Mini indoor triathlon

On February 14th (yes, Valentine's Day), one of the local YMCAs is holding an indoor triathlon. I registered. This should be interesting...I hope I have as much fun as my fellow blogger EE had during her indoor tri a few weeks back!!

It is going to be broken up by time rather than distance. Participants will swim, bike, and run for 15 minutes each. Basically it will be as many laps in the pool as I can swim in 15 minutes, as far as I can pedal on a spin bike in 15 minutes, and as many laps I can run around the indoor track in 15 minutes. There will be a 5 minute transition period between each activity. Apparently the whole thing will be scored on a point system, although I am having a hard time figuring out how that will work. 

This is going to be my first triathlon EVER. (Does an indoor triathlon actually count for something?) 15 minutes for any one of the activities doesn't seem long, but I know once I'm actually in the midst of it, 15 minutes will seem endless. I'm especially nervous about the swimming. Although I find cycling to be grueling, I can usually tough it out or just slack off a little bit without actually stopping. Running is my strongest point, my original sport, so I'm not too concerned about that part...and again, if I get tired, I can just slow down without coming to a full halt. If I get tired and have to stop swimming in the middle of a lap, especially in deep water, at best I'll look like a flailing idiot, and at worst, I'll drown (OK, it's in a supervised pool, I probably won't drown, but if I end up just looking like an idiot, I might wish I had). I have been able to swim up to 1,000 meters without stopping to rest, but I went slowly, so I'm hoping no one will be able to tell how sluggishly I'm progressing in the pool on Sunday. Maybe if I wear my new bright orange suit it'll make me look faster!

I did get some helpful tips from someone who did this same triathlon last year (thanks Jenn!), and I'm really grateful for that, because there were some things I never would have thought of. For example, I should wear a sports bra underneath my bathing suit, so that after the swim, I can just throw on shorts and a t-shirt and be good to go for both cycling and running. I'm having a bit of trouble accepting the idea that I need to wear a bra under my swimsuit...I mean, that will just look wrong. But if it will save me time, I suppose I must. 

Other invaluable tips include picking a locker at the end of the bay to avoid crowding, laying out my clothes/shoes/socks before the race starts, and figuring out my spin bike settings before the race (although that would involve figuring out how to figure out my spin bike settings...something I will have to work on).

Aside from being nervous, I am relatively excited for this mini triathlon. It's my first step into the world of racing tris, but without the scary open water swim part. So really, it's like a baby step. I just hope I can't handle it, or else I'm really in trouble come summer in the time of the "real" triathlons!