![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
First triathlon: 1h52m
Jun. 29th, 2003 02:40 pmWell, it was a great experience, and I'll definitely do it again. The swim started with us in the water, and when they blew the whistle, I started my breaststroke and kept it up as steady and fast as I could for the duration. I matched my best personal time for the swim of 20 minutes for 750 m, and I wasn't the last out of the lake -- I think there were about 5 or 6 guys behind me when I climbed out.
The cycle was way, way harder than I thought it would be. There was a lot of climbing, and everything just felt heavy. I had swum fairly hard too, so I was already kind of tired when I started riding. But it was fun to go screaming through intersections with cops holding back the traffic for us, and overall, I enjoyed the ride. Especially when we rode down all those damned hills on the way back to the transition area. Also, during the cycle, I was passed by about 20 strong women on fantastic bikes -- they all kicked my ass during the first 10 km of the ride, after having started their swim 10 minutes later than my group. My ride time wasn't great, but wasn't awful -- 52 minutes for 20 km, with an average speed of 23 km/h.
Then came the 5 km run, which was certainly daunting and by that point, very hot! As I started my slow, kind of plodding pace, the first group of athletes were actually finishing the whole thing -- I think the winning time was somewhere around an hour. But actually, my pace must not have been as plodding as I thought, because I finished the 5 km in 32 minutes, which is the fastest I've ever run that far, ever!
It was so great to see B and Z at that finish line, and B was so excited for me, she almost made me cry. Plus, everyone along the finish line totally cheers hard for the athletes as they arrive, so it's exciting to get to that point. After the race, they had a big barbecue and lots of fruit, gatorade, pop and cookies, along with massage therapists and chiropractors. We sat by the lake and had a nice lunch, and then I came home and crashed for 2 hours. I definitely feel the most tired I've ever felt before. At the end of the race, my heart rate monitor said that I did an hour and fixty-six minutes at an average of 168 BPM, or about 88% of my max heart rate for almost 2 hours. Woo-hoo! There's a nice cardio workout for the day.
Oh yeah, and I met my goal (other than finishing), which was not to finish last. I didn't finish much farther ahead than last, but I didn't finish last: 194th out of 200 entrants. But I'm still thrilled!
( 3 pics behind the cut )
The cycle was way, way harder than I thought it would be. There was a lot of climbing, and everything just felt heavy. I had swum fairly hard too, so I was already kind of tired when I started riding. But it was fun to go screaming through intersections with cops holding back the traffic for us, and overall, I enjoyed the ride. Especially when we rode down all those damned hills on the way back to the transition area. Also, during the cycle, I was passed by about 20 strong women on fantastic bikes -- they all kicked my ass during the first 10 km of the ride, after having started their swim 10 minutes later than my group. My ride time wasn't great, but wasn't awful -- 52 minutes for 20 km, with an average speed of 23 km/h.
Then came the 5 km run, which was certainly daunting and by that point, very hot! As I started my slow, kind of plodding pace, the first group of athletes were actually finishing the whole thing -- I think the winning time was somewhere around an hour. But actually, my pace must not have been as plodding as I thought, because I finished the 5 km in 32 minutes, which is the fastest I've ever run that far, ever!
It was so great to see B and Z at that finish line, and B was so excited for me, she almost made me cry. Plus, everyone along the finish line totally cheers hard for the athletes as they arrive, so it's exciting to get to that point. After the race, they had a big barbecue and lots of fruit, gatorade, pop and cookies, along with massage therapists and chiropractors. We sat by the lake and had a nice lunch, and then I came home and crashed for 2 hours. I definitely feel the most tired I've ever felt before. At the end of the race, my heart rate monitor said that I did an hour and fixty-six minutes at an average of 168 BPM, or about 88% of my max heart rate for almost 2 hours. Woo-hoo! There's a nice cardio workout for the day.
Oh yeah, and I met my goal (other than finishing), which was not to finish last. I didn't finish much farther ahead than last, but I didn't finish last: 194th out of 200 entrants. But I'm still thrilled!
( 3 pics behind the cut )
