I paid $10 for this picture! (and other tri costs)

I consider myself a somewhat frugal person.  Largely, this comes out of necessity as money has been really really tight, but recently I've had more flexibility and feel like I am slowly getting back on solid ground.  I still like to price compare and use coupons at the grocery store, and I keep the food budget for Tony and I below national standards.  How people make their financial decisions can be really personal, and I know that I spend money on things some people would never consider, while others spend in ways I never would.

All that to say, the cost to tri includes a monetary one, not to mention the time commitment and so on.  I think examining monetary costs is interesting and important, so after some debate, I've decided to plow forth.

Swim:
Suit: $25 - I didn't have anything suit wise that didn't fall into the camp of beach bikini, essentially nothing appropriate for athletic activity.  I saw sport suits run as much as $100, but I bought this one at swimoutlet.com for less and I have no issues with the quality of it.
Goggles: $7 - also purchased at swimoutlet.com
Swim Cap: $7 - I wanted a lycra one for practice... I was given a mandatory to wear latex one for the race.

Bike
The Bike (of course) - $850 - read my post on this!
A helmet - I had one, but could have been $40 to $200 (I bought mine several years ago, but I'm sure it was no where near $200)
Bike Shorts - $50 (also purchased at swimoutlet.com)

Run
Race (ID) belt - $8 - mine had a zipped pocket for gels, also an id badge.  I've been using this using this as a safety measure and gel carrier on my long runs as well.

Race:
Race Entry - $89 (this is with the early bird discount)
1-day USAT Membership - $12
MinnefotaMomentsPic $10

Total: $1058

What I didn't include were things I bought primarily for running such as new shoes and the garmin, partially because I didn't use either of them during the actual race, but also because I would have bought them anyway for just running.  Most of the stuff on this list can be used again and again, so this hardly reflects the cost of one tri - but it does show there is a fair amount of upstart costs to getting into the sport.  The bike is area where I could have spent less and may have had the money not been available, but also an area where I could have spent way way more (like more than my car more).

On this list of things purchased was this picture:

that's me - who knew?

I might not recognize myself if my name wasn't attached.   I look determined ... and dare I say - athletic?  

So the costs to to tri are high... but to me the experience was priceless.  Also, I'm so showing this photo to my hypothetical kids one day.  

Tri-umph!

You guys -  I'm in love with triathlons... !  My experience on Sunday was beyond my expectations. 

Ok, that's the condensed version... but now for the nitty gritty. 

Trench coatin'

Weather predictions were gloomy for this day... and it made me a little nuts in the last couple days, because I was totally planning for 80 and hot all summer long.  I don't have a wetsuit or bike pants or anything warm for tris.  In this picture, I am wearing my trench coat over my "suit" as I wait for us to be herded like cattle to the swim start.  Luckily, I had a Tony to take this from me for safe keeping shortly before the actual start.  On the plus side, cold air meant the water felt warm and it was at 78 degrees, so I didn't miss the wetsuit.  

Can you find me?

My parents came out to see me and snapped this of the crowd as we were getting going.  I was able to spot them first and then wave to them so they could see me.

Swim: (10:57)

As much as I've enjoyed swimming, am pretty comfortable with lake water and have even gotten quicker over time - This was still the hardest part.  Just something about that murky water, getting clunked in the head a couple times and having un-perfected sighting skills which caused me to go crooked a couple times... makes this all pretty hard.  This met my expected time though, so I can't complain.    

Wash station

 T1 (4:54) 

I splashed my feet to get rid of the sand, got the bike shorts and shirt on, helmet on, made an attempt at drying off and the time flew by. 

Bike: (56:17)

My first rookie mistake here was not making sure the chain was on properly before starting.  It fell off as I started to pedal.  I've dealt with this before as I was (trying to stay calm and) leaning down to fix it a race volunteer was already there to help me.  Needless to say, I was really impressed with how well this race was supported with volunteers.  Also, despite that mishap slowing me down... I had no trouble biking my heart out and even shaving a few minutes off my expected bike time!  whoo hoo! 

