Ten Things I Learned Doing a Triathlon



My Medal

It's been a month since I completed the Ackley Lake Invitational Triathlon. Friends are still congratulating me and asking about it. It feels really good although I'm inclined to make sure they know it wasn't an Ironman type thing. I don't want them to think I did something that dangerously crazy!

The whole experience was wonderful and surprising. I find myself reflecting on it quite a bit. Being a reflective sort of person I also did some thinking during those long training sessions, especially the boring walks. I've come to some conclusions about the experience and thought it would be fun to do a Letterman-type top ten list. So here goes:

 

Number Ten: Don't wear your favorite bathing suit to swim in a lake.
 
I had a premonition about this one. The first time I tried the lake swim to see if I might be able to do it I put on my backup swimsuit. Last summer I bought two when they were on sale for 50% off. One fit better and looked better on me than the other so I've been using it as my number one suit. Sure enough, it is hard to get the smell of lake water out of a suit. I don't know about you but both of my suits say to hand wash only. I religiously washed it out in the shower after every swim. Somehow it always had that earthy, organic, decaying plant smell. After the triathlon was completed I did put it in the washing machine and, luckily, the smell washed out and the suit didn't fall apart. So I guess I could modify this learning to say "only wear a swimsuit that can be machine washed to swim in a lake".

Ready for the Start



Number Nine: Lake swimming can be fun.

Despite all my fears about the oogieness of lake swimming, I found myself rather enjoying it. Seeing beauty all around me as I swim is really wonderful. I've always liked the feel of water and the sense of freedom that comes with buoyancy. Its fortunate that the water temperatures were comfortable the whole time I trained. Since the triathlon we've had more rain and cooler air temperatures. The one time I went into the lake for a swim since the triathlon was a shock. I started walking out into the water and stopped short. When I looked at the thermometer it said 72 degrees. I got out and went for a walk instead! Joe has been wearing his wetsuit to swim the last week or so. I do plan to swim more next year (or this year if we have a warm spell). If I do the triathlon again, the swim is one area where I can definitely improve my time.

 

Number Eight: There is a least one advantage to a tri-suit.

As much as I mocked tri-suits earlier in my training, there were times when I wished that I had one. I had a problem with chaffing along the bottom edges of the swimsuit when wearing biking shorts on top of my suit. Another advantage of a tri-suit would be reduced transition time between the swim and the bike. It took awhile to dry off my legs and get the bike shorts on over a wet swimsuit. Next year I might look into one of the less expensive tri-suits. As Joe has been saying lately, I'm getting "hard core"!

Number Seven: I can quit worrying about how I look.

 



Swim-Bike Transition

Here's breaking news: thirty-somethings don't look their best doing a triathlon either. At first I felt embarrassed about being seen on the local roads in my tight fitting triathlon outfit. There's no way to hide your bulges in Lycra. Gradually, as I began to feel proud of myself, I started thinking that folks who saw me working out should be impressed that I was serious about my fitness as demonstrated by my authentic fitness clothing! I still felt a bit uncomfortable about my whole family seeing all my bulges. When everyone showed up on the day of the event, I took a look around and realized that nobody cared how I looked. They, too, were dressed to maximize their performance rather than win a beauty contest. It dawned on me that if no one else cared, why should I! This was very freeing.   

Number Six: Dividing a big goal into small achievable objectives does work.

When I first thought of doing the whole triathlon it seemed overwhelming. I thought that the most I could do is one leg of a relay team. As I worked on swimming, the weakest of my sports, I began to approach my preparation by thinking of the next step I needed to take. I had never really swum in Ackley Lake before because I didn't want to get into places where the water was too deep or the bottom too gooshy for me to be able to put my feet down if needed. The first step I took was to swim away from the dock a short distance and then swim back. From there I worked out a plan to increase to the triathlon distance. When I worked as a consultant we called this the "Swiss cheese method". By poking small holes in a large task, it gradually seems less daunting.
 

Number Five: Outdoor exercise gets me closer to the earth.



