Let's pretend......

Sunday I had my try-a-tri race simulation with my coaches group at Gulliver lake. The dog had me up at 5am so I had plenty of time to sit and stew and try to talk myself out of it but in the end I went. My friend Sukhi came with me to help me out and I’m so happy she did. I’m enough of a scatterbrain nevermind in the middle of a race. The group that were really racing were prepping for a race in Guelph this coming weekend and they had been training with Nancy these last 12 weeks. They were all extremely nice to me and really helpful with tips etc and they didn’t even laugh out loud at me in my wet suit.

The swim: I have not had any trouble in the pool with my stroke, only my endurance so I was unsure how I would do with no rest stops in between. I haven’t been in open water since I was about 16 but I wasn’t too nervous about that part. The swim was 300m and kicked my ass. Totally strange experience swimming in open water in a wetsuit. I decided I would do the crawl as long as I could and then switch to breast stroke and I was shocked at how quickly I had to switch over to breast stroke. I even did backstroke for a while when I really had trouble catching my breath. I was last one of the try-a-triers out of the water but only 2 seconds behind the second to last girl. I thought I had been in there for about 30 minutes, I’m not kidding so when I asked the girl’s father who was keeping time and he said I was 12 minutes 22 seconds (I think). I nearly fell over! Note to self: work on your swim!!! 

Transition 1: this was great cause transition was at my car plus I had a helper who handed me stuff (especially water). I have no clue how long it took me but getting out of the wetsuit was a breeze. 

The bike: well you all know how I feel about the bike. We did our riding on the road with traffic which really sucks but I have to suck it up, this is how things go. We rode up Safari road, down Brock to some concession road, turned around and came back. There was a guy with a big sign at that concession road who was cheering and helping us get turned around. When I got there I had some traffic so I got off and walked my bike across, had some water and took off again. Total distance 8kms. I can say it was a lot better than I thought it would be, I went faster than I thought I would but sadly my bike computer didn’t register any of it. I completed the bike in about 25 minutes. Note to self: work on your cycling!! 

Transition 2: going from bike to run is much better, more water, change of shoes, change helmet for baseball cap and off I went. 

The run: We ran once around the lake which they estimated was about 1.5kms. I thought I would end up having to walk most of it but I started out at a very easy jog and only stopped a few times for about 30 second walk breaks and got back to my car in 10 minutes. CRAZY, that is close to my normal pace. Note to self: no slacking your run still needs loads of work. 

All in all what a fabulous experience. I’m glad my coach encouraged me to join in, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable about the upcoming races because I’ve done it at least once and know a bit better what to expect. I hadn’t met her until yesterday and she is really supportive, I am going to enjoy working with her. The group that attended were really great, encouraging me as they raced by me on the bike and the run. I think this team atmosphere is really going to help motivate me and push me forward.

It’s true what they say, you do forget about the pain pretty much as soon as you are done and I’m already really looking forward to the real try-a-tri on July 18 to see how improved I am. The post race rush is still here AND beer never tasted so good as it did when I was done.