T2: (1:07)

Much smoother... but my second rookie mistake was leaving my helmet on... luckily I saw Tony on the run course and was able to hand that off to him - phew.  

Run: (32:54)

My legs were not feeling 100%, and I needed to tie my shoe, and I walked all the water breaks... but I guess I didn't need to worry much, because I totally rocked this! This is literally had my second best official 5K time ever.  I would have never guessed!

I'm in red

I had my polar on, but I didn't look at it until the run portion.  I wasn't sure how I had done on the swim or bike when I rounded the bend towards the finish line.  I told myself it would be okay if the gun time was past 2 hours, because I had started in the third wave.... but when I saw the 1:51... on the clock I knew I had done really really well.  At the risk of sounding conceited - I totally wowed myself. 

Final (1:46:08)

If you remember correctly, I was hoping for under 2 hours, with 1:46 being my best hoped for.  So, I'm 8 seconds shy, but really I'm floored.  I really feel like I put the umph into Tri...if you know what I mean.  It really makes we wonder what I can do now (or what I should do now).  I'm so sorry if this post just sounds like me reveling in my own glory - I honestly had so much fun and I don't even know how to feel.  

Tony and I

Tony provided me with race transportation and chauffeur service and he makes most of my meals for me :).  He's been all-around supportive!

My parents and I

My parents, I must say, were excellent spectators - I saw them at almost every transition point!  They are also responsible for most of the pictures on this blog!  

I'm gonna tri: Race Predictions

So I'm calling these race predictions as opposed to goals... because my goal is to finish.   That being said, I might be a little down if I end up wildly outside of these times.  Also, I'm writing this with a bit of a schedule crunch looming, so I apologize in advance if it is haphazzard.  

Swim (500yd):  10-12 minutes
I've been going a little towards the slow end of this in the pool, but I know with the run in and run out of the water I can shave some time, just not sure how much.

T1: 2-4 minutes
Haven't totally figured out how to get into bike clothes, shoes and on a bike very quickly.

Bike (15.5): 60-70 minutes
I have a huge window here because ... I really don't know.  I was uber fast in my practice tri, but normally I've been a little slower.  However, I usually have to break or stop when I'm out on the roads, which I assume I'll have to do less of during the tri.  Also, true truth I have yet to bike a full 15.5 miles on the road bike, but I've done a few 15s... and 27 in one day(but not one ride) on the hybrid this spring.

T2:  1-2 minutes
I did this in 30 seconds for the practice tri... as much less needs to happen during the second transition.  I basically just hung up my bike and kept on moving.  That being said there will be a little more going on with the race tri in terms of where I can enter in and so forth... so I gave myself some extra time.

Run (5K or 3.1 miles): 33-37
I've done a few post-bike runs... all of them ha-urt, and my legs feel like lead.  Surprisingly though, it hasn't made horribly slow, just slower.  Anyway, no record breaking 5Ks for this race, but if I'm this range it will feel respectable.
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Total: anywhere between 1:46 and 2:05 would feel about right.  At some-point I might of said out-loud that I wanted to be under 2 hours, so I'm in fairly decent shape to do that too... just not sure.  Wish me luck!

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Tri-packing

...  since every blog needs a picture.

Buying a Road Bike

I thought I should take a moment to document my experience in making what was my single most expensive  purchase this year, and naturally also my biggest expense in regards to the tri.  

I bought a road bike, and I learn a few things in the process, so I thought I could share the story.          

When I first started looking into road bikes this spring they were all too expensive and the options to difficult to understand.  I knew it would probably help me go faster, but I wasn't about to drop a lot of cash on something I had no idea about.  I also currently own a moderate hybrid bike (so I could still practice without making a purchase).

A little later I learned that there are three different price points in most brands of road bikes.  A good description of what that means here, scroll to mid page to read the bike part.  The bottom line price in any of these bike brands is around $800 (when you account for tax and so on), which was near the tippy top of my spending bracket.  I didn't like the idea of spending a lot for a little, so I shelved the new bike idea.

I got tipped off by the roommate to the idea of searching on craigslist, but didn't quite know what to look for before navigating the endless list of ads.  Tony introduced me to his friend, Mark, who works at a bike shop and he taught me the ropes and showed me what to look for.

