1. Complete a triathlon

Well the first thing on my list was something I thought was manageable, but still a bit challenging. I did my first triathlon with some of my friends and co-workers from CTE back in 2009 (!) and it was a lot of fun. The training was occasionally crazy, I learned to love swimming and laps for the first time in my life, and I did my first open water swim on race day (I do not suggest, should have done a test run before jumping into the water and getting kicked in the face a few times...).

This is the before picture. I immediately crammed my face with pizza right after...which was a good decision.

This time around I knew this was going to take a bit more than jumping in the pool a few weeks before the event and winging it through the bike portion (the section I thought was going to be the easiest nearly killed me). So I am starting 18 weeks ahead of the event training in the pool, but since I'm also marathon training I don't necessarily have to work on the running separate from that.

That just leaves the bike portion. At least one other 40 for 40 goal involves biking, so I think I'm going to plan to train for both at the same time. So Mount Vernon, here I come!

Swimming

I got back into the pool to start working out the rust the last week of May, which would give me 18 or so weeks to get into open water shape, since it had been a minute since I was lap swimming. Now, I've gone very long stretches without being in the pool at all, and each time I get back I'm always surprised at how quickly things come back. After a couple of weeks I was swimming 8-10 laps at a time and doing 30-45 min. sessions in the pool.

July was a tricky month for the pool since the Reeves Aquatic Center was only open a few days, and I couldn't manage to get in more than a couple of times that entire month. So I had to focus on running and lifting to hopefully keep in shape. When I was able to get back into the pool in August, I was still swimming pretty well and hadn't lost too much progress. Just have to make time to get in the pool (either Reeves or the community pool at Wilson).

Biking

I started doing 30 minute bike sessions at lunch a couple of times a week (I had never been on a Peloton before, but I'm now understanding the hype). One thing is for certain, I need to add yoga into my routine because my hips are in terrible shape, and I don't want flexibility to be the reason I crash out and injure myself.

After literally crashing on my bike on the 4th of July (and Georgie breaking her leg shortly before that) I had to take a break from biking to work and took the opportunity to get it tuned up at the shop so that it could be in good shape for the race. I managed to fit in a couple of longer biking sessions in the gym to keep my legs in shape, but after the 40 mile round trip ride to Mt. Vernon, I realized that I wasn't going to be biking uphill the entire time, and that even though 15 miles is pretty solid, as long as I don't try and go crazy, I should be alright getting through it and into the running leg. I did a double-up session at the beginning of August, biking 6 miles and then going straight into running on the treadmill for a mile or so, and that went fairly well. I need to do the same on the swim to bike portion to see how things go.

Practice

Triathlons, especially open water triathlons, are a bit tricky to prepare for, since it’s very difficult to familiarize yourself with the sensation of being kicked in the face in near zero visibility during a race. I won’t be able to do an open water practice swim before the race, but I am doing several “blocking” sessions where I will be doing Biking to Running, and then one session where I will be doing a full run through from the swim to the bike to the run. I won’t be doing that practice on my own bike and I will be running indoors, but this will just be to get the feel of how tired I might be since the transitions and the stages can be deceptive when you’re just prepping individually.

I did the practice run through on Labor Day and the bike is always where I get caught up. I was able to finish the distance in under an hour, but I know the hills on the real course are going to be a complete slog. I feel good enough going into it that I think I can make my way through at the pace I’ve been practicing each leg, so let’s just hope I can hold out with the race jitters added in.

Race

It's time to make this happen! I'll be racing on Sunday, Sept. 27th starting at 8 am at Lake Anna State Park in Virginia. You can track my progress here. I can't wear headphones during most of the race so unfortunately I can't use Cheer My Run to hear your cheers as I go, but feel free to send me texts ahead of time!

All done! It’s been 16 years since the last time I did one, but I still got it at 40! The race day ended up being beautiful. My swim got off to a rough start as I had to adapt to constricted breathing due to the wetsuit, but I got things managed and on to the bike portion. I had been most worried about that leg since I hadn’t spent as much time on my bike as I had in the pool and running, but the hills weren’t too bad and I finished under an hour. The run was my fastest leg, and my fastest 5k (ever) so I was able to finish strong with a final time of 1:54:57.

So I’m a bit older, but doing just fine!

Nearly suffocated in the wetsuit, but at least I wasn’t freezing?