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| T-shirt and medal -- not terrible swag! |
I did a handful of indoor triathlons to kick off 2012, my second season of triathlon. I started that season with the Splash & Dash Indoor Triathlon at the Howell Area Aquatic Center, so it was serendipitous that my schedule worked out this year and I was starting to feel comfortable in the pool again. I signed up with one goal: To beat a friend of mine on the bike and run. He’s a lifeguard, so I knew I didn’t have a prayer on the swim, but I could shoot for 2 out of 3.
It was the motivation I needed to get back in the pool mid-January and swim a few times a week. I didn’t do anything fancy – just drills, 100s, and 200s, mostly – but did swim for 20 minutes straight (the triathlon swim time) at least once to confirm I could do it. By the time race day came along I was feeling pretty good. Really, I was hoping to have fun and see what I could do.
I gathered all my gear the night before and got a decent night’s sleep, although I was up at 6:15 a.m. to take the dogs outside, prep breakfast, and make sure I had everything ready to go. My husband came along as my cheering section and he drove so I could eat my peanut butter toast on the way. It took us about an hour to get there, and we ended up with plenty of time before my 9:30 a.m. wave. I got my t-shirt, re-familiarized myself with the center’s layout, handed off my coat and purse, and headed to the locker room to change and shower.
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| Funny signs were posted in the hallway, and this one was my favorite. =) |
I went back and forth with being “that person” but I decided to wear tri shorts and a spandex running tank for the whole morning. While in the locker room, I noticed that a few women were changing into swimsuits with ruffles on the butt. Even though I know this was supposed to be a fun, friendly morning, my competitive side was instantly piqued. Maybe if I chugged along steadily enough, I could even win something.
I headed to the pool with about 15-20 minutes to spare. We were allowed to do a warmup swim, but it had to be in the diving well. Really deep water FREAKS me out and gives me vertigo, so this made me more than a little nervous. I told myself to do my usual warmup of a few laps with my kickboard and then my pull buoy – just like I do for every single swim – and it would be fine. It was a little ridiculous that I had a kickboard and buoy for a 5-minute warmup, but it really did help get me in a good head space. I told myself that the scariest part of the day was already over and headed to the lap lanes as soon as the earlier wave cleared out.
We had to share lanes, but I jumped in quickly on the right side, so I could breathe to the right (I swim faster breathing to the right) next to the lane divider on the way out. I made a joke with my lane mate about him not doing butterfly, and he looked at me like I had two heads. Ha! Know your audience, I guess. We got some basic instructions from the ref, did a countdown, and took off!
My goal was to swim steadily and not panic. Breathing toward the lane divider was great, as I could use it as a reference point and remind myself that this was just like any other pool. I had good intentions to breathe on the right on the way back as well, but the diving well was that way – and looking at the depth of the pool and how it curved downward was freaking me out. So, change of plans. I would breathe on the left (toward the lane divider) for about half the length, then take one longer breath and switch sides about halfway through. This did the trick. I didn’t think it slowed me down TOO much, and kept any deep water vertigo to a minimum. I didn’t push too hard, just concentrating on swimming steadily. After I got into a bit of a groove I did try to focus on reaching over the barrel and anchoring my hands, but this was mostly about consistency. I finished the 20 minutes feeling good with 17.5 laps, 875 yards. Yay!
I headed back to the locker room to towel off and grab my bag of shoes – I had brought cycling shoes, but wasn’t sure which type of bike I was going to end up with. I had some insider information (my lifeguard friend) to grab a new white spin bike, and I quickly threw a towel on an available one. (I also took a minute to track down some paper towels and disinfectant for all the sweat left behind.) It had my Shimano clip-ins – yay! Cycling shoes it was. I had a drink of water, listened to the instructions, reset the bike computer, and before we knew it, we were off and pedaling!
I tried to get into a sustainable and fast groove. The bikes were set at a pretty easy resistance, so I just pedaled as fast as I thought I could reasonably sustain for 20 minutes. We had some thumping dance music and the bike ref/coordinator/person, obviously a spin instructor, cheered us on. She had announced at the beginning that she had a “leader kettlebell” that she would put in front of the distance leader. “I am going to get that kettlebell,” I thought. Sure enough, about halfway through the time she announced that I was the distance leader, the first woman of the day to get the kettlebell. Yay! I was working hard and I felt all those Trainer Road sessions in my legs. I had a bit of a kick for the final few minutes and ended up with about 12.3 fake spin bike miles. Hooray!
