July 28, 2002
Powerful Peach Triathlon

Powerful Peach Triathlon, Saturday July 27th 2002
1/4 swim, 10.7 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Wednesday was a crazy morning at the office and in the midst of the madness, Shane mentioned that he was going to be doing a triathlon this weekend (his first) and asked me if I wanted to, too. I laughed, and told him "maybe" but I'd have to find a bike, and then he was off to another back-to-back meeting and I was on my way to the airport.

He called me later that night on my cell phone as I was on my way from the airport to the hotel to ask if I'd thought about it. We talked about it some more. Clearly, we are both clueless as far the actual process of the triathlon -- what to wear, how to make the transitions, etc. 2 newbies are better than 1, right? Finally I said, "I would do it if I had a bike."

"Well, funny you should say that. I found one for you."

I haven't trained for or planned on entering a triathlon anytime soon, but here it is. Saturday morning I will be doing my best not to drown and aiming to finish ahead of the last person. Wish me luck.

* * * * *
Friday night, I put together my bag of gear for the race. Contents of my gear bag:

running shoes
socks
running shorts
extra t-shirt
2 towels (one to sit on in transition, one to dry off)
swim goggles
bike helmet
sunscreen
granola bars
bottled water
bucket (to fill with water and use to wash off feet after swim and before bike)

I set out my swimsuit, shorts, and tevas to jump into in the morning.

The plan was to meet Shane and his friend Sean Saturday morning at the Perimeter at 5:30 a.m. and then drive up together to the race site. I set my alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. and was in bed and tired a little after 10 Friday night. I had trouble falling asleep and woke up several times thanks to pre-race nerves and a watchful Chelsinator barking at all the Friday late night neighborhood and neighbor noises.

Up at 4:30, ate a banana, got dressed, and took out the Chelsinator. Did a final gear check, and was out the door. Shane, Sean, and I all arrived at the designated meeting spot at about the same time and gathered all our gear and piled into Sean's Jeep. Shane had brought Ty's bike for me which fit perfectly. The drive up was non-eventful, mostly Shane and Sean talking bike talk. We made it there at about 6:30, as the sun was just beginning to rise. We registered, picked up our numbers, and got our body markings -- your number on your right arm, and your age on your right calf. Then we picked out a spot in the transition area to set up.

The race didn't start until 8:00 a.m., which gave me plenty of time to get good and nervous as we watched all the race participants come in and set-up. Unlike the running races I have participated in which always consist of people of a wide variety of fitness levels, everyone here appeared extremely fit and had the gear to match. I had set what I thought was a reasonable goal -- to not finish last. But now I was beginning to question whether this goal was one I could achieve. I kept looking for that person I thought I could beat, and she was nowhere to be found. Not good. (I did eventually spot a few that I thought I could beat which brought me some relief.)

At about 7:45 we headed over the lake where the race would begin. We were divided into 4 groups with staggered start times, and different colored swimcaps for each group. The first group to start was the Open, 2 minutes later men under 30, 2 minutes later men over 30, and finally 2 minutes later women. It's probably worth mentioning that there were at most 50 women out of a total of 300+ participants.

The race started, and we moved toward the edge of the lake. Finally it was just us women, and unlike the groups to start before us, we all cheered before diving into the lake. I stayed toward the back to avoid getting kicked and jabbed and tried to remain calm and relaxed in the water. This was a challenge considering that the only swimming I've done in years has been of the jump in the pool and splash around a bit kind. This was the first time I've ever attempted to swim this distance.

I started in the back, and stayed in the back. I was breast-stroking, back-stroking, gaining a new respect for swimmers, realizing how easy it must be to drown, and wondering whatthehell I was thinking by attempting to do this. It was an incredibly intense 12 minutes, and I have never been so happy to feel the smooshy lake bottom under my feet.

Once out of the water, I was immediately aware that my body was complete jelly and I was breathing hard. I wanted to jog up the small hill to the transition area, but I literally couldn't find my legs underneath me. My brain was telling my legs, "RUN!" and my legs were telling my brain, "HELL NO!" So I walked as fast as I could manage to the transition area, wondering when I was going to get my legs back.

Shane was waiting for me by our bikes (he was kind enough to stay with me the whole race). I rinsed off my feet, dried off a little, put on my socks and shoes, and we were off.

The bike was actually the easiest part of the race. We both found we were able to recover a bit from the swim while gaining a good amount of ground. I gained more confidence with each person we passed. It took me a bit to figure out how to take advantage of my gears, but otherwise it was a a surprisingly good ride considering it has been years since I've been on a bike. Shane had brought us some gels which we used about half-way through the bike ride.

Back to the transition area, we jumped off our bikes and put on our running shorts and started the run. A couple minutes in, Shane realized that he didn't have his number on (you have to finish the race wearing your race number), so he told me to keep going and he'd catch up with me. Meanwhile, I made some progress on the trail and even managed to pass someone, but I was having trouble finding my legs.

It was not too long before Shane caught up with me, and we continued the run together. We were both struggling, so we agreed to stop and walk for 60 seconds. I think we took 3 of these walk breaks over the course of the run. The final hill on the course was a killer -- at one point I felt like I was running in place. But once we were over that hill, it was downhill to the finish and I was just then finding my rhythm. There were a couple a people ahead of us in range, so I told Shane we should pick it up and sprint to the finish. We started an easy sprint, and passed one guy and I thought to myself, "This does not look like someone I should be able to pass." Apparently he thought the same, and after we passed he kicked it up and sprinted past me. Caught up in the moment, I decided I didn't want him to pass me so easily so I really sprinted and chased him to the finish. Shane reluctantly followed suit, and the 3 of us finished Shane, the guy who didn't want us to pass, and me. We ended up finishing the race in about 1 hour, 34 minutes and ahead of the last people to finish. Woo-hoo!

We turned in our times, picked up our race t-shirts and water bottles, and packed up. I was completely spent to the point that my physical coordination was suffering. Once I got home, I showered, ate and drank, and fell into bed. I spent the rest of the day in bed, barely able to move. Throughout the rest of the day I got phone calls from friends and family congratulating me on finishing the race, which surprised and touched me.

The day after, and I'm still recovering. The soreness is beginning to set in, and I expect the worst of it won't be until tomorrow. And then I'll be back to running.

I did it. And I'll do it again.

Posted by Alaina at July 28, 2002 10:51 AM