I hope that they post pictures on the website because my darling boyfriend forgot the camera and I have no photo proof that I did the Magrath “I Swam the Dam” Triathlon except I guess my official time on the website. Once more, I did a race without training properly beforehand and this is the first one that I paid the price for it.
I had Ryan take a shot the night before as I practised my transition
SWIM (750m)
Olympic swimmers at the start. Photo from http://puzeypages.blogspot.ca/
I borrowed a wet suit and headed out to St. Mary’s for the swim. When I looked at the distance between buoys I thought “That’s not so bad!” and was feeling good about the race. HA!!! I have never struggled so much at a sport! I ran out in the middle of the pack and thought I was doing great until someone grabbed my leg and yelled “You’re going the wrong way!” See, I have done ONE open water swim in my life and that was my first triathlon back in 2004 or 2005. I must have been told well over a dozen times I was going the wrong way! My goggles fogged up and my wet suit felt like a straight jacket with 10 pound weights on my shoulders.
I’ll be honest, I cried a little. That finish line just would not come to me as I was continually being told I was going the wrong way. I considered quitting many times, but luckily my ego wouldn’t allow that.
I finished the swim in 26:33. I was the second to last person out of the water!!! :{
Sprinters in the water headed for the bike transition. I am waaaaaaay back there somewhere. Photo from http://puzeypages.blogspot.ca/
BIKE (26km)
The bike was pretty easy. There were a couple of steep climbs but I lowered my gear and breathed through it. My only complaint was that my old road bike I bought for $100 years ago does not have enough gears on it! I was on a flat road on the highest gear and could have gone harder for a faster time. Next year I think I’ll have to invest in a proper tri bike.
My bike time was 1:11:55
RUN (5km)
Photo of finish line from http://joshandlaurataylor.blogspot.ca/
I surprised myself with the run! For the first 2 km I jogged/walked and would look down and watch my legs jiggle because the muscles were so fatigued, they were straight up jello! But at about km 2 I got a second wind and was able to jog/walk at a fairly steady pace. In fact, toward the end I was feeling good with my head held high as I picked up my pace. Right before the finish line is a little hill, nothing like the coulees in Lethbridge but I was so tired I started to walk. And then a girl slowly jogged past me and I looked at her leg and saw she was in my race and one year younger than me. My competitive instincts kicked in and I sprinted with everything I had to pass her to the finish line.
My run was 40:04.
My final race time was 2:18:33.
I thought it would be fun to do some math and see what the differences were in my tri from earlier this year.
If I did my math wrong- PLEASE let me know! Lol
As you can see, my bike time is slightly better and my run time is waaaaaay better! That slow swim just killed me.
I intend to do this tri every year, and I know say this after every race but next year I WILL actually TRAIN for this!!
