Some of you know how scared I am of tris… if you don’t, well, I am scared of swimming, I can’t handle the bike, and omg the logistics… ay.

But there it was, an indoor triathlon, plus, it was a RELAY, within a few miles, add my will to try new things and a triathlete husband to reluctantly do all the stuff I didn’t want to do. Basically, I convinced him (not the other way around!!!) to do the bike and swim, and I’d do the run. Also, it was for fun, and somewhat a Valentine’s Day Weekend fun thing.

The event was at Chelsea Piers. The pool is not deep, but I was a bit intimidated anyway. Also, we were the only two not doing it as a relay, so at some point I thought it’d be better for him if he just did the whole thing. He’ll be faster that me, even after the bike, but he had a long run to do, and we didn’t want to mess that up!

Anyway, registration and check in was a breeze, race was starting at 7 am, we got there at 6:35 and by 6:38 we were getting undressed. 6:45 at the pool.

I don’t have pictures (because I was distracted?!?!?!) but they did a snake swim. Which is really hard to explain but I am sure you can look it up if you want the details. Once the swim was underway I sort of wished I was swimming and just hung around. Juan got out of the water and transitioned/run to the bike. This is a spin bike Juan, NOT your bike, okay? that was rough for him.

I don’t think he’s ever sat in a spin bike so that was a bit hard to adjust to. He’s crazy obsessed with biomechanics (like I am!) so he was looking at the power and position and stuff that was completely not important. Chelsea Piers does have compu-trainers (whatever that is!) where he could have put his own bike, but we didn’t want to bother with bringing it. There’s options! I focused on refilling his water bottle, so useful, team effort!!!!!!!

When he was done, it was my turn!! Let’s goooo!

It was weird in a way because, as we were all starting at different times, I couldn’t pace with/off anyone… I had to do my own thing. LAPS. Luckily it wasn’t as hot as I had expected, and the views are always amazing. Oh those boats!

I had to do 12×400 so they gave me 12 rubber bands to put on my wrist and I would throw one into the basket with every lap. Best Idea EVER. That’s how I didn’t lose my sanity. I have no idea what’s the trick to count laps. I’ve never been able to do it. I remember when I did the 60K, 9 laps of 4miles, COULDN’T DO IT. And doing an extra lap there would have been crazy… 

I would also tell Juan how many laps I had left. Just in case I forgot. I would lose my mind if all my races were laps. Or maybe I would get used to it. Who knows.

My run was 22:12 for the 5000 meters. Not bad after all the crazy stuff I had done that week (and a long run the day before).

They had a great spread, food and drinks. It was about 10 of us…? Can’t remember. Some triathletes, some runners, all cool people. We actually stayed for a bit and enjoyed the quiet Chelsea Piers on a Sunday at 8 am. Juan run back home, to do his long run. I took the train back thinking I had just done a triathlon. Not really, but almost.

If you’re thinking about participating, there’s a few more coming up. Details here. Thanks Chelsea Piers team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was awesome!!!

Fun times!