But I didn't drown!

There is a local group that puts on Wednesday night triathlons every 3 weeks during the summer, and they're only $11 to enter - half mile swim, 21 mile bike, 3.5 mile run. Last night they held their second of the series, and I decided to go ahead, after doing my first open water swim (pathetically) on Sunday with a couple guys from the tri club.

Of course, I entered the event Tuesday night, knowing that I would be on my period. The first day of my period wasn't too bad.. we did a 37 bike ride past Terminator Jesus (if you haven't heard, Touchdown Jesus/Big Butter Jesus burned down on Monday night, so now he's a metal skeleton..) and kept a decent pace of 16 mph with pretty rolling terrain. I thought I could defeat the cramps with some ibuprofen and by ignoring them.

I was WRONG. Wednesday was miserable - I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen consistently through the day, and timed it so I'd take my dose about 1.5 hours before the event. When I got there, the cramps hadn't eased at all, I was in full-blown anxiety/hormone attack mode, and spent the first 10 minutes at the park crying in the truck. Yes, it was that bad. I was terrified that I would drown or crash or just give up, so I was considering just not racing at all.

Luckily, my boyfriend took a deep breath and dealt with me. He offered to swim with me so I wouldn't get too panicky, and I accepted the offer right away. We got me changed and set up in transition, and then I had to run to go potty. Of course, I left my goggles and swim cap in the bathrooms, so I had to sprint back there and get them while the first people were starting (time trial starts).

So, we swam. It was my second time swimming in open water, and I just couldn't keep my face in the lake and time my breathing. So I stuck to breaststroke and sidestroke. I made it, but barely. I cried a few times. I wore my legs out. I swallowed some lake water. But I made it.

Out of the water, my T1 wasn't great but wasn't horrible either. I was breathing hard, tired, and shaky. I spun the first mile or so on the bike and got comfy - bike is my zone-out and relax time, and I needed it. Since I was so far back from the rest of the starters, I was totally alone out on the course. It was pretty - farms, trees, some nice rolling hills, and I started to cheer up a bit and the panic finally went away. About 3-4 miles in I passed a woman ahead of me (I didn't get to speak encouragement because I was holding my gu in my teeth, since I hadn't realized we were headed for a hill when I pulled it out), and I was passed by two men not long after. My ride was pretty lonely, but I just aimed to stay at 16 mph average or above and spin up hills instead of pushing through, since I tend to hit a wall when I'm on my period and lose all "oomph" if I push too hard even briefly. I made my average (right on 16.1 according to the results) and finished pretty calmly.

T2 was pretty quick for my standards, though I wish I would have switched my sunglasses for my hat. I know from experience that my cramps are horrible after a bike ride, but geesh.. the ones I got coming out of T2 took my breath away. I walked from T2 to the water stop (two loops, so it was at start and halfway) then got a slow jog moving. My legs felt like lead, my cramps were killing me, and I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. I just tried to keep jogging, walking when the waves of cramps came. The second loop was better, but still not even close to my normal training pace.

I finished hard (it was a slight downhill, yay!) and immediately found a picnic table to lay down on.

So, I finished my first real tri! And I think I never really want to do it again! The swim really is hard, and after the olympic duathlon I did on June 6 (I didn't write a race report), I think I'm going to stick to duathlons for the rest of the year, aside from another sprint tri I entered for $1 in July.

My new goal is to aim for the half-iron duathlon at the great buckeye challenge in August. I don't expect to improve in speed or swimming this year, so I just want to go for distance and hopefully add swimming next year after a winter at the Y. I have now completed a super-sprint indoor tri, a sprint duathlon, an olympic duathlon, and this triathlon. I'm ready for a little break while I go back to school.