Triathlon

I decided 8 weeks ago to join Trent in training for a triathlon. I think watching Trent in his last race really made the competitive side of me come out. Looking back I decided to sign up for the race without training before. Here is the sequence of events that followed:

1. Signed up for the race (sprint distance 300 meter swim, 12.4 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run).

2. Bought new running shoes.

3. Bought a new bike, pedals and shoes.

4. Learned how to ride the bike (not just any bike, a triathlon bike).

5. Learned how to clip in my shoes... and took a few falls off the bike learning.

6. My first swim of 300 meters took 5 minutes 30 seconds.

7. Ran my first mile and slowly worked up to 2.5 miles (but never ran a whole 3 miles before the race).

8. Brought my swim time down to 4 minutes 50 seconds.

9. Rode my bike continuous for 15 miles.

10. Trained daily!!

I was extremely nervous on Sunday. We woke up at 4:30 am and drove to Rockwall TX. We had to be there by 5:30 in order to set up our transition area. Then we waited around until 7 am, when the race finally began. I really enjoyed the race more than I thought I would. The swim was by far my easiest event. The bike was fun, however lots of hills. Then the run finally came. (For those of you who don't know I have had tendonitis behind both of my kneecaps since I was in middle school. Running has always bothered them. Therefore, I have never enjoyed running!) I was kind of relieved to begin the run because I knew the end was in sight. I actually ran the whole 3 miles!! I was extremely impressed with myself.

Trent did AWESOME in the race! He got 2nd place in his age group and qualified for the Age Group National Championships in Alabama!! He cut his time down by almost 10 minutes from the last race! Not only did he race well, but he was my coach throughout this whole process and I couldn't have done it without him. I am so proud :)

(Trent) My goal for this race was to be in the top two of my age group, so I could qualify for the Age Group National Championships. I am very proud of what I accomplished. I still have my work cut out for me cause the championship will be a lot farther distance.

I am so glad Holly wanted to do the triathlon with me. First they are a lot of fun and I am glad we could share this together. Second, with her doing them with me that gives me more time to train! I was little nervous going into the triathlon. I had a lot of pressure on myself to qualify for the championships. Also I felt like we were spending a lot of time getting Holly just race ready (so she could at least finish). She kept saying I will be happy if I only finish. But watching her I was sure she would do much better than finishing. I still couldn't believe with all the training we had done, right before the race Holly was so nervous she was in tears. But not only did she finish. She finished better than the other women in her age group!!! Yep on her first ever race she beat the second place female by over 7 minutes!!!! I knew she would do great on her race, but even I didn't expect that she would destroy her competition!! Seven minutes may not sound like that much but think about this Holly was averaging around 8:00 min mile. If the second place female was averaging about the same or more, then Holly beat second place by over a mile! She did awesome and what took me 2 races to accomplish she qualified for the Age Group National Championships in her first race!!

Trent and me after the awards ceremony with our Record Trophies :)