one week to triathlon

Well, it is one week from today and I'm both excited and nervous.  I got an email from the race director that said the water temperature is currently 62 degrees!!!  Yikes.  I am not wearing a wet suit, so that is going to be really cold.  The swim is only 400m, so hopefully I can just suck it up and make it through.  I went out the lake today and went in and it was REALLY cold.  I only swam a tiny bit and then got out. I've done the bike (16k) and running (5k) course every weekend for the last 4 weekends, so I'm feeling pretty confident about that. I'm mostly worried about the water temp. and about the swim/bike transition.  I am planning to put a shirt and shorts on over my bathing suit and wear that for the bike and run.  When I put them on today after my "swim" they both immediately were soaking wet.  That worries me a little, especially if it is cold during the bike leg. Anyhow, I guess there's nothing I can do about the weather or water temp, so I might as well not put my energies towards that. On a happier note - I did my 5k run today in my fastest time yet (35:37) and hopefully with the excitement of the race next weekend, I could be even a little faster than that. Thanks to everyone on here for their support and inspiration.

Good Luck - have a great time and let us know how you did. 

You'll do great!  My only tidbit of advice is try not to put too much pressure on yourself.  It's a first one and just take it, enjoy it, and learn from it.  I wish you all the best!  Linn

i'm anxious to see how you do. i signed up for my first one in August. Am taking a swimming class to prep but need to up my running. hope it is NOT a windy day, good luck! judi

Thanks for the encouragement.  Judi - I just started running a few months ago.  I don't think I'll run the whole 5k, but I actually think I go faster with short walk breaks any how.  Good idea with the swimming class. I'm actually taking a tri class at my YMCA and it has definitely helped. Good luck in August.  What are the distances?

hi Zoe: I signed up for the sprint, the shorter one 1/3 mile swim 10 mile bike 6k run maybe next year i can do the longer course what are your distances?

Mine's a little shorter than yours - 400m swim, 10 mile ride, 5k run. I think I'm going to stick to this distance for a while and try a few before trying to do anything longer.  I went out and swam in the lake last night and it was really cold, but bearable and doable.  Now I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll do ok.