Another First

Over the last few months I've accomplished a few "firsts". I ran my first 10km event and a half marathon. I started taking time out for me and putting my health first too. On Sunday I added another first to the list - I completed a triathlon.

I signed up for Triathlon Pink at the beginning of Round 3 of the 12wbt as a new challenge for myself. The course I selected was the "long course" consisting of a 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run. The swim didn't have me concerned at all. I'm an ex swimmer from way back and I knew that even without training I'd be able to swim it somewhere between 6 and 7 minutes. The run didn't have me worried either - 3km these days is just a walk in the park. My worry was the ride but I knew I could complete it, it was just about how fast.

Before I knew it race day was less than 24 hours away. I'd only gone for one swim to make sure that my new goggles worked and that my bike pants didn't fall down. I'd been running 3 times a week still so no problems there but the bike hadn't made it out of the garage. DH dragged it out on Saturday afternoon and lubed her up with some WD-40. I took it for a bit of a test spin on Saturday afternoon to check the seat height and the age of the bike was a little telling from all the growning of the gears but it make the 3km around the block and I didn't have a back up plan.

Sunday morning we arrive down at the Runaway Bay Sports Center and go through registration.  I'm number 54 and am thinking this isn't too bad, I won't be first in the pool so I'll have people to follow but it won't be too choppy either. I head over to rack my bike and prepare my transition area. All of a sudden it dawns on me that only 5 bikes down from mine are all the kids bikes and the kids race is first. That means that I'll be only the 5th person in the pool!

After a bit of milling around I bumped into a couple of the other 12WBT girls doing the medium course prior to heading over to the pool to watch the kids start.  The speed of some of the kids in the water was amazing! Their bikes came in all shapes and sizes, from KMart $50 bikes to full on professional looking racers. Before the majority of the kids finished I got the marshalling call.

The call for "Long Course Athletes" had me giggling as I don't consider myself an athlete at all. As they went through the briefing the nerves were increasing, even though we kept getting told its just for fun. Then it was time to go to the pool deck.  It was almost like we were on parade as we had to walk around the entire pool to spread everyone out.

It seemed to take forever for them to get us ready to start and then it was all systems go. It had been that long since I'd been in a pool without swimming in my own lane that I'd forgotten what the churn of others drafting off the side of you was like. A couple of kicks to the lower body as I turned to the first can reminded me of playing water polo at high school. I become extremely happy to be one of the first in the pool!

Before I knew it the swim was over and it was off to my very first transition. According to Steven I was too slow during transition! I kept getting the rubber from the fake grass stuck to my feet and I was worried about blisters and getting socks on with wet feet isn't the easiest thing to do when in a rush.  Then I was off for my first real ride on the old clunker.

 I pedalled for all my worth. According to my watch I maxed out at just over 27km/hr which I think is a pretty good effort on an old and rusty mountain bike! I've got to admit that it was rather disheartening to have the bike in top gear and getting passed by all the girls on the fully decked out road and hybrid bikes but you've got to start somewhere! Just under 20 minutes later and I've finished my 9km and heading back into the transition area to start the run.

I was expecting my legs to be really heavy after getting off the bike but the pushing of the bike through the transition area must have loosened things up - either than or I didn't ride hard enough!




The run was a little bit of a different challenge for me and it wasn't due to fatigue. It was because I didn't have my iPod. All MP3 devices were banned at the event, and after some of the craziness I saw out on the course I could understand it. I just never realised how much I actually managed to zone out with those little buds in my ears. After just over 20 minutes, and numerous time of evil Kym telling me to walk and not giving in I managed to cross the finish line.

Today I found my official times.  My splits were:
Swim - 5:34
Ride - 19:59
Run - 20:47

Giving a total of 46:22. I'm still in total shock about my swim time. I never expected to get into the mid 5's, especially without training - maybe its time to take swimming back up ....

It's now official I can add another "title" to my list now. I am a Triathlete and even though I might not do another triathlon for a while I WILL do another one as I absolutely loved every minutes of it and I want more!

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What's on the horizon?

I've been asked by a couple of people what my next event or challenge is going to be. Between now and Christmas I've got a few things planned and hopefully along the way I might fit in a couple more.

The next 12wbt related challenge is the first Mini Milestone for the round. I've set up a walk/run through Toohey Forest Park for next Sunday. At the moment it looks like the majority of those coming will be walking but I'm hoping to get someone to come who wants to run with me. The route of mapped out is around 8km return but if I can find someone else crazy enough to join me I've got about another 2.5 - 3km I can add onto it.  I have also decided on a back up plan if I can't get someone else to run with me.

The plan is that I run for about 500m or so and then either back track until I find the walkers and turn around and repeat until the end.  Alternatively I do a similar thing by running a distance or for a set time and then do some strength exercises on the side of the path until the walkers catch up to me and then take off again. Whatever happens it will be something different from my usually weekend long runs.

After I've recovered from the Mini Milestone challenge I'll then be competing in my very first triathlon on the 23 October.  The Triathlon Pink helps raise funds for The National Breast Cancer Foundation and is a female only event.  I'll be doing the long course which is a 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run.  The swim and run don't worry me at all.  The bike has me a little bit concerned but I know I'll make it, I just may be a little slow on the old rusty bike.  That reminds me, I should take it out for a spin soon and make sure its road worthy still!




What I believe will be my biggest challenge since the half marathon will be The Mousdash. The Mousdash is a 10km run on the road up and around Mt Coo-tha. Definitely not for the faint hearted - feel free to have a look at the elevation profile if you clink on the route! This event will be run on the 13th of November as part of fundraising for "Movember". For those that don't already know Movember's aim is to raise funds and awareness for Men's Health and in particular prostate cancer and depression.  On the first of November men are clean shaven and throughout the month groom themselves' to form the perfect moustache.

At the end of November come another event that I may partake in. At the moment this one is still up in the air as it looks like we will have our work Christmas party the afternoon/evening before. The Variety Santa Fun Run is a 5km run which will be done just for fun.  What could be better than running along first thing in the morning in a Santa suit while raising funds for Variety and then spending the rest of the morning with the kids in the park enjoying Christmas activities?

Guess what - I'm not finished yet! The 10th December will mark the official end of Round 3 party for the 12WBT. I'm planning on heading down to Sydney to celebrate with some of the other participant but more importantly I'll be going to do the end of season work out to show myself how far I've come in such a short period of time.  I've also got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to partake in an unofficial 12WBT fun run down there too.

So as you can see I've got a fairly busy couple of months ahead of me and I'm sure there will be a couple of other 12WBT events to pop up in the very near future.

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