# Triathlon!



## NutMeg (Jun 30, 2010)

So my boyfriend does triathlons, and my 50 year old dad did his first earlier this month. So I've decided to run one on September 6th. My boyfriend will be doing an Olympic, which is 1500 m swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run. My dad and I will be doing a Sprint, which is a 750 m swim, 20 km bike, and 5 km run.

My strength is biking. Yesterday I biked to work and back, which is a 16.5 km distance and an elevation change of roughly 60 m. I can easily do the biking component, especially as the route is relatively flat and I am used to a wicked hill.

Running should be fine. I did a 3.2 km run last week. It felt pretty good doing it, but I was fairly sore afterwards. It was odd because my legs are in great shape from biking, so it was only some select stabilizing muscles that were sore. I've never been sore in that pattern before! I have a friend who lives nearby who said she would run with me, which is great because her legs are the same length as mine.

Swimming is what concerns me. I haven't done any swimming in years, and I never did anything but lessons. My plan is to focus on my form and take things slow. I'm not worried about how fast I can go, I'm focusing on getting the distance done. The swim is first, so I need to conserve my energy for the bike and run. I live right near a pool and my boyfriend likes to swim several times a week, so he'll be a great motivator.

*My goals*: Swim at least three times a week, and run twice a week. Biking is just going to happen when I feel like it, because I love biking to work and I don't want to limit myself to how many times a week I can do that. I'll go by how I'm feeling. I also want at least one rest day a week. 

I'm going camping tomorrow morning, and I'm planning on doing some ocean swimming where I don't have to worry about people wanting my lane while I'm figuring this stuff out. I want to go for a run later today as well.


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## Babylard (Jun 30, 2010)

Wow that is excellent! keep up the proactive lifestyle


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## NutMeg (Jul 5, 2010)

Well I'm back from camping. I took it easier than I planned. I have a bad knee, and I did a shorter bike after the longer one (roughly 8 km). The hills on that route really aggravated my knee, so I haven't run yet. I also didn't end up swimming because the one day we were near the ocean it was freezing! Too bad, as the day before that had been beautiful. 

Yesterday I did an 18 km ride on a much less hilly route, which was supposed to be 20 - 21 km. The last two km are up the steepest hill of the ride and my knee was starting to twinge so I stopped and caught the bus home the last two km. I stopped before it got sore, so it's fine today. I just need to pay better attention to it, and learn to stop on time. 

Today I'm planning on going for a run, because my work schedule tomorrow fits with the pool schedule better. Tomorrow will be a swim. I'm not sure how long either of them will be, I'll try for a 3 km run but I will be monitoring my knee the whole way and will walk home if I feel a twinge. For the swim I'm going to focus on muscle memory for the stroke rather than distance.

ETA: Did the full run, 3.25 km including warm up and cool down. Took 23 minutes including warm up, stretching, run, cool down. Knee felt fine, a little twinge towards the end coming up the hill.


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## NutMeg (Jul 7, 2010)

Today I biked 10 km and swam 825 m. Tomorrow I'm taking a break.


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## kaliraksha (Jul 27, 2010)

What a fun goal! Do you find it easier to do because you're doing it with your bf and dad? Making any strides in swimming?


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## NutMeg (Sep 21, 2010)

Wow, forgot about this!

I did the triathlon on September 6. It was pretty cool, the water was absolutely freezing which ended up affecting me more than I would have liked. My dad and I ran the whole thing together, so he waited for me after the swim because his wave started 5 minutes before mine. I finished in just under two hours.

I trained fairly regularly, but I didn't do enough open water swims before hand which I plan on doing next season. I'm going to keep up with my workouts on a less intense schedule over the winter, I commute on my bike so I'll be doing that a lot, and swim/run a couple times a week. Next spring I plan on doing a couple of sprints, and then try to do an olympic in the fall if the training goes well.


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