Saturday, May 24, 2008

Triathlon

Well, exactly one week ago right now I was doing some warm-ups for the triathlon. I am thankful to admit that the weather was better than last year, although that wouldn't take much. I was optimistic because it didn't seem that windy, but from watching the weather reports, I knew it was just going to get more and more windy as the morning progressed.
The 500 yard swim was the first leg of the race, and that only went okay. Normally, the first 50 or so I feel kinda stiff, but then after that, I sail and it goes pretty smoothly. But I just didn't feel right the whole time. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel that it went as well as it could have. After you've finished swimming, you run outside to where the bike is parked and this is part of your total time. I was kind of irritated because there were these two people walking from the pool through the the transition area (very slow, I might add) who would not move out of my way. All the time were yelling at them, but they were clueless. While it doesn't make a huge difference, it still grates on me.
When I finally got to my bike, I had to throw on all my clothes over my swimsuit, and that didn't go smoothly either. Because I was all wet, everything kept sticking. Either way I got on my bike and was determined to shatter last year's bike time. I felt great. I was sailing (once I knew the time and did the math, I realized this was the fastest I had ever ridden a bike in my life) for the first 6 miles with the wind at my back. I knew there was a little bit of a breeze, but I didn't think it was that much. I was wrong. It was like de ja vu. When I did the u-turn at the halfway point to bike back, the wall of wind nearly stopped me. I couldn't believe it. While the wind wasn't as strong as last year, it was almost harder because it was gusts. So sure enough, as soon as I would shift up to go harder a huge gust of wind would fly in my face, and there's no way to anticipate that. I had decided before the race that the bike was the most integral part of the race and the leg where I could make up the most time difference, so no matter what, I was going to push it as hard as I could on the bike. And I did, but to the detriment of my hamstring and glut muscles because they began cramping with about 2 miles left of the bike.
By the time I finished biking and began the run, my legs were already sore and my muscles were fatigued, so I ran really slow. I tried to kick it as much as I could for the last 200 yards or so, but you probably couldn't tell by watching me.
My goal time was 1:40, and I finished in 1:42. I know 2 minutes shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is to me. I worked really hard and trained for four months with that goal in mind, so I am rather discouraged now. I'm not sure exactly what to think or if I will do it again. I'm kind of ambivalent at this point and waiting for the passage of time to erode my frustration. It's a week later, how do you think I'm doing so far?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you Keeling! Where was the event? I heard you haven't heard from us re: adopting staff. Guess Dave missed that in the last mailing? Not sure. Anyhoo. Let us know what you need. I can't promise wonderful care packages but I can pray and sponsor their book at least!

ACorn (ask ARog for explanation)

Kari, RN said...

Wow, within 2 minutes? That's awesome! I know you're disappointed now, and I don't want to disregard that, but 2 minutes? That's really great! And you FINISHED!!! That's WAY more than, well, probably most of us reading your blog can say! We're all pretty impressed!

Are you still sore or has that worn off yet?

Wanna skip camp and come hang out in California this summer with me? Or at least visit?

Annie said...

Ummm...I think it is downright AMAZING that you do a triathalon! Finishing within 2 minutes of your goal is discouraging I'm sure, but you were only 2 minutes over...that is AMAZING! You are an inspiration, I would love to train for something like that! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you in awhile - it has been SO busy finishing school, baby, etc. We'll have to come out for a Christ Hike...hope you are doing well sweetie!