Preparing for My First Triathlon

I’ve been wanting to participate in a triathlon for years. It’s been on my New Years resolution list for a while now. So this was the year, it’s finally time. I think the biggest thing holding me back was swimming. But I’ve been in the pool for almost a year so far. Am I ready, I have no idea, but less than a week till I’ll find out.

Preparing for My First Triathlon has been a challenge, and still don’t know what to expect. I’ve done a lot of training, and I do feel prepared, however there is a lot of unknowns still.

Swimming, I’ve worked really hard to improve. I still feel like I’m slow, and never got an open water swim practice in. I’ve not swam in a wetsuit either, so these are all factors that might effect the outcome in the triathlon. I do have an idea of what my time will be, so we’ll see how it all plays out.

Biking, I feel confident here. I’ve always been a cyclist and I know that I have the strength here. The course is short and I know I can push hard on the bike. I don’t know what to expect time wise though. I very rarely ride hard and as short. I also am not sure what to expect with other riders on the course.

Running, I’ve been running a lot lately. But mostly slow. I was really surprised when I ran my first half marathon back in May. I was able to really dig deep and push beyond what I thought I was cable of. For a 5K, I feel like I’ll be able to do this again. I’m not quite sure how it will feel coming off the bike though.

While I feel, I’ve done a good job preparing for each sport, combining them is a whole other story. I feel like maybe I should have done some more brick workouts. But with less than a week to go there is not much I can do at this point.

I’m spending the week tapering, doing some shorter workouts and avoiding strength training all together.

We’ll see how it all plays out on Sunday. I just hope I’m able to preform well and that I enjoy myself. My real goal is to get into some longer distance events, but I still don’t know if I’ll even enjoy it.

Bottom line, I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge.