My First

I have been running for about a year now consistently. I never had the desire to do a marathon and I don’t think my knees could take it, but I was getting bored of running small races and I wanted to try something new. I decided in January while I was setting goals for myself for the year, that I would try a triathlon. I just wanted to try a Sprint, which is about a third of a whole triathlon. I already had the running part down and I didn’t anticipate the biking to be too difficult for me so the next thing to worry about was my swimming. I am possibly the worst swimmer ever and my last attempt in the water had left me discouraged and embarrassed, but I was determined to complete the swimming part whether it was with floaties on my arms or not. About a month before the event I hit the pool twice a week in an attempt to channel my inner fish. I also began biking with a bike from like 1960; all it needed was a little elbow grease. The entire time I was doing at least two of the three events everyday along with teaching classes at F3 three times a week.  The classes at F3 have helped to keep me in shape all year round, but for this race they were particularly important to my upper extremity strength while swimming, and my leg strength while biking. I also knew my endurance would be pretty good considering we rarely take any breaks during my Tabata classes (I am a huge fan of active rest).  TRX classes were key in strengthening my core for the running portion because it is extremely important to have a strong core and good posture while running. Despite all my training I was still making only small improvements in my swimming, and I was pretty nervous to go out into a lake with seaweed (SICK!) and attempt not to drown.

Well, the day of the race arrived and when I got to the park I was extremely nervous, but I said I was going to do it and there was no turning back, all I had to do was get my butt out of that water and I would be fine. I had anticipated taking 20 minutes in the water and about an hour on the bike. So, I set the goal of about 1:50. That was in the back of my mind the entire time, along with the thought of me feeling good about myself if I could “just finish” the race…. But, who did I think I was kidding? I am a warrior and if I didn’t kick ass in this thing I was going to be furious with myself. So I put on my orange swim cap and jumped in…
0.5 mi swim 19min 23sec.... 12 mi bike 42 mins...3.1 mi run 24 mins
Total time 1:29:03 Thanks F3 for all your support and encouragement!

Becca