One of my goals that I wanted to achieve before I turned 30 was a sprint-distance triathlon. I was curious if this was something that I could push my body to do, since I was pretty sure I could do each event individually, but maybe not all together. Thankfully, I have a great group of friends and family who cheered me on throughout training and all the way to the finish line.
My triathlon experience happened in stages, with my first race being a Try-A-Tri event in Dawson Creek. This event was very approachable, with a 300m swim, 10km bike, and 3km run. I had no idea what to expect, but the race organizers were fantastic and everything went so smoothly despite the smokey skies. For the swim, each lane only had two people, so we were able to keep our own halves of the lane, which was really nice. My lane partner was a much stronger swimmer than me, so I ended up going out too quickly on the swim trying to keep up with her. That meant that I started the bike ride feeling a little gassed, and sure enough, I was tired enough to make a mistake, such as changing gears while pedalling too slowly. My chain fell off, but luckily it was a relatively quick fix. After the bike ride, we were off on a trail run. Running is my least favourite of the three disciplines, and I was dreading it. One of the things that really helped me was the positive encouragement from the other athletes. I felt so proud when I crossed the finish line! As an added perk, I was the only athlete in my age group and gender, so I got a medal by default.
After my Try-A-Tri, I started to doubt whether or not I could finish the Sprint distance, which is a 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5km run. My friends believe in tough love, so they encouraged me to try it anyways, and I’m so grateful that they pushed me! One of them even joined the race alongside me, and it was really nice having their motivating company. This swim, we had four people in each lane, so we had to circle swim. My old swim coaches would probably be disappointed that I didn’t do any flip turns, but I wanted to be more relaxed on this swim, and cutting the turns helped with that. The bike course on the St. Albert course is actually shorter than normal (only 18km), and it was full of gentle rolling hills. Despite the longer distance, I felt better on this ride, possibly because I had been training more for this leg, and possibly because I had access to Gatorade through the hydration backpack I was wearing. Once again, getting off the bike to start the run was the bane of my existence. I’m a weak runner and I definitely lost time on the run, but hey, I kept my legs moving and didn’t walk for any of it, so I’ll count it as a success. It was a little surreal running across the finish line to the cheers of my mom and friends!
After both experiences, I can see why people like triathlons so much. Because there are three events, you don’t get as bored during training, and there’s always room to grow and improve. Someone asked me if I would try the Olympic distance ( 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) next, and right now that seems like an unachievable goal, but it could be fun to work toward! I think I would want to get a few more Try-A-Tri or sprint triathlons under my belt first though. My mom actually expressed interest in doing a Try-A-Tri too, and I think it would be precious to train together since she was the one who taught me to swim and bike in the first place.
Until next time, happy crafting!