Fitness World West Indoor Triathlon Report

When I got the urge to swim last month and did a few workouts, I started to think that maybe someday I could do a triathlon. But, I don't really have the right bike gear and frankly I'm a little nervous about training on the roads. I thought it was probably in the distant future. Then Amy heard about an indoor tri on the race schedule and things changed in a hurry. I got excited and decided it would be fun and at .25m swim / 10 mile bike / 3 mile run I figured I could finish, it was just a matter of whether I'd be running, walking or crawling. :D

This race to benefit St. Jude's Hospital is running all week. You just sign up for a time and get assigned a trainer to count laps and keep time. I took a few pics but don't have them available yet.

Amy and I met up in the parking lot and talked about our craziness and excitement. After a few instructions we laid out our gear in the locker room. This tri was pretty lax about transitions so we could come in and change after the swim and just meet at the bikes. We took a headshot pic of us (bathroom shot for Marcy). I wear lots of lipstick for these types of events, keep your eyes on my face please (yeah, the racing suit is from another decade!). Turns out Amy uses red fingernail polish in much the same way. Great minds....

We hit the swim for 10 laps, I felt pretty good for about 4 or 5 and then Amy pulled away from me a bit. We still finished strong (my time was 8:00 ~ .25 mile) and Trainer Guy said he hadn't seen times that good yet. YIPPEE.

Amy had warned me about an interesting twist to the bike ~ they intended to have us start at level 6 and go UP 2 levels EVERY TWO MILES. omg.omg.omg.omg.omg. I told Trainer Guy I would likely be crying by the end. Has anyone ever tried this? Holy Torturous Trainers, Batman, that was BRUTAL. Despite Amy's lobbying, we ended at Level 14 for the last 2 miles. I mostly kept the RPMS in the 90's early on but that slipped away some in the late miles. Again, Amy pulled away from me a bit. Those last two miles were dang hard and I was proud to just finish. 10 miles ~ 37:46. I really wasn't sure I could run after that but Trainer Guy gave us a bit of a stretch break.

The run started out F.A.S.T. Amy asked me if it felt fast and I said I had no idea. I couldn't feel my legs!! :D It wasn't that bad, it just feels weird. We rocked out mile 1 in something like 10:10 and about both fainted. Amy thought our first .5 m was probably a pace in the 9's!! We were so elated that this carried us on. We were running and cheering at our splits and averting our eyes a lot from all those mirrors (oh man, I need to hit the diet again, and hard). I thought this would be much worse but suprisingly we just kept going.

I've never run this fast in my life so obviously I'm thrilled. (30:30 - 3 miles) Thrilled with the time, thrilled with the finish of my first Tri (both standing and running!), thrilled with the company, too. Amy was really a great partner (I'm sure she felt like she had on a tow rope at times). Very encouraging and positive and just what I needed to keep going.

We also did a little bit extra since we had a timer for an official event, to get a 5k time for the Shave Your 5k. I totally smashed my PR (OMG!OMG!) not so bright strategy, but who cares?

(Nancy and Amy, finished - with hard earned t-shirts. Pic borrowed from Amy)

Thoughts ~

• No problem at all finishing YAY :D I was going to make out a will and leave all my earthly blogging blatherings to Scott, but turns out I didn't need to. Sorry, Scott, maybe next time.


• The bike was brutal at the end but also, I'm guessing not typical, and I made it through.


• I haven't biked or swam much so I'm sure improvement can be found.


• I am capable of improving my running pace. Whoa.


• If I had that many mirrors around all the time, I would never eat.


• Level 14 at the end of a bike ride suuuuucks


• I now tell strangers I ROCK. See Amy's post for explanation.


• I cheer and scream like a kid when I hear 10:10 and it is about me


• I.Like.Tri !