversation with my Creator. I am sure that the other bikers thought I was crazy talking to myself (although without music I am certain I was not the only one:) but as I began to pray I began to feel better. My food & drink (Recharge, an all natural gatorade type drink- awesome stuff) kicked in and my legs pedaled faster and faster. By mile seven I had found my groove and was starting to enjoy myself for the first time since lap 9. There were a lot more hills than I anticipated from the GNT's "fairly flat" description, but I tried to relish them. Pedaling slower up and then zooming down. At one point I was going to fast I had to laugh, you know that feeling where you swear you are about to take flight. I had finally reached my first goal of doing the triathlon- to have fun.

I made it back into the transition area in about 2 mins over an hour, my goal had been to be

under an hour and given my state of mind when I started (and the hills I didn't foresee) I was pretty happy with this time. I hopped off my bike to discover my legs had been taken over be

octopus tentacles and didn't have much feeling left in them at all. It was almost humorous :). I dropped my bike, ditched the jacket, took another swig of Recharge, grabbed my extra long sleeve shirt to use as a tissue and "took off" on the final leg of my journey. I use that term loosely because there was nothing ultra fast about what I was doing at the moment :). Slowly I began to pick up speed, making sure to encourage all the ladies I saw along the way. Again- my ultimate goal was to enjoy the challenge and I was obnoxiously doing so. I should mention here that I am not a speedy runner whether I've just biked 13 miles or not. I had been hoping for a 12 min mile pace, I started out slower, ended up faster. My last 1.1 mile I did in 11 mins, sprinting across the finish line in a final burst of speed. I was elated! I cannot even describe the emotion,seeing my husband and sons there too was the icing on the cake. Isaiah ran up to me and hugged me, saying something about taking a really long time to finish my race (they had been there way early because I thought I would start earlier:). My husband beamed with pride, my girlfriends were there cheering me on. It is a feeling like nothing else, second only to my feelings of super woman after giving birth to my boys. It was something to be proud of and I was very proud.

Kenya, Me & Paige after we had all finished

I would like to take a minute to thank every last one of you who supported me throughout this whole thing. I had so many well wishes and words of encouragement from all of you and believe me, your confidence in me made a difference. I also want to thank Paige for inspiring me to "do the impossible" which is exactly what I thought this whole thing would be when she mentioned it. She and Kenya both being there made it more fun and a much more meaningful experience. Thanks to my hubby (who will likely never read this lol) for all the support, spending the time trying to fix up my bike and encouraging me with phrases like "oh you're way more athletic than I am anymore" or "dang your butt is almost gone now!" :). Ultimately, I want to give the glory where it is most due, to God. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt without Him doing it all right alongside I would have lost my battle with myself. He really cares about our hearts desires, even if that desire is an attempt to run it right out of your chest :).

My family- still my greatest achievement

The Results:

Swim: 16 min 54 secs- when I saw this I was floored & horribly disappointed again. It meant I really was swimming faster, it wasn't just in my head. My average 500m swim before this point was 14.5 mins. I know that I held on to that wall for a solid 3 mins (I had a watch) and swam my last lap slowly. Had this incident not occurred I am 100% positive I would have finished my swim in about 13.5 mins. Not fast for a lot of folks but a whole minute faster than normal for me and considering when I started training I couldn't even swim with my face in the water- I would take it :) It was hard to swallow that this morning (no pun intended) but I have faced facts, it is what it is.

T1: 11 min 29- EEKS! I knew it was bad, but again seeing that number brought back the tears. I sat for a minute, I walked, I did nothing quickly so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but I was a bit.

Bike: 1 hr 2 mins- here I was pretty happy. I know I could have been a smidgen faster had "the incident" not happened but even with it I was only 2 mins slower then what I had hoped for and there were many more hills then I had planned for.

T2: 2:53- much better! Could have been even better if I had pushed past the almost tickling sensation of my legs but for my first tri, I'll take it.

Run: 37:58- honestly I was shocked by this number. I truly thought I had finished in 36 mins, guess without being able to feel my legs I wasn't exactly sure how fast they were moving lol. I know that my last 1.1 was pretty great for me so my consolation is that I pushed it in the end. Next time I will do better, not because I am so competitive (because I am not) but because I know I could have done better. I wasn't overly winded when I finished so I am certain I could have given a bit more, again oh well- live and learn :).

Total time: 2 hrs 11 mins, really only 11 mins over what I had hoped for and given what happened I am happy with it. Do I think, what would it have been without the spasm? Absolutely! With all the time I lost in the pool & first transition I am confident I would have made it under the 2 hour mark, barely. Maybe without that I would have been even faster because I wouldn't have fallen apart, maybe...I am not going to let myself taint my achievement with "what ifs". In some ways I am even more proud for having overcome my own head to finish then I would have been for coming in under 2 hours. Fear and anxiety are issues for me, have been my whole life- so there is something to be said for pushing myself in more way than one that day. Either way, I am proud :). Being athletic is not something I have ever been, those of you who've known me long may have even choked a little when you heard I was doing a triathlon :). It's ok, I choked a little too.

As for my first experience, it wasn't perfect but I can learn from what happened, do things different next time, train differently, remember the things that would have made transition faster, hopefully have music to pump up my run :)...I have a month to make some changes because on June 12 I am doing it again. The next one will be a 400m swim, 8.5 mile bike & another 5K run. I am excited to "tri" again and see what happens. Until then....