My First Tri – Gettin’ Ready

10 days ago, I completed my first sprint-distance triathlon. It was supposed to be a 1/2 mile swim, but for safety reasons (specifically so we wouldn’t have to swim under a bridge and back), we did 600 meters instead of 800. The bike was 15.8 miles and the run was a 5k (3.1 miles).

I was never super worried about the swim, because even tho I’m not wicked fast in the water, swimming is my strongest… well, anything really. I did practice in the pool but it’s hard to really get ready for an open water swim when you don’t have any open water to swim in before the big day. (That made me miss home and my lake even more than I would’ve, I must say.)

The bike was my biggest concern. As soon as I started thinking about this tri, the bike was the thing that freaked me out. I could definitely do the swim, I could walk the 5k in less than 45 minutes if I didn’t have any running left in me, but the bike was a big, scary thing – and not just because I didn’t even own a bike 2 months ago! I haven’t ridden a bike at all in several years and haven’t done any consistent riding since I was probably 12 or 13. I rode the stationary bike in college a good bit my freshman year, but that hardly counts, and my knees are not fans of the whole “bicycle” thing. I didn’t even have a bike in Philadelphia when I signed up for the SheRoxTri. I had a mountain bike at my parents’ house and my mom had an old road bike, which she ended up brining to me in late June.

I did a lot of training on the stationary bike at the gym thru May and June, and then in July, when it wasn’t too insanely hot, I would get on the french bike and ride along the river or ride downtown to the branch of my gym where there is a pool, swim 40 laps, then ride home. (Unfortunately, it’s all uphill on the way home, and having swum the 40 laps, I’d be pretty pooped by the time I got home.) I also continued to ride the bike at the gym a lot, going much further and faster than I knew I would be able to on an actual bike during the tri to get myself (har, har) up to speed.

As you know, if you’ve read the blog before, I am not built for running, but I have made great strides this year (again, HAR HAR). I ran a mile in May for the first time and then ran 2 miles at once later this summer in early July. But I knew I wouldn’t be ready to run the whole 5k in the tri this time around, and that was okay with me. I just wanted to get thru the bike and I would crawl the rest of the way if I had to.

In terms of gear, I bought:

a bike helmet

a Speedo (used only for training)

running shoes

Tri shorts

goggles

some energy gels and Gatorade ;>)

I needed a lot of that stuff anyway, and I will likely use the tri shorts for biking in the future. I actually only bought those the day before the race at the Expo/Registration. I really couldn’t afford them, but I am SO glad I got them anyway – I’m 100% sure they were more comfortable than anything else I could’ve worn for the tri and that they saved me from a world of hurt in my lady parts. Sorry, but seriously? The chafing would’ve been unbearable. If you buy one new piece of equipment for a tri – buy the Tri shorts!!! You can get them cheaper at the Expo, too, so it’s not unreasonable to wait until the day before to get them – unless you really want to train in them, which is fair. In addition to the magical shorts, I wore a sports bra and a snug racing tank, courtesy of the American Cancer Society*** (that, too, I received the day before, and was very grateful for).

Amazingly, my brother Joel was able to come and help me get ready the night before the race; the best part of this deal (other than his vast amounts of  knowledge & experience, obvs) was that he brought me his wife’s lovely racing bike. Of course, he didn’t tell me he was bringing it. He just showed up with it at 11pm. (Sheesh.) It was scary to be riding a new bike for the race, but it was much better to be riding one with gears that I would be able to shift (and easily!) and with brakes that worked. He also brought a thing that allowed me to ride the bike in my living room so he could adjust the seat and explain the gears to me, which was good.

*I should note here that for some reason, I just do NOT understand bike gears. I have tried, but something (ironically) doesn’t click. PLEASE don’t take this as an invitation to explain them to me. It will not help. I promise. It’s just important for you to know that I find bicycle gears thoroughly confounding and that as of July 31st of this year, I had never managed to use them effectively.

**I should also note that my roomie Amanda, who is awesome, signed up for the Tri at the Expo the day before, so we spent the day getting ready and being nervous and excited and getting ourselves together and drinking a lot (of WATER, people, come on). She also surely questioned why she was doing it with no training, but she couldn’t resist the allure of it all in the end. She is a runner and she bikes a good bit, so she was mostly worried about the swim.

***I did the tri as part of the American Cancer Society’s DetermiNation. You can read more about that here: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/DetermiNation/DNFY10Pennsylvania?px=17429516&pg=personal&fr_id=28346

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