Happy Friday to you!
The week has flown by for Eric and I. Last night we sort of freaked out because we realized our Try-a-tri is in 2 days!
1) We had to pick up our rented wetsuits…
Aren’t they so cute? :lol:
Sketchie wasn’t so sure about these mystery objects…
Having the wetsuits here in the flesh made it much more real. As in… you can’t back out now suckas!
2) We had to look at the rules of the race and figure out what we need to bring.
We put together a GAME PLAN…
[Thank you to Grace for showing me her Tri checklist!]
We also liked this tip on the beginners tip page:
“The best advice I can give any Newbie triathletes is to get to the swim start early and do a good warm-up in the water. The swim is often the most daunting part of a triathlon and I don’t care if you come from a swimming background, open water swimming is different than pool swimming. When you can’t see the bottom and there are no lane ropes people often freak out a bit and then they have trouble swimming. Factor in any trouble navigating and you’ve got a long swim on your hands. Take some time to get comfortable in the water and with the fact that you can’t see as well. Practice sighting the orange buoys so you won’t get lost. The more time you spend getting comfortable, the less time you’ll spend panicking.”
Hopefully we are not forgetting anything major. I am still debating whether I will bring Dwight. I don’t think I can wear the Garmin 305 in water and I am a bit uneasy about leaving it at the transition area.
We found out last night that we have an open-water start, as opposed to starting the swim on land. They did not specify whether we will be able to stand in the water or if we will be treading water before the gun goes off. Either way, I am sure it will be fine. It is a try-a-tri for beginners after all. I am sure they aren’t going to throw us under a bus!
(click to enlarge)
There are 3 WAVES for the try-a-tri start and each wave is 3 minutes apart. We still don’t know what wave we are in yet, but we should know by tomorrow.
We both feel a lot better now that we have taken some time to review how the race will proceed. Fear definitely comes from the unknown and once you understand what you are doing the fear dissipates! The same thing happened to me following my very first race last June 2009. I used to think running in a race would be scary and I swore I would never do it, but once I just did it I realized it wasn’t bad at all.
Right now they are calling for RAIN on Sunday and I hope that changes because I am not a fan of biking in the rain.
Onto breakfast! :biggrin:
Last night I also tested my first batch of dessert hummus!
In this batch of dessert hummus went:
- Chickpeas
- Peanut Butter
- Pure Maple Syrup
- Sea salt
I know it sounds completely weird and gross, but you have to trust me on this one…it was DELICIOUS! I didn’t measure when I made it last night, so I have to do another trial before I can post the recipe for you guys. It will be coming soon!
I decided it would be a fun layer in the banana soft serve vegan overnight oats this morning…
Yummmmerz.
I made the carob banana soft serve again today (mix 2 tbsp carob powder into the banana soft serve when processing).
With a sprinkle of coconut and a layer of dessert hummus, this was deelish!
Back to work! I have a very lofty goal of getting caught up by the end of today. I don’t see it happening, but miracles do happen. :biggrin: Have a great day!!
Good Luck! I am anxious to hear how it went, as I am doing my first Try-A-Tri in Aug out in Oakville. I decided to choose that one simply because it was later in the summer so the water would be warmer (not for the 2hr drive to get there lol). Would love to come see the course and cheer you on, I will think of you while I run my 8k race Sunday am.
Stay warm and I have full confidence you’ll ROCK!
ohhh an august swim sounds much much warmer! lol. Thanks for your goodluck wishes! I agree confidence is key when trying something scary.
I’m so excited to hear about your triathlon! I had a few tips I wanted to share with you (learn from my mistakes!)