33rd Street

I can't tell you how many times I drove, biked and walked the stretch of 33rd Street that was part of the triathlon route. At one point, as I was driving it, I thought "I own this street!" I realized that I knew so much about it - every hole in the pavement to avoid on the bike, where to shift gears, where there was a shoulder that I could walk on, where there were shady stretches to cool off. But ever more significant, I knew how much the corn had grown each day, where there were nice wildflowers and how they changed over time, the hangouts of various birds, landscaping ideas in people's yards that I might try. And the swimming helped me know our lake more deeply. I think you get the idea. When you are outside and move slowly you see a lot more than when you drive by. This is one of the reasons that I'm more interested in exercise when it's done outdoors. I have never done well in a gym because I can't stand the enclosed environment. I treasure this area in which I live even more now that I have become more intimately acquainted with it.

Our Lake

Number Four: I know myself well.

Living in this body for 66 years has taught me a heck of a lot about myself. I can use that self-knowledge to accomplish lots of things.

As I've already mentioned, I know I'm more committed to exercise when it's outside. I also know that I can feel overwhelmed by a big effort but am able to accomplish it if I think of it in incremental steps. One thing about my triathlon preparation that really impressed me was my ability to put together a concrete plan that got me from the first inkling that I might just do it all to actually completing the event. As I put together that written plan, I knew what would work for me and what would not. I planned for success and that helped me believe I could succeed. 

I also know that I am more committed to regular exercise when I have a goal in mind. I'm not the only one to discover that special events are a way to convince myself to get out and workout even when I don't want to.

 

Number Three: I can be more successful at sports than I thought I could.

Relaxing after the Race

I've probably already shared in this blog that in school I was usually the last one picked for teams in PE. I had family models and, I think, a genetic inheritance that tend toward inertia and enjoyment of sedentary activities. The last things I would include on a "what I'm good at" list are sports and physical activities. This triathlon blew a big hole in that part of my self-concept. I know I'm unlikely to compete in the Olympics but the folks who do are a mighty small proportion of the population. In between the top athletic echelon and doing no athletics at all there's a lot of room for us ordinary folks to find pleasure and be successful. Somewhere along the way I decided that it's better not to try something unless you're certain you can win.  Doing this triathlon has taught me that I can still be proud of myself if I don't win. That there are different ways to win in a competition with myself. How I stack up against other people or whether other people perceive me as a winner are not the most important factors in deciding what I'll do. In fact, I have gotten more praise and encouragement from other people for doing this triathlon than any other sports event in which I participated and I came in dead last!

Number Two: I get by with a little help from my friends.


Support Crew

I would also add from my family. Throughout this whole process of preparing for and completing the triathlon I have had a wonderful cheering squad. Knowing that I stick to my exercise goals more if I tell people about them, I shared my goal to do the whole triathlon with lots of people. I figure that way I don't feel like I can back out. The other thing that accomplishes is getting the help and support of all the people who know what I'm doing.

Joe was a huge help with ever positive comments and much quiet joy about my enthusiasm. I consulted with him frequently about my training plan and expectations. My sister and I walked together and mutually encouraged each other reinforcing the belief that we could actually do this. Writing this blog was a way that I went public and also tried to help others feel encouraged to participate. Our nephew told me that reading the blog let him know it was safe to go out on a limb and give this a try. Throughout the event everyone encouraged each other and provided lots of positive feedback. Even the women who sold us the t-shirts kept saying what a great idea this was and expressed interest in how it was going. Over and over in my life I have found that most people want the best for others. When I open up to them about my new endeavors, I have found support.

Number One: Never say never.
Sometimes I think one of the reasons I married Joe (and continue to be glad I did) is that he is so different from me that he stretches me in surprising ways. With him at my side I have taken on backpacking even down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and, more impressively, back up. I have tried sailing which didn't turn out to be something I want to do again but now I know that. I've experienced the beauty of Corsica and done a walking trip in the English Lake District. The list goes on, but you get the idea. Many of the things we've done together were things I said I would never do or, more accurately, never thought I'd be able to do. Whenever I catch myself saying "Oh, I'll never do that in my lifetime" I wonder if I really know what lies ahead. This makes my life more fun and more adventurous.


