Giving It A "TRI"

Something I never thought would happen has happened ... I'm really thinking about doing a triathlon! Oh wait, I'm not just thinking about it, I've already registered for my first race. What have I gotten myself into?

 Quote from the See Jane Run Tri Series
This quote really inspired me to think about tri!

Water - Foe Not Friend

After doing several half and full marathons, I've had a lot of people ask me if I'd do a triathlon next. I always looked at them as if they had three heads and said "Um no! I hate swimming!" Yes, I have grown up hating swimming - mostly because I don't like the feeling of cold water all around me. That initial plunge into the water before your body has adjusted is pure torture for me! I'm a beach bunny and love being on the beach near the water, but in the water? No thanks.

Germs, Germs  ... Everywhere!

So ..... I'm a germ freak. If you know me, you know that. You should see how much hand soap I go through in my house! Having dogs has really been total immersion/shock therapy to force me to get over that. (Which I haven't completely yet.) Sooo many things gross me out about owning dogs, but I can put aside my neurotic thoughts enough to care for them. And then I rock in a corner for hours .. just kidding. But seriously, owning dogs has probably helped me become more "normal".

Anyways, back to germs. One of my issues with ocean swimming is that the ocean seems "dirty" to me because of the cloudy, murky water. Even in "cleaner" places like Hawaii, the water still grosses me out a bit. I know pool water is clean but my dislike of water has kept me away from pools ... until my last trip to France where I was "forced" to swim in a pool each day as a workout to get in the only workout I had available. I have to say, as the water seeped into my mouth occasionally, I was grossed out. I figured the chlorine killed all of the major germs, but having chemical water come in and out of my mouth, ears, and nose really put me off. I liked the powerful feeling of swimming and using different muscles from running though, and ended up continuing to swim even after I came home. Swimming laps at my local gym opened up  my mind to a new possibility - could I do a tri?

I knew I could run, I found out in the past few months I could swim, and I figured biking wouldn't be that much of a big deal on top of that. A friend of mine sent me a link to a triathlon in San Diego in a few months that was shorter than a sprint tri and I thought hmm ... I can probably do this! The race? The FEARLESS Triathlon.

Watching A Tri

A few weeks ago I went to watch my friend Todd complete his first triathlon. (More about that here.) Watching him was inspiring, as was watching his whole training progress on dailymile.com. He said he didn't enjoy the open water swims either, but he got through them and stuck to his schedule. He swam, he biked, and he ran. As I watched him and the other competitors race, I thought "I want to do that!" Towards the end of his race I wandered through the race expo and came upon the Fearless Triathlon booth. I walked over and talked to the two people at the booth. I told then I was thinking about doing the race, but was terrified of the open water swim. The guy there (who I realized later was the founder of the race) said don't worry, they hold three free clinics to help the beginner triathlete get more acclimated to the water! I had seen mention of the clinics on the website and thought that was a great perk. On top, of that he handed me a $10 coupon code! Score! But guess what? It expired the next day! I only had 24 hours to think about it!

Well, my cheap and determined side set in, and I registered! Wow....

Kona Ironman

Being an overdoer with a need to exceed, when I first thought about triathlons my first thought was to go for a Half Ironman. I mean, it can't be worse than  a full marathon right? :oP Well, my swimming has humbled me to a much lower goal, but I have to say its still a stretch goal in my mind.

Yesterday was the Ironman Championships in Kona. David was watching the live stream online so towards the end  did too. An Ironman is unbelievable! I think marathons are about all a body can take! An Ironman takes a 2.4 mile swim, follows it with a 112 mile bike, and to top it all off, finishes with a FULL marathon. Are you kidding me? It blows my mind that mortals can accomplish this! Yet, years ago, completing a full marathon was beyond my own comprehension. With that frame of reference,  I started thinking maybe *I* could do an Ironman! Well, a half of course. ;o)

Watching the Ironman competition was amazing. The course in Kona is tough! Its hot, its hilly, and you have the best of the best competing against each other. Its like watching the Olympics, but instead of watching athletes great at one sport, you're watching athletes great at three sports. Amazing! Watching this race really solidified in my heart a feeling  of wanting to do a tri, and wanting to do it well!

