Union College Sprint Triathlon

Swimming - 500m

Biking - 10km

Running - 5 km

Womens' division - 3rd Place

Time - 1:40:33

     
     Today has been the best Sunday of the school year! For those of you who watched read my last post, I told you about my signing up for a sprint triathlon that my college was doing. I had less than four weeks to train for it, and this last week I had loads of homework and three tests to study for. Needless to say I didn't train at all that week. 
    
     Even so, I really wanted to do this race, so this morning, my roommate and I, got up early and headed out to the park. I made sure I drank a liter of water upon waking and to have a good solid breakfast of Mysore and Cavendish bananas a couple of hours before the race was set to start. We got to the park with plenty of time to spare.

My designated racing number. I just realize that's how olds I'll be next year!

Warming up by my bike before the race.

      
     The weather here in Nebraska has been really nice, however, today of all days was the day the weather decided to be wet, cloudy, and COLD! Let me tell you, standing outside in nothing but your bathing suit in 59 degree weather is not fun! Being mostly muscle with very little body fat doesn't help either. Let the pictures speak for themsleves.

Trying to use my arms as a make-shift sweater. . .

It isn't working. 

     

     The water turned out to actually be a on the warm side, which made it so much easier to dash into the water when the starting horn when off. 

     At this point I realized the advantages of having more muscle and less body fat . . . speed! I was really booking it in the water! I manged to be the first girl to make to shore with only three guys ahead of me.

Coming in. . .

getting ready for the bike portion. . .

almost ready. . .

and I'm off!

      The bike ride was a good challenge. All the hills really had to make me use all my mental strentght to push myself to keep going. When the bike ride was over, I tried to get started on the run as fast as I could. This didn't turnout so well seeing as my legs felt like jello. I had to walk for about a minute before I was able to set a good running pace. After that though I didn't have any problems. This was when I actually started felling really really warm and I had to take my sweater off to run just in my bathing suit and sweat pants.

      

     I concetrated on keepingmy pace steady and the pattern of my breathing deep, even, and consistent until the last quarter of a mile. That was when I pulled out all the energy I could muster and flew across the finish line! To me, there is nothing in this world that feels as good as finishing a competition like this. My body feels so relaxed and war as my system is pulsing with endorphins. I felt like I was on top of the world!

    While waiting to hear the winners to be announced, I stood around with everyone drinking my water and eating my medjool dates and black mission figs (the pefect portable recovery meal). Pretty much everyone at school knows now that I'm a fruitarian and I still think they're trying to get over the fact that I am always eating fruit *chuckle.* Maybe now they will believe that it's possible to do such a thing and be a healthy human being. 

    Before leaving to head back to my dorm with my roommate I receivedmy triathlon t-shirt for my participation and received my prize before having a picture taken of myself with the two other girls who placed with me.

From left to right: 1st place, 3rd place (me), and 2nd place (I was 33 seconds behind her!)

     

     Just remember, no matter what you schedule or you fitness level, if you want to make a change in yor lifestyle, if you want to get healthy and exercise more, you can do it. All you have to do is be on the look out for workouts that don't require more than you know you can give. I would have loved to be doing some more intense workouts like I used to do at home, but my life at the moment doesn't allow for that. Does that mean that I am going to let my health fall apart and no keep fit? No, it simply means that I have to come up with some creative ideas to get my workouts in anyway that I can. I chose this triathlon because I knew I could do it without being overwhelmed, and that it didn't matter how fast I was or how I placed. What mattered was that I was outside, getting some exercise, and having fun!

I hope to be posting a few more photos later on in the week when the school photoprapher releases the phtots she took on flickr. I also made a video after the race which I will also be posting as soon as I can upload it to youtube.

Until next time!