| | On Saturday morning I finished the triathlon. I did much better than I even expected. It was a blast.
The race started with the swim and about half way through, I got this huge boost of confidence, when I realized I was tired at all. I just kept thinking how glad I was I had gone out swimming as much as I had (10 min on the swim).
Getting out of the water and seeing Cara and my dad, gave me my next boost, to get going on the bike. I realized on the bike, that my pace was way to slow to really compete. While my stamina was fine, I just wasn't able to keep pace with the other bikers. Still when the 16.6 miles was coming to an end, I was actually surprised at how quickly it finished. (although I averaged a slightly embarrassing 16.5 mph)
Getting off the bike was hard, my body wasn't ready for it. I took a swig of water that was offered me by a boy scout and immediately started throwing up. 3 times to be exact. It wasn't the start that I was hoping for with the run.
After I gathered myself I really started to feel much better again, and when I finished my first mile, I was actually really amazed at how quickly it went. The second mile was more of the same, but I realized my body was really hitting its breaking point.
The third and fourth miles were brutal. With under half a mile left my body started to break down. Both of my thighs were cramping pretty bad, and I started throwing up again (I do it way too much!). I thought I was going to have to walk the rest of it, but after a slow job for about 100 more yards, I realized that I was basically at the finish, so I gave a good sprint to the finish line so Cara would think I was that fast the whole time! I averaged 8:30 miles which is honestly about a minute better than I expected.
I crossed the finish line at 1 hour 42 minutes. Which beat my goal of under two hours by quite a bit. I finished 9th of 20 in my age group (not bad for 7 weeks of training), and more than anything, I think I got the bug to improve. We'll see if it sticks.
Two days later my thighs are still super tight, and my left foot is in a lot of pain, but I am really proud of myself. There was something really gratifying about setting a goal, working hard, and then actually doing it. It felt great.
If my foot is broken... I probably won't do this again... but if it isn't... at least two next year!
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| | Posted 9/10/2007 4:01 PM - 59 Views - 12 eProps - 7 comments
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