First Triathlon Ponderings, Musings and a Peanut Butter Sandwich

“You never forget your first triathlon.” “Enjoy it”. “You never quite get that feeling back." Those were some of the words spoken to me leading up to the week of my first Olympic Triathlon.

Reflection needs to be taken on my Hy-Vee Triathlon experience. I don’t ever want to forget the vast range of feelings, so I am putting my experience down. Embedded in my memory forever.

Triathlons come with an early start. A 6 AM start. Meaning a 3:30 wake-up call. That was nothing. I had been getting up before the sun for six months anyway for training.

I had spent the night on the couch not wanting to keep Dave up with all of the tossing, turnings and restless sleep that accompanies a lot of athletes before a race. After the alarm went off, I took a shower. Yes, a shower. I knew I was getting into a dirty lake in a few hours, but there was something about it just waking me up and officially starting my day. Next I had my usual morning bowl of oatmeal and protein powder and checked and rechecked the gear bag (there is so much stuff you need (swim cap, goggles, biking shoes, helmet, running shoes, black tape for the gu's, race belt number, and a peanut butter sandwich…).

I had so worried about getting hungry as I had no idea how long this race was going to take me. What if it was days? I had packed that sandwich and planned on eating it a half hour before the race began. Some people get nervous jitters and can’t eat before a race. I was already excited about eating that peanut butter sandwich.I truly do love them and eat one every day.

Not to say I wasn’t nervous. I was, but really had a sense of peace about it all that early morning. I knew I was properly trained. I had done all I physically could do. The only thing that really made me nervous were the unknowns, the technical part that I had control over. What if my chain came off my bike? What if I got a flat tire? I would be devastated knowing I had trained so hard and couldn’t finish the race because I never learned how to fix a flat. What if my goggles got kicked off in the swim? What if people swam over me, grabbed my ankles and pulled me under. Enough. It was time to go.

this is the first post of a small series. Read here for part 2. Thanks for reading.