I didn’t need to go back to the locker room since I had my bag of shoes, so just changed into running shoes, grabbed my water, and headed to the gym. Cones were set up at the four corners and we were to do laps around them. I had no idea what the distance was. I found my husband and our friend yapping, had some more water, got settled, made sure my shoes were tied tightly enough, etc. After our last round of instructions for the day we were off!
I was a bit worried my legs would feel dead but they were fine. A few guys and one other woman took off ahead of me, and the rest of us settled in. Since I had no idea on pace, I just tried for something sustainably hard. If I had to guess it felt like 8:15-8:00 per mile pace. The one faster woman and the 2-3 men lapped me a bunch of times, but I was able to hold off the rest of my wave. I did try to pick it up about halfway through but had to back off again. I did save a bit of a kick for the last couple of minutes and sprinted as hard as I could to the far cone as they were counting down the final seconds, so I could get credit for that half a lap. I ended with either 27.5 or 28 laps, which felt like about 2.5 miles. I was working HARD by the end and needed a few minutes to catch my breath and get a drink before I wandered over to my husband and friend.
I was pretty pleased with my showing and ready to gloat about my 2/3 win over my friend when I got my scorecard back and saw that my biking distance had been “corrected” from kilometers to miles, so I was now at 7.64. I have no idea if I was actually on kilometers, so I really hope the officials didn’t just assume I couldn’t have possibly gotten that distance. I looked up the bike distances after the fact and 12.3 wasn’t even close to the highest, so it’s not like it was a ridiculous number. Then came my second disappointment of the day – they weren’t doing awards! What!!! I was hoping for some kind of AG or master’s woman award. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t know, because I probably wouldn’t have worked so hard.
I was bummed for a few minutes but really, it was still a fun morning and I felt good about my effort and fitness level. I got to catch up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and “race” for the first time in a while. My husband and I got coffee on the way back and were home by 12:30 p.m., plenty of time to make bacon for brunch and relax a bit. I could have ran or gotten on the trainer again later, but I decided an hour of pretty hard effort was good enough for the day.
I wish there were more indoor triathlons near me because I had forgotten how fun they are. I am not going to let another 8 years go by before I do this one again. Watch out for a rematch, lifeguard friend – and next time I’m going to challenge you on all 3 legs!
I headed to the pool with about 15-20 minutes to spare. We were allowed to do a warmup swim, but it had to be in the diving well. Really deep water FREAKS me out and gives me vertigo, so this made me more than a little nervous. I told myself to do my usual warmup of a few laps with my kickboard and then my pull buoy – just like I do for every single swim – and it would be fine. It was a little ridiculous that I had a kickboard and buoy for a 5-minute warmup, but it really did help get me in a good head space. I told myself that the scariest part of the day was already over and headed to the lap lanes as soon as the earlier wave cleared out.
We had to share lanes, but I jumped in quickly on the right side, so I could breathe to the right (I swim faster breathing to the right) next to the lane divider on the way out. I made a joke with my lane mate about him not doing butterfly, and he looked at me like I had two heads. Ha! Know your audience, I guess. We got some basic instructions from the ref, did a countdown, and took off!
My goal was to swim steadily and not panic. Breathing toward the lane divider was great, as I could use it as a reference point and remind myself that this was just like any other pool. I had good intentions to breathe on the right on the way back as well, but the diving well was that way – and looking at the depth of the pool and how it curved downward was freaking me out. So, change of plans. I would breathe on the left (toward the lane divider) for about half the length, then take one longer breath and switch sides about halfway through. This did the trick. I didn’t think it slowed me down TOO much, and kept any deep water vertigo to a minimum. I didn’t push too hard, just concentrating on swimming steadily. After I got into a bit of a groove I did try to focus on reaching over the barrel and anchoring my hands, but this was mostly about consistency. I finished the 20 minutes feeling good with 17.5 laps, 875 yards. Yay!
I headed back to the locker room to towel off and grab my bag of shoes – I had brought cycling shoes, but wasn’t sure which type of bike I was going to end up with. I had some insider information (my lifeguard friend) to grab a new white spin bike, and I quickly threw a towel on an available one. (I also took a minute to track down some paper towels and disinfectant for all the sweat left behind.) It had my Shimano clip-ins – yay! Cycling shoes it was. I had a drink of water, listened to the instructions, reset the bike computer, and before we knew it, we were off and pedaling!
