Tory's Triathlon Report

[Guest guest]

Well...it was 2/3 great and 1/3 sucky, horrible, pathetic. But I choose to

concentrate on the great.

The weekend started out as a comedy of errors. First we had to work on

Saturday. Whoever thought a great day to make up a strike day would be a

Saturday in July needs to be boiled in butter. So we left about 4 p.m. I had

made reservations at a campsite near Wenatchee, which is near Chelan. Okay,

I *thought* I had made reservations in a campsite near Wenatchee. Well it

turned out to be about an hour NORTH of Wenatchee, which is 45 minutes South

of Chelan, which does not make the campsite closer because there is only one

way into Chelan and that's to go through Wenatchee and come back around. So

we're looking at the dierctions and realizing " Okay, this isn't going to

work. " No hotels, of course, it's a resort area. We decided to go ahead and

go out to the site and register, pick up my number, and check it out. I was

hoping that I'd have time to do a short run, short bike, and swim. In

retrospect I should have just done the swim, bad move.

We headed back towards Wenatchee and fortunately found a campsite along the

Entiat River, that was gorgeous. Roy set up the tent. I did a short ride and

then a short run just to get some exercise in, make sure the bike was

being-haved (aka behaving), and unwind. Slept pretty well last night.

Got up early this morning and headed to Chelan. We found a restaurant that

was open early and served oatmeal so I downed about half a bowl of oatmeal,

some mint tea, and part of a buttermilk biscuit. Had to feed the bats in my

stomach! I'm sure our waitress thought we were insane as we ate in literally

10 minutes. I was just really anxious.

Got to the Lakeside Park in Chelan and racked my bike in the transition

area. I set out my gear in two piles; one for the bike, one for the run. I

included one special item in my run pile, a medal I had for Roy. I went and

got body-marked, number 515. Again, I had plenty of time to get in the water

and I should have, but I didn't. I had swam 3x the tri length on Thursday

and had done two open water swims with my wetsuit this week, so I was pretty

confident.

I wasn't planning on swimming in the wetsuit but someone told me the water

was cold, so I figured I'd better do it. Bad move. I pulled on my wetsuit,

got into the starting area, and waited towards the back. I am not a

confident swimmer, although I am much better than I used to be. I knew that

the start would be crazy and I'd be best to stay at the back. So I entered

the water with the rest of the back of the packers, dove in, swam about

three strokse, and went into full out panic attack mode! It was horrible! I

couldn't breathe. I felt like my wetsuit was strangling me. I was scared to

put my face in the water (what a weenie). I decided to roll over on my back

and try to relax, but it just never happened. I ended up doing the side

stroke and back stroke the entire time, with a few stabs at the crawl. The

backstroke kept taking me so far off course, I probably ended up doing at

least twice as much as I needed to. I had to have help from the kayaker and

was so embarassed. I kept telling him, " I know how to do this. I just can't.

I don't know why. I really can swim. I'm so sorry. " It was all I could do

not to cry, but I knew that it wouldn't help anything at all, and it also

would fog up my goggles. I finally decided to just back stroke it and the

kayaker was telling me which way to go. He'd say " Go left " and I would go

right. He'd say " Go right " and I would go left. I have never been so

disoriented in my life!

I was the very last one out of the water. The very last one. I stumbled out

like a drunken sailor and nearly fell over. Lots of people were cheering and

at first I thought, " Yeah, pity cheer. " and then I realized that they were

cheering me to help me through this, not make me feel bad. I tried so hard

not to cry. Roy ran up to me and helped me out of the water and helped peel

off the wetsuit. I made it over to the transition area and Roy kept saying

" It's okay! You'll make it up on the bike and run. You like the next part.

You're good at it. Don't worry! "

I changed into my bike shorts, threw on my shoes, and helmet, walked the

bike out of the T1 and hopped on my bike. First leg was a hill...yeah, cool.

But I said, " Tory, you're good on hills. Just do it. It is what it is. " (I

say that to myself a lot during races when I see something that's a

challenge...it is what it is...i.e. you can't change it, you're not

quitting, so suck it up and go.) I came around the first corner and passed

two bikers. Yay! I wasn't going to be complete last! I passed two more

people. The first mile I spent talking myself off the ledge that the swim

had sent me to. I realized a few very important things:

A) I don't have to be good at everything (not that I'm overly " good " at the

bike or run, but I'm good for me) and if swimming isn't my bag, that's okay.

