I Want to Tri

Yesterday I participated in my second triathlon, my first sprint distance. I can't say I did the full distance by myself though since I did this triathlon as a relay team with my friends Tiffany and Callie. We called ourselves "Triple Latte" since Tiffany works at Starbucks, I love drinking Starbucks, and Callie's husband used to work at Starbucks.

Here we are post-race. A nice and sweaty mess.

Callie first approached Tiffany and me with the idea of doing the Trek Women Triathlon Series race in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Trek does several sprint distance triathlon races like this around the country. None of us were confident about doing the full sprint distance just yet (we've all done the Fleet Feet SuperSprint Triathlon in Chicago and are doing it again this August), but as we talked about our favorite legs of the race, we realized we'd make a great relay team! Plus Callie just had a baby nine months ago and wanted something to help motivate her to work out--this race did just that.

I'm horrible at swimming, but I've been running so I was comfortable with that. Tiffany hates biking, but she's pretty good at swimming, and Callie really likes biking but isn't as great at the run. We estimated that we'd finish the race in about two hours, but yesterday (which also had the most perfect race weather, though still a little hot) we finished in 1:33:42. Everyone finished her leg of the race faster than predicted!

Here's how our timing broke down:

Tiffany's 1/2 mile swim: 16:15

T1: 1:53

Callie's 12 mile bike: 48:35 (14.8 mph pace)

T2: 1:17

My 5k run: 25:42 (8:17 pace)

That was my second fastest 5k time, so I was pretty happy with it. I really pushed myself at the end of the race though. I don't have exact times since I don't have a fancy Garmin watch, but I know I did negative splits. I also felt like I was going to throw up at the end, but I'm fine. The picture on the left is me just starting out the run. I got back to the transition area just as Callie was coming in with the bike...so good thing I was there on time!

Our team finished 6th out of 27 in our division and 301 out of 1683 finishers. Not too bad! If only we were one person!

It's always interesting to do triathlons and see all the kinds of people there are out there. Most people were doing the full race as individuals and when I see them--mostly people older than me, some slightly (or more than slightly) overweight, some really physically fit people, people who have survived cancer, etc.--then I think, "If she can do this, then I can do this!" There was an 80-year-old woman doing the full sprint triathlon! We saw an elderly lady (maybe it was that woman, I don't know) before the swim and she even needed help getting into her wetsuit, but she was doing the whole thing too. Kinda made us feel like wimps for only doing part of it. 

It's just really encouraging and motivating to show that if you put your mind to something and train for it, you can do it! It doesn't matter if you have to doggie paddle across the lake, ride really slowly on your bike, or walk the entire 5k...you still get a finishers' medal at the end because you finished. I usually like to finish anything I start, so I'm all about that--but I also have to remember that it's not always about trying to be the fastest or the best (both of which I would not be in any triathlon), but to just do my best and to finish well.

Callie, Tiffany, and I are also even more excited now about doing the SuperSprint triathlon again, and more motivated to consider doing the full Sprint distance triathlon next year! That has already been one of my goals, and I wasn't planning on doing a sprint until maybe two years from now, but hey--why not? I'm willing to work hard and "tri" it. :)

Here are a few other pictures from our race for your enjoyment:

 Tiffany getting ready for her swim.

We missed seeing Callie on the bike, so this is her after the race.

Me sprinting toward the finish line.

The backs of the awesome team shirts Tiffany made us. People gave us so many comments about them! Then a few times people told us, "You're out of order!" if we weren't walking in swim, bike, run order. haha

What are your motivators? Do you have any long-term goals you may be able to achieve in the near future?