Pre-race Orientation on the Dock

The triathlon is another one of those things. I remember thinking that a triathlon was something I would never do, never want to do and never be able to do. Lo and behold, I have now done one.  I find myself wondering what my next challenge will be. The whole family is wanting to do the triathlon again next year so that's a possibility. I'm also thinking about longer biking events. At a minimum, I find myself actually wanting to keep up the exercise habit I've developed. Here's to the future and whatever surprises it holds!
 

I Did It!!

Triathlete Wearing Official Tee

All went well on Sunday, August 8 when I completed my first official triathlon. I can now say I am an experienced triathlete. My overall time of 1 hour and 11 minutes was a new personal record shaving 2 minutes and 20 seconds off my previous best. I felt good throughout the race and really appreciated the training I had done. Other participants were experiencing the difficulty of combining sports for the first time. I won a medal for best in my age group (women over 65). As you may recall from previous posts, Joe defined age ranges so that everyone was an age group winner. Still it's the first medal I've ever won for a sports event.

Finishers and Hazel

The whole experience was a huge success. Nine triathletes and one relay team completed the race. Everyone felt proud of themselves and did well. The only person among the 12 who had ever done a triathlon before was Joe. We had several out-of-towners. My nephew Evan and his fiance Erika came from Lansing, MI. They were part of the relay team "Beauty and the Beasts". The other beast was my brother-in-law Ken, Ev's father. Joe's brother Bob came from Chicago to help stage the event. His son Tom from Illinois competed.

Official Starting Pistol

In addition to Bob, my nephew Jody and sister Sherry were volunteers. Sher was timekeeper and got to start us of with the official starting "pistol" sent by my son Mike. She also had charge of granddaughter Hazel as both parents were competitors. Ken and Erika helped out when it wasn't their leg of the relay. Ken and Bob were out on the lake in boats marking the turnaround points and monitoring safety. Jody directed traffic at the end of our driveway so that everyone could safely enter and exit to 33rd Street. After her swim, Erika drove to the bike turnaround point to make sure everyone knew where to turn and to verify that everyone made it past that point.

Orientation on the Dock

 

It was an "in water" start so after hearing the orientation talk from Joe we all got into the lake and got ourselves wet. I hesitated about a second after the "pistol" was fired so that I didn't get caught up in the thrashing. There were only 10 people swimming so it wasn't bad. As I suspected, by hanging behind I never had to worry about bumping into other people. The only challenge I had with the back stroke was making sure I didn't bump into the boats. I ended up alternating between breast and back stroke more frequently than in my training so that I could monitor my position better. Also, I got a foot cramp just after I started so switched to back stroke to work that out. I felt a bit frustrated about being in the water twice as long as most of the others. I am considering working on my freestyle if I do it again.

As I exited the water I asked Sherry what my time had been and she told me 13 minutes. That was good news as it was a minute faster than any of my multi-sport training sessions. I guess the adrenaline compensated for the additional time to keep track of where I was in the water. It seemed like the distance was a bit longer than my practice swims as Joe decided to do a triangle around the 2 boats rather than just out and back. That did help with the flow of traffic even if it made it a bit longer. The boat positions also got us farther from shore than I had been swimming which helped avoid some of the worst weed beds.

 

When I got out of the water, Randy was still in the lake transition area so we had a  brief chat. My transition took just about 5 minutes so that was on target. Unfortunately, I forgot to zero out my bike trip odometer so I didn't have as much feedback about speed and time during the bike portion as I have been used to. According to the timing sheet, I finished the bike portion 43 minutes and 7 seconds from the start. That means that my bike segment took me about 25 minutes which is comparable to my training sessions. During the biking I really enjoyed seeing other participants as they passed me going the other way. We all exchanged encouraging words. I even got the thrill of passing Randy on the return of the bike leg.

