LTF Indoor Triathlon Race Report (w/Virgins!)

Or, “Turing 5 Newbies On To Triathlons!”

Or, “Doing JUST Worst Than I Had Wanted.”

Yesterday was my first triathlon of 2009. It was the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. I had done one of these at the start of the last 4 years. But the last 3 were in Chanhassen, MN, and this was my first one in Eagan, MN.

I was feeling sick the last few days of last week, and it got worse on Saturday night. So I set out anything I might need:

(I didn’t need the pain-killers, I took a big swig of the generic NyQuil to help me sleep the night before, and the nasal spray was a LIFESAVER as it kept all the snotty-snot at bay.)

Anyway, I showed up to the race with Borsch and 4 current/former students of mine. All 5 of them were going to be doing their first triathlon! I was excited about this the whole week leading up to this race!! We all met in the lobby of LTF, watched the start of wave 2 in the pool, and then got changed and ready to go. Here’s the 6 of us about 10 minutes before our start:

We had to take another photo without Borsch so I could send it to the college where I teach and all these women are students. You can tell I’m trying to be prim and proper because I know my boss and my boss’s boss will be seeing this photo:

Swim: 10:00 in a 25 meter pool:

We all hopped in and had a few minutes to warm-up. Borsch and I shared the far lane. I kept looking over to my students, giving them a big “thumbs-up.” We heard the whistle, and we were all swimming! Each lane had a “length-counter” to count... well... lengths (duh). I was hoping to get 23 lengths (575 meters) in those 10 minutes.

After 6 laps (12 lengths), it had been 5:18, so I didn’t know if I’d be able to hit my goal. But I wasn’t about to let up. I focused on my form and my “entrance,” and hoped for the best. But when I heard the final whistle, I had only covered 22.5 lengths. SO CLOSE to my goal.

Here are my 100 meter splits (4 lengths each):

1:39
1:47
1:51
1:48
1:45
1:10 (2.5 lengths)

T1: 10:00:

We’re given 10 minutes to get out of the pool, through the locker rooms, and onto a spinning cycle upstairs. I high-5ed a few of my students on the way to the locker room. Borsch and I got naked and then threw on our bike gear. We were up in the spinning studio with about 2-3 minutes to spare. All of my students came running in JUST as we were told to “GO.” (Those 10 minutes go by FAST!)

Bike (spin): 30:00 on a spinning bike with the resistance set and taped down:

All 6 of us ended up in a line. Nothing too exciting: we spun. Borsch and I chatted off and on. I asked one of the volunteers to snap a few photos of us (we were about 15 minutes into the ride - about half done). Here’s the 6 of us:

Here’s H “raisin’ the roof:”

Here’s H again looking drunk over-worked, and Borsch looking determined:

Here’s Borsch and I. Borsch is hunkerin’ down, and I’m getting a drink. Notice my sweet boob-sweat formation:

The bike was tough. Borsch eeked out a better ride: I had 15.0 miles, and he had 15.2 (these are NOT equivalent to street-riding; we are NOT that fast!). All my students did well, and a few of them commented that they thought the bike was going to be easier than that.

T2: 5:00:

Basically, we hopped off our bikes, walked through an empty studio, and hopped on treadmills that were right there. I wondered if my students were having any fun, but then R (the one “flexing” in the photos by the pool) thanked me for bringing them along, so I knew SOMEONE was having a good time!

Run: 20:00 on a treadmill:

Someone shouted “GO!” and we were running. Here’s the crew at work on the run:

Borsch


M and K


Me, R, and H.
I was completely sweated through at this point.

I asked the volunteer if he knew what the longest run had been. He said 2.7 or 2.8 miles. I smiled and thought I might be able to beat that. Last year, I did 3.19, and this year I was shooting for an even 3.25 miles. (Technically, that’s not even - it’s odd. I know. But “3 and a quarter” is a nice “even” number. Stop making this difficult. Jeez.)

I started off at 9 mph. After 5 minutes, I bumped it up to 9.5 mph. At about 13 minutes, I went up to 9.7, then 9.8, then 10.1, then 10.3, and I ended the last 2 minutes at 10.5 mph. Here were my mile splits:

6:40
6:18
6:00
1:01 (last bit)

I had covered 3.21 miles. Better than last year, but (just like my swim) just a LITTLE shy of my goal. Dang. But I was still happy. And I was SUPER PUMPED that 5 people around me had just finished their first triathlon!!

Overall (without trying to jinx myself), I’m HOPING to have finished in the top 3 (of about 65 total athletes). And there were still 2 waves after us, but I’m HOPING to have had the farthest run. We’ll see how it all looks when the results come in.

On the way home, I had a much needed stop at Chipotle for post-race refueling:

That’s it folks! Thanks for reading! CONGRATS to the 5 NEW triathletes among us!! I’ll be back with results as soon as they come in!