Triathlons are kinda hard...

Right?

It's funny...no matter what distance of a triathlon or if its a new one or a course I have done billions of times, I always block out that it's kind of a tough sport.

On Sunday I did a super mini-triathlon which was a 400 yard swim, 6 miles on a stationary bike, and a 1.5 mile run. Easy peezy lemon squeezy, right?

Right?

Um, wrong. So wrong.

Swimming THEN biking THEN runnning is just not a natural thing to do. It just isn't.

Which is probably why it is so dang addictive.

So, I signed up for this race with my buddy Diane as kind of a "hey this could be fun and cake, right?" Nevermind that I rode 41 miles the day before. Or that I had only swam 2 times so far in 2012. And I had a slow 10k a couple weeks ago.

The swim part was ok. It was weird doing a race in a pool because I was having flashbacks to being on the swim team as a kid and being the slowest in the pool. I wish I could tell you that this underdog perseveared and schooled the other swimmers, but nope. I am still on the slower side of the swim spectrum.

The bike was ok. Well, actually it wasn't. Of course, I have been (or rather I have FELT like) riding tons this year so I was totally thinking I would dominate the bike. Doing a tri on a stationary bike is...kind of boring...Oh, and a couple minutes in I realized my seat was dropping. I got off my bike, raised it and tried it again. A couple minutes later it happened again...and again...the race officials tried to help, but it was just not happening. It was so frustrating. I had to fix it SEVEN times. And then the photographer came to take pictures of us on our bikes and I told him, "That one DOES NOT go on facebook." That angle encased in triathlon clothes...it is not the greatest.

The run was...ok. Going from bike to run always seems to be a shocker. And my legs were a little fatigued from the ride the day before. Oh, and I was still flustered from bike malfunction.

The take home lesson of the event: tris are hard. So, I have resolved to only do ONE tri before Death Ride. I need to focus on the bike, and I do think that even the small tris are a little disruptive to my training. Also, there is an element of stress involved (race logisitics, parking, bib numbers, nutrition, transition set up), which probably isn't worth it because I have a feeling that in 2 months I may start getting a little loco from Death Ride anticipation.

LESS JILL UP THE HILL UPDATE: down .8 pounds to a grand total of 9.2. Seems small compared to last week's 2.4, but at least it is in the right direction. Oh, and take home lesson is don't have Hot Pot the day before weigh in as there may be some major water retention.