One year ago

I was just thinking about what I was doing one year ago today. I thought about this because they were metioning it on one of the triathlon fourms I like to look at. I realized I came pretty far in a year!

This is what I realized:

A year ago, I was not yet a triathlon finisher. Now I have finished four.

A year ago, I was just signing up with the recreational swim team that I used to be a part of in the summer. I wan't even working out yet. I am now on a more competitive year-round swim team.

A year ago, I thought swimming a mile was hard work. Now I can easily swim 5,000 yards.

I used to swim a 50 meter sprint in 38 seconds. Now I can do it in 35.

I used to barely be able to run a mile. Now I can run 8 without stopping.

I used to not even know how to work the gears on my too-small bike. Now I have a good fitting bike (not a fancy one, still a mountain bike you can find at Wal-Mart) and can ride (slowly) up to 3 hours.

One year to date, I knew about triathlons, found a race that looked intresting, and though I wouldn't start working out and training untill June, I was woundering "what if..."

Where were you one year ago?

My race report is up!

You can view the report here.

OSU Sprint Triathlon results

That person in the picture above is me!

Haha! Not! I finished dead last. Out of 249 racers I finished #249.

Place: 249/249

Swim 400 meters:

Rnk: 250/ 249 (How did that happen? Someone must have quit the race after the swim?)
Time: 17:21 (I had to poo and change my clothes. That took 10 minutes. It dosen't take me 17:21 to swim 400 meters!)

T1 Time : 1:34 (more like 15 minutes! They counted most of my transiton time in my swim)

Bike 12.4 miles:

Rnk: 249/249
Time: 1:35:51
Rate: 7.8 MPH (I'm blazing fast!)

T2 Time: 1:09 (A little shorter this time!)

Run 3 miles:

Rank: 226/249 (Yeah! Not dead last on this one!)

Time: 30:10
Pace: 10:03 (Either I've gotten really fast on the run or they mismeasured the course. I hope it's the former!)

Total time 2:26:05 (Yeah! I'm blazing fast. Call me the next winner of the Hawaii Ironman!)

Believe it or not, I still got first place in my age group since I was the only one in my age group. It was a very nice first place plaque I recieved.

I think I am ready to move up tp Olympic distance triathlons now (after I work a little on my bicycling skills). I didn't feel very tired after this triathlon like I did after all 3 triathlons i did last year. It felt like the end of a normal workout. Maybe I just need to go faster!

Oh well, that was probably my best race performance yet. Full report comming tomorrow.

Participation lists for the OSU sprint triathlon are up!

Haha. Isn't that picture awesome!

I am already extremly excited for this triathlon. Out of 248 participants, I am the only one in my age group. Yeah! Definate trophy for me!

I already won 2 trophies out of three of the triathlons I have participated in. This is because there are so few people in my age group. Now I will most likely add a third to my collection. You would think I'm actually good at triathlons. I'm actually not. It takes me over 2 hours to finish a sprint distance triathlon. Oh well, at least by winning a trophy I will look fast!

We leave for Colombus at 6:30 A.M. tomorrow morning for a 9:00 tour of OSU. I most likely won't be writing in here tomorrow, unless the hotel I'm staying in has internet acess.

See you after becoming a triathlon finisher for the 4th time!

Wish me luck...

Treadmill runs can solve anything

I love exercising because it always puts you in such a good mood afterwards. Everytime I have a long workout (i.e. 2 hour swim, or a triathlon) the way I feel afterwards is on top of the world. Even short workouts can help a lot.

Yesterday I was in a really bad mood thinking about something depressing that has gone on in my life for quite a bit of time. I normally try to forget about this particular thing but yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was in a bad mood all day and was really looking forward to my workout.

It was amazing because after about 40 minutes on the treadmill, the problem didn't matter as much anymore. I felt relaxed, calm, and ready to go to sleep and start a new day. I was still upset, but a little less so.

I am loving all my workouts. I love the way you feel afterwords-relaxed, calm, and ready to take on the world. I don't feel that way so much in my regular life. Some things I just feel powerless to change.

Ending on a happy note, I am really looking forward to going to Colombus this weekend for the triathlon I am doing at Ohio State University . I am spending the weekend in Colombus. On Saturday, my parents and I are driving up to Colombus to get a tour of Ohio State University.

OSU is one of my college choices, though not a top one. I would rather go to college somewhere warm, such as Florida. Since we are going to be in Colombus for the triathlon, however, I decided to tour the campus. I will tour the campus to get a feel for what the college is like even if I don't decide to go to college there.

I may decide to go to college there, however, since it is only 2 hours from where I live. Like I said though, I am more intrested in going to college somewhere in Florida. I have toured the University of Miami campus while vacationing in Florida and really love it. University of Miami is definatly my first college choice. I used to live in Florida a few years ago, and really miss living there.

After the tour is finished, my parents and I will explore Colombus. We will later go back to a hotel and stay the night. In this hotel I get MY OWN ROOM, like I said on a previous blog post. I will spend the night in Colombus, do the triathlon Sunday morning, and then drive back home. It will be an intresting weekend!