This Way to the Finish Line

The bike to walk transition seemed easier than it has been in the past. My legs didn't feel as wobbley. So I was able to speed up my walking pace sooner. Being so far behind most everyone else inspired me to up my pace even more than usual. Randy was able to pass me about half way through the walk as she was alternating walk and jog. Being the last one over the finish line meant that I had a large cheering section. People were grouped along the last stretch of 33rd and in the driveway.



We held the awards ceremony and many donned their new t-shirts including Hazel in her onesie with the same design. After a break during which folks took showers, Joe got the charcoal going for a bbq lunch. This gave us a chance to compare our experiences and enjoy each others company. Tom brought his wife Nancy and 3 kids back for the lunch after he showered at their hotel. The kids really enjoyed the lake and even convinced Great Uncle Joe to take them for a paddle boat ride.


There is much talk about what we'd do the same and different next time. We'll have to decide if this is going to be an annual event. My thoughts are percolating about how to up my time if I do it again. Meanwhile, I'm motivating myself to keep up my exercise regime by planning for some longer bike rides with Joe.  



Over the Finish Line

Super Sizing

Looking toward the Point West of our Dock

My strategy in this last week of training has been single sport workouts with extended distances - super sizing my workouts so to speak. I hope that will make the triathlon distances seem easy and short when I do them on Sunday. Yes, the event is just a few days away!

I swam for about twice as long as I have been. I didn't cover twice the distance because I needed some rest periods. But it felt great to almost get to the next point over on the lake shore. That point has been where I aim during my swims to the west. I got close enough with the longer distance that I could almost stand and walk to the shore. The only reason I didn't do that were the weeds.

Weeds are a concern for me during the swim. They keep growing! There are more patches and larger patches since I started my training. It also seems that their texture has gotten stiffer and more wiry. Or it may be that there's a different plant growing now. My problem with weeds is that my feet get tangled in them when I breast stroke. Watching the Olympic swimmers I realize that my breast stroke has little resemblance to theirs. But, hey, there aren't very many people on the planet who can do what they do. When I do the stroke my legs hang down quite a ways in the water. Hence the problem with weed entanglement.

Because of weeds Joe is considering going back to the other swim route heading east from our dock past 3 neighboring docks. He swam that way recently and said the weeds were less of a problem than when he swam to the west. I think it makes a big difference what line you take away from the dock in either direction so the trick will be placing the boats to define lines that avoid the weeds. Good luck with that! Position on the water is rather hard to perceive accurately. Another factor that may affect which direct we swim will be the presence of fishing boats in the water. West of our dock is a favorite fishing area and sometimes on early weekend mornings fisherfolk are parked there in their boats.

Riding across the Finish Line in our Driveway

For my longer bike workout I went back to a previous loop that I used and then added part of another. My loop starts out the same as for the triathlon but returns a different way. Then I went into a subdivision on the other side of 33rd Street that I call the wine streets. You can imagine the street names. In the wine streets you can do a loop that's about 1.3 miles and there's hardly any traffic. There are several subloops that allow for a number of variations. I ended up doing a total of 7.43 miles almost 50% bigger for the same price!

It felt like I was doing a significantly slower pace. In fact, I tried to slow it down a bit since I knew I was going a longer distance. My handy dandy bike computer tells me that I actually maintained about the same pace as for my triathlon distances. Amazing!

Joe Returning on 33rd Street Run Route

For my final day of training I did a super-sized walk. Sister Randy came with me and that always ups my speed. She simply operates at a faster pace in everything than I do! We also increased the distance. I haven't measured how far it was but we went quite a ways further on 33rd Street. It wasn't double but was at least 50% more. I was too busy chatting to remember to time myself. Since I stopped at Randy's house (next door) both coming and going the timing wouldn't have a direct relationship to the triathlon route anyway. We walked for something like 45 minutes. We got out fairly early and it was a beautiful cool morning with lots of blue sky, deep summer green (thank goodness for some recent rain!) and bird song. After our walk I stopped in the family co-op garden at Randy's house and did some picking and weeding. Heading back to my house with a full basket of produce and a sense of readiness for the triathlon, life seemed really good.