I tried to get into a sustainable and fast groove. The bikes were set at a pretty easy resistance, so I just pedaled as fast as I thought I could reasonably sustain for 20 minutes. We had some thumping dance music and the bike ref/coordinator/person, obviously a spin instructor, cheered us on. She had announced at the beginning that she had a “leader kettlebell” that she would put in front of the distance leader. “I am going to get that kettlebell,” I thought. Sure enough, about halfway through the time she announced that I was the distance leader, the first woman of the day to get the kettlebell. Yay! I was working hard and I felt all those Trainer Road sessions in my legs. I had a bit of a kick for the final few minutes and ended up with about 12.3 fake spin bike miles. Hooray!
I didn’t need to go back to the locker room since I had my bag of shoes, so just changed into running shoes, grabbed my water, and headed to the gym. Cones were set up at the four corners and we were to do laps around them. I had no idea what the distance was. I found my husband and our friend yapping, had some more water, got settled, made sure my shoes were tied tightly enough, etc. After our last round of instructions for the day we were off!
I was a bit worried my legs would feel dead but they were fine. A few guys and one other woman took off ahead of me, and the rest of us settled in. Since I had no idea on pace, I just tried for something sustainably hard. If I had to guess it felt like 8:15-8:00 per mile pace. The one faster woman and the 2-3 men lapped me a bunch of times, but I was able to hold off the rest of my wave. I did try to pick it up about halfway through but had to back off again. I did save a bit of a kick for the last couple of minutes and sprinted as hard as I could to the far cone as they were counting down the final seconds, so I could get credit for that half a lap. I ended with either 27.5 or 28 laps, which felt like about 2.5 miles. I was working HARD by the end and needed a few minutes to catch my breath and get a drink before I wandered over to my husband and friend.
I was pretty pleased with my showing and ready to gloat about my 2/3 win over my friend when I got my scorecard back and saw that my biking distance had been “corrected” from kilometers to miles, so I was now at 7.64. I have no idea if I was actually on kilometers, so I really hope the officials didn’t just assume I couldn’t have possibly gotten that distance. I looked up the bike distances after the fact and 12.3 wasn’t even close to the highest, so it’s not like it was a ridiculous number. Then came my second disappointment of the day – they weren’t doing awards! What!!! I was hoping for some kind of AG or master’s woman award. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t know, because I probably wouldn’t have worked so hard.
I was bummed for a few minutes but really, it was still a fun morning and I felt good about my effort and fitness level. I got to catch up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and “race” for the first time in a while. My husband and I got coffee on the way back and were home by 12:30 p.m., plenty of time to make bacon for brunch and relax a bit. I could have ran or gotten on the trainer again later, but I decided an hour of pretty hard effort was good enough for the day.
I wish there were more indoor triathlons near me because I had forgotten how fun they are. I am not going to let another 8 years go by before I do this one again. Watch out for a rematch, lifeguard friend – and next time I’m going to challenge you on all 3 legs!
Ugh, I don't like swimming near diving wells either. When I was learning to swim as a kid, as a "reward" we were allowed to jump into the diving well off a low board. I'm pretty sure I NOPE'd out of that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can't believe it's been that long since your last tri (or attempt at one). I remember reading your race report when you got pulled off the course due to weather and could've sworn it was more recently.
I feel better knowing that I am not alone about the deep water! There's just something about the pool curving downward that freaks me out.
DeleteI can't believe it's been that long since my last tri either! Time flies.
Nice job! I enjoyed reading the recap. It makes me get excited about the thought of doing more multisport events. I've done a couple of indoor races and was lucky to have a lane to myself for both of them. It's funny, while things like deep water wouldn't bug me, I get more intimidated by sharing and not having my own space. It's fine when doing laps and you can space yourself out, but it kind of freaks me out for a racing environment. The weird thing about the indoor races is not really knowing how you did. Figuring out the distance on the spin bikes is so screwy. I've only done treadmill runs for those kinds of races. Running laps of a random distance around a gym would be pretty interesting! Like you said, you got a good effort in and it's nice to get back into that kind of environment to remind yourself that you're pretty good at it. :) Hopefully it will work out to do some more soon!
ReplyDeleteI definitely hear you about not knowing how you're doing distance-wise. It's hard for me because I like to log my workouts to the second and hundredth of a mile, haha. I have done a couple other indoor tris at a luxury chain and those were on treadmills -- I was worried the tight turns for this one would aggravate my knee but it was fine. Yeah, better to look at indoor races as a nice, fun workout and not really a competition. =)
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