Life Lessons....2nd Tri.

So this past Thursday I headed to Naples, FL with my buddy Christina to compete in my 2nd triathlon and her 5th (or so). She was competing in the half iron (and won her age group, BTW....huge props) and I was planning to compete in my first Olympic Distance.

Back in September I did my first triathlon-- a sprint distance and had a blast. I competed on a mountain bike and did it for the experience. This time I came more prepared in terms of gear but less prepared in terms of proper training. After doing my first ocean swim (ever) on Friday I decided that I wasn't quite ready or trained properly for the Olympic Distance and decided to drop down to the Sprint-- although this specific race had a swim that was double my first race.


Friday and Saturday the ocean had been smooth and easy but when we arrived to the beach this morning the breakers were huge and the sea looked plain mad. Turned out it was. The men set off first at 7:00 and we followed about 3:00 minutes after. It was a shit show to say the least. Doggy paddling, back stroking, breast stroking-- very few people got into any type of rhthym-- the waves were just too much. Left and right there were swimmers calling for help from the lifeguards and about the time I got to the last buoy the kayakers right in front of me were franticly blowing their whistles, flailing their paddles and doing their best to get the attention of the paramedic boat. They had pulled a man out of the water and had started CPR on him. He wasn't responding. Everyone in the water was so confused, not sure how we could help or if we should just stop racing. We all eventually forged on-- knowing we could do nothing to help and would just be in the way. I was oddly comfortable in the water-- it reminded me of when my mom and grandmother used to go to the beach and "ride the waves" as they would call it. I'll never forget those beach trips and how tickled they would get when the waves would come.

My goal that I knew was easily do-able for the swim was 21 minutes-- I got out in 24. Considering that I stopped multiple times to help folks and we all stopped for a bit when the racer was pulled out-- I'm fine with the time. My previous race was 16 minutes for 400 meters-- a huge improvement considering this was 700 meters.

Then I transitioned (pretty well) to the bike and headed out. I knew my bike would be my strongest leg and it was--- I picked off about 20 people on the bike and ended up finishing in 40 minutes-- about 18.5MPH which is fast for me. Considering my gears weren't working like they should I'm thrilled with my bike time. My previous race bike time was 1:08-- that's a 28 minute PR-- insane. However....

I pushed so hard on the bike that by the time I got to the run my legs were done. Also, it was here that I realized my lack of proper training really showed its ugly face. Triathletes train on each discipline separately but also do what we call "brick" workouts. This means working 2 disciplines in one day-- for example-- you go for a long bike ride and then a run. Or a swim and a bike ride. Or a run and a swim-- you get the point. The reason for the "bricks" is to get your muscles used to the transition between disciplines. Between my last race and this race I did 0 bricks. Pretty much a horrible idea. 41.04 was my run time-- a snail could have possibly passed me--I ran faster my previous race.

Total time with transitions: 1:53. If I had run and swam the way I should have-- I would have finished in 1:44-- a podium for the athena category. But I didn't. And that's Ok. (Previous race 2:07 w/ a shorter swim)

During the 9 hour drive home I spent a good amount of time thinking about if I have the ability to focus completely on "my race" and block out everything/everyone else. Do I? Yes. Do I want to? I don't think so. I can't imagine not stopping to help someone in the water, providing comedic relief for those on the bike and singing Kesha for the awesome dude that ran with me at the end. In the end life is about the people that you meet and enjoy along the way. I learned a few hours after the race ended that the man in the water was not revived...he had a heart attack while swimming. http://www.marconews.com/news/2014/jan/12/man-dies-cardiac-arrest-naples-triathlon/
Life has funny ways of constantly reminding you how short but yet amazing it can be. I swam in the ocean today as the sun was rising. I pushed myself to my limits. But yet I remain so humble and grateful for everything that I have-- most importantly the ability to smile, laugh, and love.