My #2 Goal – my first Triathlon

To complete my first triathlon in Oct 2012 and not come last. Check out my post on Goal Setting.

How does 1 just decide to do a Triathlon?

Well in December last year I was encouraged to participate in a Relay Triathlon at the local Triathlon Club and I did the cycle leg. I did this on my heavy weight “Cruiser” bike which is an Electra Townie. Simply put it is a slow poser style of bike, it has 21 gears so you can get up and down hills but it is certainly not optimum for speed or longish distances. I even wore a skater style helmet with pink flames on the side, I was definitely going for style not speed. I had to do 14k which was 6 laps of the course and was being overtaken in rapid succession and to be honest I lost count as to how many laps I had done, I also had in my head that it was 7 laps, ie that it was a 2k circuit. Some of the organisers thought I did 7, oops.

My “Cruiser”, built for looks not speed.

Anyhow I came last by a LOT, my poor runner who had to finish off with her leg of the race didn’t even get on the track until most of the other competitors had finished. She was a good sport about it. It was a fun event and a really well run. I remember a lady from the club talking to me before the race, saying watch out you will get addicted to “Triathlon”. I laughed at her. I was truly thinking she was a “nutcase”.

My personal trainer said I should train for a short distance Triathlon event and made me start running during our sessions. From when I started running until the event he wanted me to compete in was about a year. I was thinking “I will just come up with an excuse and not go, but I will humour him and train a LITTLE bit”. And once I started running I began to think that I COULD do this.

I will do a later post about my “Couch to 5k” journey, but let me just say the day I ran my first 1k without any walking was a HUGE achievement and I really shocked myself. Obviously my trainer had a lot more belief in my abilities than I did.

I also had not been in the pool doing laps for a few years and I was shocked that with all my other training I had been doing had definitely improved my stamina in the pool. I jumped in and did 300m (slowly) but I was able to do it non-stop which is the distance I have to do for my Tri.

With the excitement of my progress I decided that I would do a Triathlon earlier than the 1 my trainer had me earmarked for. I started training (sort of) and thinking about doing this in Feb 2012 and my first event is 6 Oct 2012.

Last week (before sprained ankle) I could swim 300m non-stop (and probably more if I had to), cycle 20k relatively easy (still quite slow), and run 6k non-stop (very slow). The distances that I have to do for my event are 300m swim, 9k cycle and 3k run. I have also done some transition training and managed a 10k cycle and 3k run straight after. I was confident that AT LEAST I could finish the damn race. My goal is not to come last.

I love this “Quote”

So now that I have the “sprained ankle” and my training is limited, I don’t know if I should revise my goal to just “finish” or if I should stick with my original goal. For those who don’t follow me on Facebook I went to Physio the other day and he suggested I not do any running for 3 weeks, so with 23 days until the event it doesn’t leave me any time to train all 3 legs consecutively.

I am still thinking I am slightly crazy to even attempt this but dare I say “WHY NOT”.

3 thoughts on “My #2 Goal – my first Triathlon

    • Thanks Jackie I might go and do some pool jogging, I am allowed to swim as well so might incorporate both to keep up with my Tri training.

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