I am so blessed to be spending my Sunday morning with a gorgeous lake to

my right, a winery to my left, and the sun on my shoulders.

C) A panic attack during a swim is nothing compared to what some people are

dealing with. I have a dear friend with breast cancer. She can't quit that,

can she? I thought about my mom, another friend who recently lost her mother

and is going through bankruptcy, all the people in my life who were dealing

with WAY more than what I was dealing with this morning.

By mile two I was good. I was feeling great, going at a relatively good clip

for a girl who just about lost all lung function on the swim, and was riding

a cheap Schwinn. Passed a few more people. Got off at the turnaround and

drank some water, hopped back on. Passed a teenager wearing a Lance

Armstrong bracelet and cheered her on. Passed a darling little 12 (or so)

year old girl who was just going going going and cheered her on. Passed

someone I'd met in the transition area and asked her how it was going,

cheered her on. I decided even if I wasn't the best, I was going to be

encouraging to others.

Finished the bike in about 50 minutes, not positive the exact time. Not

stellar, but for me not too bad at all. My $200 Schwinn Mt. Bike isn't

exactly going to win the Tour! Roy was watching me come in taking pictures.

He wasn't allowed in the transition area this time, so I went in alone.

Racked my bike, switched out my biking shorts for running shorts, grabbed my

gift for Roy, and took off. He was snapping photos and gave me a high five

on my way out into the run.

My legs felt like lead, but I knew that would pass. My breathing was REALLY

ragged because I'd really had breathing problems on my swim. I had ended up

with some congestions, but heck...it is what it is, right, so I just kept

going. I passed up a number of people on the run, calling out " Woo hoo! " to

the runners coming back in. Lots of them cheered us slowbees on. As we

passed one house, the owner had a sprinkler going for us to run through.

Another house a man was standing out front with a hose saying " Do you want

water " and if you said yes, he'd hose you down. As it was in the low 80s,

that was awesome. LOTS of people were cheering us from their front yards,

from cars on the road, as they were out for their own morning runs/bikes. I

ran out, checked my watch at the 1 mile mark...I had run the first mile in 8

minutes, which is AMAZING for me at that point. I had expected a good run

would be a 10 min mile, and I could expect more like an 11 average over the

entire race. I sure FELT a lot slower than I was running! Turned around and

headed back for the last 1.5 miles. I passed a few of the people I'd passed

on the bike and cheered them on. Gave high fives to two kids I passed (and,

I am not kidding, I nearly turned around and ran with the little girl who

looked SO tired but was just still going...but then I thought she might

think I was strange and I didn't want to freak her out). She got a HUGE

smile when I said " High five " and she slapped my hand hard and I knew she'd

make it. A kid doing a triathlon! How cool is that?

At the finish I ran through the chute and was amazed to see a time of 1:42.

I'm sure that's slow, but I felt like it was good for me! A lady put a medal

around my neck (and yes, I am still wearing it) and removed my timing chip.

Roy was snapping pictures, then came over and gave me a huge hug and told me

he was proud of me. I started crying because I did it...I was a triathlete!

I handed Roy his medal and he looked confused. I told him to open it and

look at the back. It says, " To the best husband, training partner, and

coach. Thank you and I love you. "

So that was it! The rest was just stretching out, putting stuff away, eating

lunch in Wenatchee, and trying to figure out if I can actually do Danskin.

I'm so nervous about the swim. I am supposed to do the Danskin in just over

a month and I'm honestly asking myself if I should. If I could find someone

to do the swim and just do the bike/run I'd be thrilled. But I'm not going

ot make the decision yet. I'm going to swim every day this week. Roy is

going to get a raft or something and go out with me. If I can't do it, I

can't do it. But I won't give up until I've given it the college try.

So that's that! I'm VERY tired tonight, but I'm proud of a few things:

1. I did not quit on the swim. I wanted to. I could have walked (it was

allowed in this race) in the water. I could have had the kayak take me back

in, but I kept going. No, it wasn't a good swim, but it was a good and

humbling experience.

2. I was able to regain my good humor really quickly. I think my experiences

over the last three years have made me, overall, a much more positive

person.

3. I did not stop in the bike or in the run, except when I had to put my

chain back on the bike and get water.

4. I did it!

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'

Tory Klementsen, MCP A+

Career and Technology Educator

www.teechur.com

www.msteechur.com

-The successful person will do the things that the unsuccessful person will

not.