This was my transistion area. The goal is to be here as little as possible. I don't have my transition times yet but i think the longest i was there was under 5 minutes and that was getting out of the wet suit and putting on my running gear.
This is me in the ever so sexy wet suit. I am so lucky I could not see this picture until after the competition or I would have spent the swimming portion in the car, under a tarp, weeping softly to myself.
We all go to wear these lovely neon green swim caps. They said it was for visablility. Daniel quickly found a flaw in their plan. As he witnessed several swimmers going under. "Once they go down, mom, you can't see the swim cap." Hmmmm.
I trained a whooping one week for the swim. And only because I am cheap. I did not want to spend the money of an actual gym membership and I did not want to pay for two weeks.
About 50 yards into the swim it occurred to me that I am tired, I am in over my head, and I am tired of having water splashed in my face, nose, mouth and getting kicked. Really tired of getting kicked. The water was less than warm. A lot less. 99% of the swimmers had on wet suits too. 99% of the swimmers in wet suits looked a heck of a lot better than I did. Luckily, I did make it through the swim. I found my pace, and found my happy place and took it one stroke at a time. Exetremely happy to see the shore and have my feet touch solid ground.
I covered myself in Body Glide before I put on the wet suit and the stuff worked fantastically. The suit slid right off. Hopped up on the bike and was off! I really, really love that they started the course off on an up hill. Just like I really,really, love this picuture of me.
About 10 minutes into the ride I realized that I am very, very wore out. My legs are noodles and I am breathing really,really hard. I felt myself panicking again just like I did in the water. I had to remind myself of my goals, first was to hydrate while I rode and the second was to make up for lost time in the water.
DONE!! you can tell by the ecstatic look on my face how happy I was to be done. I reached my goal of under two hours. I did not die, vomits, pass out or crash. those were my other goals of things NOT to do.
I can say at this point and time I do not see myself doing a full triathlon again. First off the training takes up a lot of time. Secondly, it is insane. I am used to doing crazy. But insane was a whole new gig. They do have a relay team option. Any one wanna sign up?
I was worried my kids would be bored during the race. But no! They got to see people drowning and being pulled out of the water, people wiping out on bikes around sharp turns, and someone got hit by a car! They did not get to see the actual accident but did witness the clean up. I would call that a successful day.
Your last two paragraphs were the best, but what a great post! You rock, setting goals and accomplishing them. I don't set goals anymore =). Can't wait to see the STP post.
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