I have no pictures to record it, but Jim completed the Black Diamond 70.3 long course triathlon on Saturday! (The kids and I were home for JT’s first soccer game, so we missed it – sad.) That’s a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. Ouch! We are so proud of him and his hard work to make such a thing possible.
Then on Sunday, I completed my first triathlon. It started nine months ago when I started swimming because I couldn’t run anymore. I started feeling really comfortable swimming, and I swam with a pull buoy because I couldn’t kick. Jim mentioned that was good for triathlons because it saves your legs for the bike and the run. Hm.
In May, I was cleared to stationary bike. We have a trainer for our road bikes, so I could pedal for 15-30 minutes in the garage while I watched part of a movie or something. Then, in June, I was cleared to ride on the road, with hills. When I started doing that, I was only riding 5-6 miles at a time. But I started thinking… if I can swim and bike, two things I had not been interested in doing before, then maybe I should be thinking about a triathlon!
At the end of July I was cleared to run, very slowly adding time from 4 minutes to 5, and then a half mile at a time. I mapped out my run recovery schedule and realized that I would be at three miles right before this race my friend Michelle had told me about… so I waited a couple of weeks of beginning running to make sure my knee would hold out. When it did great, I registered!
The month of August was recovery month. I started keeping better track of my swim/bike/runs, and my Garmin report for the month looks like this:
My friend Kacie signed up to do the triathlon with me, which was super fun, and I saw two long time friends at the open water group swim a week before the race. It was nice to know other ladies doing this for their first times!
The big day went so well. I am so thankful for my children, who woke up early and prayed for me in their beds together, and for Jim coming along and cheering for me at every transition. I never felt exhausted or like I had to “dig deep” to finish. I crossed the finish line at 2:06, and I had guessed it would take me closer to 2:30!
The whole experience was really fun and I felt strong, fit, and healthy – all good feelings! I will definitely be doing a sprint distance tri again (this one was called Sprint Plus: 1/2 mile swim, 15.4 mile bike, and 3.4 mile run). Next time, I know I can push myself a little more on the swim and bike, and transition faster to cut my time. My new goal is 2 hours or less.
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| The husbands/cheering section |
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| Numbered and ready! |
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| We listened to a participant sing the national anthem with this view! |
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| Ready to swim! |
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| Coming in from the bike |
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| Finishing – so happy I feel good! |
Afterward, we grabbed Seabeck pizza and invited Kacie’s family and my family over for a post-race celebration. We ended up lounging around through half the Seahawks game as well. It was relaxing and a great way to recover!
The Keene Family 