LOS ARIAS: Triathlon

Well, I did it. I did a triathlon! Going into it I was really nervous for the swim, and didn't even give the bike and run much thought. My theory was if I worked on my swimming and just got in overall good shape that it would be easy breezy (kind of). I mean, how hard is it to ride a bike? Well, after I got out of the water I felt great, other than my heart going a million miles a minute. And not because I had exerted myself, but because my adrenaline was through the roof. I really enjoyed the swim and was able to swim "the real way" aka freestyle for the whole 500 m. Which was my goal. Then I got on the bike and after like 2 miles I was ready to die. I discovered that I do not like biking. It's not fun. My friend April and I had rode our bikes around town twice before in an attempt to train. The farthest we went was 9 miles and I had felt pretty good. But after doing the actual triathlon, I realized riding 9 miles and having to slow down every few blocks for cars, is way different than trying to maintain a decent speed for 15 miles. Any ground I had gained in the swim was lost in the bike. I know mental toughness is a big part of endurance sports, but I found myself complaining a lot. Then I would catch myself and be like, "I can do this. It's only 15 miles, that's nothing. You're tough." And that would last for about 5 minutes before I was back to hating that dang bike. I saw April pass me and I was like "okay, just keep up with her." Ya, that didn't happen. I finally finished the bike and Phil and the kids were waiting by my stuff to cheer me on and Phil, no joke, said, "you're alive! what happened?" Glorious. I got a horrible side ache as soon as I started running, but luckily that only lasted about a mile. I felt really great the last mile and a half or so and ended up passing some of the people I had seen pass me on the bike. So that was a good feeling. After I crossed the finish line (in 1:33) I thought I would feel this profound sense of accomplishment, but I really only felt disappointed. I was disappointed that I didn't push myself harder in the swim. I know I could have gone way faster. And I was really disappointed in the biking. I was wishing I had trained on the bike specifically and not just relied on being in shape. But to be honest, what was really bothering me was the fact that April had beat me. April and I had literally worked out together 5 days a week for about 6 weeks. I love her obviously, but I wanted to beat her! It gave me an inkling of how Olympians feel. (that sounds so ridiculous). You train with these people and you become really great friends, and you want them to do well, but you still want to beat them. Later that night after talking with Phil I finally felt good about my performance and proud of the fact that did it. Part of me wants to do another one so I can do better, but then the other part of me is like, no way. I do, however, think that a triathlon relay would be an absolute blast. Phil and I are thinking of doing one with our friend Doug. Phil will swim, Doug the bike and I will run. I guess we'll see!