Sorø Triathlon Report

Yeah, yeah, so I really am insane enough to complete my first pregnant triathlon now 8 months pregnant. But come on, it's only just become triathlon season, so I couldn't start earlier. Plus I suddenly realized I could fit into SR's wetsuit. And my tri club was going. And it was in the nearby beautiful town of Sorø. And SR and The Lorax are still in the US, so I had no responsibilities.

I arrived very, very early. I wanted to run before the start to warm up. It is really important for me to "warm up" now that I am so far along. And I hope you all realize that when I say "warm up" it actually means "evacuate bladder and colon" :). So I decided to run the 4.2 km run route before the tri actually started. Since I was so early, I was awared start number 1!


This is my first time with number 1. (and it seemed ironic and sad that number 1 might also come in last. I just hoped I would't be too far behind everyone else.)

My "warm up" went really well and I figured I was ready.

Here were the distances:

375 meter swim
15 km bike
4.2 km run

Here is the lake and the ladders we used to climb out.



Here is a video of the beginning of the swim. Can you identify the large pregnant woman in a bright orange swim cap scurrying to get to the side before the start so she doesn't get kicked?? Okay - normally I swim with a better stroke, but I was so irritated that the guy in front of me was walking. Is that allowed??!!




(if you can't see that video, like me, here is the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/101306852460861752402/AltanTriSor2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOqJnJGizYqbfA&feat=directlink#5622486249829061810)

I remained to the side the entire swim, which wasn't the fastest way to accomplish things, but I only got kicked once and not in the uterus. I still ended up finishing in about the middle of the pack in around 18 minutes. By no means a fast swim time, but it was fun! (I adore lake swimming!)

My transition was terrible. First you had to run about a quarter of a km on rocks and across a street to the bikes and then actually getting out of the wetsuit was probably the biggest challenge of the day. I was rolling around like an eel trying to get out of that thing. (they are made for a normally-shaped human body after all).

Why is it I always resemble a boy when I see picture of myself on a bike?



The bike route was fast, except for the big hills, rain, potholes, etc. Okay, so it wasn't that fast. But I was able to use my tri bars nearly the whole time, at the expense of some lung capacity. Let's just say I was happy to pass the hung over high school student talking on her cell phone and biking at the same time. She was the only person I passed who didn't have a flat (and she wasn't even in the tri, so it probably doesn't really count!). Time: 35 minutes. Ouch.

Oh geez, when I arrived, Helene, (seen here)


a good friend from our tri club, had just finished! Wow. She won second woman and I was so proud - had to stop and congratulate! But then I was off.


It was a 2.1 km x 2 (=4.2 km) trail route in a woods. The first loop was slow and I had to make two visits to the bushes. The "warm up" hadn't been as effective as I had hoped. But then, by the second loop, I actually started passing people and came in with a run time of 23 minutes. Hey, hey! Not bad for the end of a tri!

Total time was 1:22, with way too much time spent in transition, but I am just so big and awkward these days. (all of these times were from my watch, by the way, so they are approximations from when I looked down at the time. But I do know we started at 10am and my watch said 11:22 when I crossed the finish line. Turns out it was good I had a watch, by the way, since their timing system stopped working because it got wet in the rain!)

I was awarded a seriously nice black backpack by the Sorø Tri Club because they were so relieved I didn't go into labor. What an awesome morning! Thanks to the Sorø Tri Club and to Daniel for all of the pictures!