The hardest thing to figure out was sizing - the good news is that if you are close enough you can usually make adjustments, since I was looking in the used market I knew I might be going for close enough.  I had my bike friend Mark size me at a 19in frame size. I was glad to have a friend help me, but an easy way to figure out if a bike fits you is to stand on the ground over the bar of the frame and lifting the bike up to you.  If you can lift it more than an inch it is too small, and if it is less than an inch too large.  Obviously, if you can't stand over the bike with your feet still on the ground - too large.  Once I knew I needed a 19 inch (plus or minus an inch) frame I was able to pre-screen out a lot of bikes.

The cool thing about shopping for used bikes is that there are quite of good finds, but you will have to filter out a lot of others.  Bikes are a little like boats, people buy them with great intentions, but sometimes they just sit in the garage.  I was able to weed out most of the "bad eggs" simply by following a few simple "rules".

• Seems obvious but I looked for bikes that were being labeled as "road" bikes as opposed to commuter or touring.  
• Stick to recognizable brands : Specialized, Trek, Fuji, Cannondale, Surly and Terry is a good list but there are others.
• Staying with bikes under 10 years old
• Shimano brand gearing (which is fairly standard - other options might be okay too)
• 3 front gears minimum, 8 back gears minimum. (or at least a 24 speed)  
• Curved handle bars

This list alone shortened my list of possibilities quite significantly.  From there I looked for added features, such as clipless pedals and tribars.  I ended up trying out two bikes.  A Terry at $550, which I liked, but had two different size tires, which was really weird and I felt it was too small.  I also tried out a Fuji originally priced at $950, which was notably outside my price range, but was clearly in excellent condition, so I thought it was worth a test ride.

 
The test ride proved very successful and I learned that the bike was top of the line parts and materials.  Spoiler alert: I bought it.  Had I purchased a comparable bike new it would have been $1350 to $1500 in price.  Granted this one was 8 years old, but most of that time it had sat in a garage, and it was well maintained.  Also, I was able to negotiate them down $850, which is almost like a $650 savings (almost).  It came with tribars as well, but not clipless pedals.  Since $850 is still a pretty expensive purchase for me, the clipless pedals will have to wait for now.

As I said earlier, I've been in a bit of debate about this purchase.  I don't exactly have money to throw around, but I had a couple cash influxes that helped with this.  I also think I sort of "deserve" get a "reward" for all my training.  I was going to treat myself to a fancy lululemon run outfit, but I found some great deals on cheaper run clothing at marshalls, so I think this bike will fit the bill.   :)

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Unrelated blog update: I deleted the Disqus comment app on this blog, because it was giving at least a few would be commenters grief.  Unfortunately, this deleted the comments along with it and I'm still in the process of figuring out how to retrieve those as they still exist on the disqus site itself.  Oh technology *sigh*  

To the lone runner.

I'm not sure how many of you follow the PostSecret.com blog.  I'm a fan, but sometimes it's absolutely heart wrenching.   I saw this secret on the blog today, and my heart went out to this person.

When I finished my first race of a significant distance the TC 10 mile - I finished alone.  There were others that I knew in the race and I had support from friends and family outside of that day, but I got to the race by myself, finished alone and drove my own self home alone.  I asked a stranger to take the picture in this blog.  

I'm sure if I had written a secret before this race, it might of looked similar to this one.  However, finishing on my own taught me a valuable lesson about myself... simply that I was a very capable person all by my lonesome. Perhaps something I knew to some degree already, but this knowledge was invaluable at the time I received it.  

It also helped me separate myself from the expectations of others, something I've always struggled to do.   Suffice it to say, very few people expected me to run.  I truly ran that race for no one else's approval or because I was supposed to, and I ran it at a time when I had recently failed on a lot of things I had felt I was supposed to (not that doing those things was making me particularly happy).   Running has made me strong in ways that go beyond running.  I'm not convinced that running is a universal remedy for all, but I think there must be something about the pushing, pounding of the pavement, and sweat that makes it work for many.  Running has worked for me because it helped me find a seed of strength at a time when I otherwise felt weak.