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Carly’s Day of Triathloning.

7:30am: Wake up, go for warm-up bike ride.

8:22am: Wait for the bus, didn’t think about how many other people were taking the bus to UBC with their bike. A 99 already with two bikes on its rack drives by.

8:29am: A 17 with only one bike on it! Yes! Put my bike on the bus, the driver yells at me for doing it wrong.

8:44am: Arrive at UBC.

8:47am: Stand in line to get my bike checked out. Standing behind two bikes that look like cost more than my tuition… for my entire time at UBC…

9:02am: Set up my bike in the transition area. I had no idea how to set up a transition so I check out what the people around me are doing. Also, it appears I’m in the middle aged men heat.

9:04am: I spit out the chocolate flavoured Power Bar that came with my race package. Man that thing was gross.

Oh man, in less than 10 hours I will already be on the bike portion of my race! I’m actually relatively calm for someone who is about to race their first triathlon in the morning, but perhaps it’s because I really have no idea what I’m really getting myself into.

I can’t even guess how long it will take me to finish. Any number I choose would be completely out of the air. I’m not really too concerned with time anyway, as long as I can make it over the line I’ll be more than happy. I checked out last year’s results and the slowest time was two hours and 44 minutes by a woman in her 60s… I’d like to be able to be faster than that…

I got my race package! I’ll be racing with #2164 starting at 10:10am!

Some of the nerves have gone away, the excitement is overpowering it. It still doesn’t actually feel real that I’m less than 48 hours away from my first triathlon. I’ve been looking through the race package for the past half hour, but it hasn’t really kicked in that this is MY race package. Usually I’m rifling through my boyfriend’s bag of sports magazines and flyers for upcoming races. There are a few triathlons coming up in the summer, the Point Grey and a couple of Subaru ones. If all goes well on Sunday, I may actually be competing in one or two of them.

This time next week I will have completed my first triathlon. Holy crap.

I didn’t think that time would go by this quickly. I’ve actually started doubting myself. Did I train as hard as I could have? Am I actually ready to do this?

I went for a swim today at the UBC pool and I didn’t leave feeling confident. I couldn’t even keep track of how many lengths I was doing, I kept forgetting the number. All I could think about was TriDu. I got out of the pool earlier than I had wanted. It really is true about how races are just as much mental as they are physical. I think I’m self-sabotaging again.

I just had the realization today that TriDu is next weekend! In seven days I will racing my first ever triathlon… I can’t believe it’s actually next week. I’m actually more nervous now than ever before. Panic mode begins.

I started doing some research about triathlon tips on the days leading up to the race. Since this is all incredibly foreign to me, I have a lot to learn about. How much training do I do in the last week?

I learned a pretty valuable lesson on Monday night: you’re going to regret what you didn’t do more than what you did do.

Monday evening was ugly as I’m sure you all saw. It was that gross half rain-half snow stuff that doesn’t stick to the ground, it just makes everything messy. On a side note, have you ever noticed that when falling snow doesn’t stick to the ground it looks like ghosts flying through a wall? Well, that’s what I noticed as I stared out the window contemplating not to go.

While teaching my grade 8 social studies class about ancient Chinese philosophy this past week, one my students read aloud his favourite quote from Confucius, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It’s incredibly cheesy, I know, but the quote really stuck with me because I feel that it sums up me and this triathlon. Sure, doing a triathlon seemed unattainable, but it’s all about taking that first step. When I first decided to do a triathlon in November, the distances seemed impossible for me to do. There have been several times since then where I’ve tried to convince myself that I wouldn’t be able to do it, I guess I was somewhat of a self-saboteur.

However, Wednesday night gave me the boost I needed;

I’m learning the hard way how important it is to do things properly and efficiently. I had a pretty intense swim session last night and I am not a technical swimmer at all. Because of that, my shoulders were incredibly sore. It’s amazing how seemingly small corrections can make a huge difference. I’ve even been watching help videos on YouTube. How did people know how to do things before the internet???

I’m getting back into my routine again. I started my education practicum last week so I’ve been teaching. I’m at the school every day by 7:45am and stay until 4. When I get home, it’s a couple more hours of lesson planning. It’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll fall asleep on the bus and when I get home I can’t sit down because I know I’ll fall asleep

Tonight I went to my first spin class ever at the Birdcoop. It was actually the first time I’ve ever set foot in the Birdcoop. Personally, I can’t stand gyms. They’re cold and sterile and have way too much metal in them. We live in the most comfortable climate in Canada and one of the most beautiful cities in the world, why on earth would you want to be inside??

The thought of riding a bike that doesn’t actually go anywhere is bizarre to me; I feel the same way about treadmills. You’re using up so much time and energy but you’re not going anywhere…