Open Water Swim

Enter my open water swim. Two friends agreed to meet me at La Jolla Cove to provide moral support for my first open water swim. I was terrified of so many things before getting into the water. The fear of the unknown was overwhelming!

My biggest fears were:

• The water being too cold at my neck, hands, and feet
• The wetsuit not being warm enough in general
• Getting dirty salt water in my mouth, nose, and ears
• Plants and algae touching me when I was swimming
• Other dirty things washing around me in the water
• Sea animals coming up and harassing me

The first of three really weren't issues, but the last few really did me in. There is thick "grass" growing a few feet into the water that we had to swim over. I didn't want to see all of the things brushing up against me so I kept my head above the water until we got past it. After passing the grass, I was floundering around in the water a little and was starting to freak out seeing that we were a decent distance away from shore. We swam a bit further before coming to an underwater wall of kelp. We swam over that and as we passed by it I felt tons of leaves curling around my foot and sliding by my hands and fee. EWEWEWEW.

We took another break past that and at this point I was so put off by the dark water and the plants, that the SEAL who was 10 feet away barely bothered me. I forgot to use my inhaler before we headed out, and between the stress and the effort of the exercise, I started breathing really heavily and my heart was pounding in my chest. Todd must have noticed my panicked, scared look and labored breathing and asked if I wanted to go back. I looked over to the 1/4 mile buoy and it was soo far away, but so was the shore! I said YES!!! Let's go back! So we swam back.

It was a lot better on the way back since I had the shore in site, but as we came out of the water I was a little embarrassed for being such a wimp that lasted only a few minutes in the water. Todd's wife Christine was watching us and taking pictures, and from where she pointed out our turnaround location in the water, it looked like we made it about halfway to the buoy. Hey, not bad! Worst case I thought I'd walk in 10 feet and turn back and run out crying. I actually made it out much further than I thought I would, although way shorter than I'd need to go in a real training swim. I'm glad I took this first initial plunge into the water and I'm sooo grateful for the moral support of my friends Carol, Todd and Christine. Thanks so much!!

Fearless Triathlon Clinic

The open water swim in La Jolla Cove was soon followed by another session in the ocean. The Fearless Triathlon had its first clinic this Sunday at Mission Bay. The two hour session consisted of an hour of open water swim instruction, a clinic on transitioning between the swim and the bike, and then a practice  250 meter swim, a transition, and then a 1 mile bike ride.

I was really apprehensive to get into the water again, but as the whole group plunged into the water, I did too. There was no time to be a sissy and I didn't want to be the only one left standing on the beach. We spent a lot of time in the water going over different technique drills to work on our stroke, head position, breathing, and sighting. In the practice swims I got kicked and pawed a few times, and I'm guilty of being a kicker and pawer myself. The first few times I was kicked I was startled and would kind of gasp in air - which means I'd really just suck in a mouthful of water. Green, murky water. Fun times.

I became a lot more comfortable in the water throughout the clinic but was still a bit panicked feeling when we finally did our practice 250 meter swim in a rectangular shape around three buoys. My transition after the swim was NOT smooth. I struggled getting my socks on over my wet, sandy feet, and then after finally getting them on I realized I still had my wetsuit half off. Duh! I then had to take my socks off, pry my wetsuit fully off, put my socks and running shoes back on, lace them up, put on clothes to bike .. and then I was off! I was one of the last people to leave the bike area, and riding a 16 year old mountain bike with slipping gears kept me at the back of the pack. :o(

Three Weeks To Go

The second Fearless clinic is this weekend, but I will miss it since I will be running the Long Beach Half Marathon on Sunday. I'll be able to make the third clinic the following week though, and then the next weekend its race time! After the first practice swim in the clinic I now have the confidence that I can just complete the race, but now I'm starting to hope that I can finish AND do well. This might require some adjustments to my gear. Hopefully I can  make a few changes that will pay off on race day. My first purchase? Yankz laces! I probably wasted 30 seconds tying my shoes during the transition. With these laces, there's no tying involved, you just yank them! I'm also hoping to borrow a better bike for the race. If you're reading this and you live in San Diego and you're about my height, I'd love to borrow your bike! I promise I wont put Hello Kitty stickers on it either. :o)