As someone mentioned before, a brightly colored towel helps you find your bike b/c when you run into transition, it’s so hard to figure out where yours is! I actually always put my brightly colored towel on TOP of my bike, so I can find it faster. I lay out my stuff on a handtowel on the ground. This really helps establish your “space” – transition area can be cramped! I’d also suggest bringing an extra bottle of water or two to rinse off your feet. The run from the swim into transition can coat your bare feet with sand, dirt or gravel, depending on the location. Being able to rinse them off really helps! Just be careful that when you pour the water, it doesn’t pour down onto someone else’s stuff. Whoops. :)
As far as the tank top goes, it is REALLY hard to put on a tank top (especially one with a built in bra) over your swimsuit. Trust me – I”ve tried. It gets rolled up and…no fun. My friend had pinned her number to her tank top, tried putting it on, and the number ended up ripping off. No good. Are you going to wear any shorts? I pinned my number to my bike shorts the first time and that helped – I didn’t put a shirt on, just biked and ran in my bathing suit and it saved me that time. For my last triathlon, I got a race belt – BEST thing ever for triathlons. Your race number is clipped to that and you just put it on over what you are already wearing. Really makes things quicker.
Okay, so I have now realized I need to just write a blog post about triathlons for beginners and my own personal do’s and don’ts. :) Hope this helps!
Thanks for the tips!
When you said you put the race bib on your shorts- didn’t that get in the way when biking?
Your wetsuit looks so tiny!!! How exciting for your tri! My first post partum 5k is this saturday and I’m getting nervous just for that lol
I’m sure you and Eric are gonna kick that triathlons booty haha! Best of luck :)
One more tip I heard recently: Vaseline (or Body Glide) the neck as well!!!
Enjoy the tri! I did my first last year and I was SO nervous. Mainly about the swim. And it’s true, it’s easy to freak out but as long as you know that, you can talk yourself down. And everyone was so helpful and accomodating as I am sure they will be for yours. And you can always flip on your back and swim a little like that while looking at the sky to calm your nerves. It helped me!
I loved it and felt so exhilirated and proud afterwards. I made sure to have fun at every point. And I did! I think you will too. :)
Good luck!
I just wanted to say that I love your site. All the different food creations look so delicious and really inspire me to try new things! I actually featured OSG on my blog because if there is anyone out there not reading this they darn well should be!!
Good look on the Try-a-Tri!
awww thank you!
Thank you! That is so nice :)
Best of luck to you and hubby on Sunday. There’s no question in my mind that you’ll do fine!
Looking forward to hearing all about it!
I’m so excited you made dessert hummus! I cant wait till you come out with the recipe. I shall definitely be making it!
The wetsuits actually ARE cute. I’ve been thinking about trying dessert hummus, too!
Do it, it is SOOOO good!
Great tips! I’m saving this for next year when I start training for my triathlon!
That dessert hummus sounds just crazy enough to be AMAZING!
Good luck! I’m sure you will do great. Here are some tips:
-Bring a plastic container(something big enough that you can put your feet in) fill it with water and place it next to your towl. That way, when you run in from your swim…all you have to do is step in it to get rid of all the sand, dirt, gravel.
-Take a dip in the water before your swim start… this will allow your body to become acclimated to the water so you when you do actually start your swim, you won’t experience a shock from the water temperture.
Good luck!!! Have a great time at the race! Enjoy it!!!
I LOVE the idea of dessert hummus! I bet it would be awesome with some cinnamon coated pita chips! YUM!
Good luck on your tri! I am sure you will do wonderful!!
Dessert hummus is delicious! I have made pumpkin hummus before, which was great with cinnamon pita chips.
Good luck with your Tri… I can’t wait to hear about how it goes.
Good luck with your triathlon. I’m sure you will do great. :)
The swim start can be the most nerve racking because of the water and the thrashing and the people. Just keep calm and know that people may kick you or get really close and there will be a lot of water being thrown around. As you come out of the water, I like to keep an order to how I take everything off…start taking it off as you run to the transition area and you might want to practice (it might sounds ridiculous, but it helps). I like to do goggles, cap, zipper (of wetsuit), then start taking off the arms and peeling down to the torso, that way when you are next to your bike you just have the bottom have to take off!
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll have tons of fun!
Love the idea of the dessert hummus, you may be on to something!
Where do you buy your carob powder from?
Good luck, I’m sure you will both do great!