finally a triathlete #HawkITri

On Sunday, June 5th 2011 I completed my first triathlon. It has been a goal of mine for the past 3 or 4 years and finally I succeed (with some helpful pushes)!

During college I occasionally trained with the MSU Triathlon Team, they were a fun crew that comprised of some intense workouts and really hilarious people. However, I always skipped the swimming training days because I was intimidated and didn’t know what I was doing. I had run cross country in high school and continued to run as my primary mode of exercise ever since. I had also picked up a love for mountain biking during high school, which I carried through college and got my first road bike after my bright yellow mountain bike was stolen.

My fiancé (Nichole)’s Dad, Uncle, and Brother competed in the Hawk Island Triathlon last year. I declined to participate because of an ongoing runner’s knee issue as well as my lack of experience in swimming.

This year, after Nichole suggested I sign-up for a swimming class at the YMCA, I finally completed my first triathlon! I spent all winter trying to get my knee back in shape with spinning and signed up for the swimming class in the spring. I then spent most of my mornings up until the triathlon working on building up my ability to swim more than 2 laps without needing to stop and breath.

I felt mostly ready (even though I hadn’t run or biked much) the day of the triathlon. The Hawk Island Triathlon is a “sprint” length: 400 meter swim, 16k bike, 5k run. The chilly open water hit me and I completely forgot my plan of freestyling to the first bouy then switching to breaststroke. My sidestroke lesson when I was 8 years old came in handy so that I could catch my breath. Transitions are harder than I imagined (gotta cut down on that time in the future), but all in all moving from one activity to the other was painless. Check out my results, #686: HERE