Oh! I felt so very accomplished after my first triathlon - a sprint distance YWCA Women's Tri at Lake Nokomis on Aug 13th 2017. I'd like to write down my race thoughts and share with you how it all began.
上週日比完人生第一個三項競賽後，自己的毅力和堅持帶給我很大的成就感。我打算寫下我的比賽心得以及分享我是怎麼和三鐵結緣的！
In Spring 2015, I brainstormed with my husband on what sports to focus on so that I can have a specific goal to work on for my fitness trainings. I thought about kickboxing, Taekwondo (I learned it for ~2 years when I was in 5th and 6th grade), ballet, Cross Fit and pole dancing. Triathlon wasn't one of them. 😮
In late 2015, I swam for the first time after almost 5 years in the beautiful Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, and it was when the seed started to grow.⁕
Fast forward to summer 2016, a few of people I knew were involved in triathlon or ironman races, and I also got to learn about Gwen Jorgensen before her Rio race. I made up my mind then: I will train for a triathlon after I got my doctoral degree. 👍
2015年的春天，我和老公在思考說到底要投入什麼運動，才能讓我的健身訓練變得更有目標性。我們想說或許我可以做拳擊，跆拳道（小學時有學過兩年），芭蕾（幼稚園有學過），Cross Fit （一種舉重健身運動）和健身鋼管。不過，當時沒有想到三項運動。
後來，2015年底時，到夏威夷重拾了游泳(停游約五年)。頓時感覺身體的某個感觀被重新啟動，於是種下了三項運動的種子了！！
2016年夏天，剛好身邊知道或認識的人有在參與鐵人三項等賽事，也剛好被非常努力又有天份的美國三項競賽奧運選手:Gwen Jorgensen 吸引到，於是我當時下定決心：畢業後一定開始做三項競賽的訓練。
Through the trainings, I have become stronger both mentally and physically. And by participating in races, I revived my competitiveness within myself.
在這些訓練中，我發現我的心理和生理都在持續的變強壯。我也藉由參加運動比賽，來重啟內心與自己的競爭性。
Race thoughts:
Overall:
1. YWCA Women's Tri is a very Newbie, age, and all-level friendly race. There are a wide selection of training classes provided by YWCA Minneapolis before the race for people to get familiar and comfortable with the sport and the race. The race director and the endurance coaches are very friendly and helpful.
2. From the past three races this year (Tri U Mah, Hot Chocolate 5 K, and Red White & Boom 5 K), I knew that I'm good at making strategic plans and have the perseverance and commitment to follow through. So the big question to me for this race was how do I lay out an effective plan and get all the necessary resources.
3. My "tough goal" was to finish in 1 h 40 min, and I ended up spending 1:35:36.
Here are the splits:
對整體賽事而言：
1. 這是一場對新手，對各種年齡程度很友善的比賽。YWCA Minneapolis有提供（需要繳錢）很多三項運動的單日課程可以選擇，目的是讓有興趣的人可以快速進入狀況。YWCA Minneapolis的工作人員很專業也很友善。
2. 從今年的前三場賽事中，我認知到我擅長做籌備計畫，並能很有毅力的執行。所以準備這場比賽對我而言最重要的是：什麼是有效率的訓練計畫？我該如何把必要的資源準備到位？
The swim:
1. Preparation: I took a total of seven 1-1 swim classes last Fall, which was the first time that I learned how to swim front crawl from a swim coach. I also took one open water swim clinic this July from YWCA. I'm still a slow swimmer, but I'm much more comfortable and feeling more effortless in the water after my swim classes. I hope that I can join a Master Swim team this Fall. BTW, I found that my trisuit and wetsuit are very comfortable and useful (convenient) for the race.
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| Comfortable trisuit |
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| Convenient and useful wetsuit |
2. The race: My strategy was to swim what I have practiced, and with a "slow is fast" mantra. Unfortunately, my goggles fogged up to ~90% at the beginning of the race because I used the same goggle to warm up and then took it off before I started. I was not scared by the blurriness because I had similar experiences during my open water swim practice, but there were a few times that I had to actually slow down and use breast stroke to determine if the upcoming buoy is the right one to turn. 😝
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| I was so focused on executing what I practiced! |
游泳方面：
1. 去年秋天有去上了七堂一對一的游泳課–終於正式學習如何有效地游自由式。我七月初也去參加了一場YWCA Minneapolis辦的開放水域訓練課程，那堂課超有效，我也是從那之後下定決心要買防寒衣，不然實在太抖（冷）了，馬尬！！我現在的游泳能力還是屬於龜速等級（但已能 600 yard 自由式這件事已讓我感動涕零！！）。接下來就是看有沒有勇氣去參加游泳大師班了～
2. 比賽當天，我的策略就是：練習時怎麼游我就怎麼游。但是，人算不如天算，比賽還沒下水前泳鏡就大起霧，能見度剩下百分之十！！好哩加在，之前練習時也有因湖面反光看不到浮球的狀況，所以我沒有變緊張，腦中仍然是：我要游到終點，我要游到終點！！比較費力的是，我至少有兩次要稍微停下來看一下前面這個浮球是不是那個該轉彎的浮球！第一個轉彎後想說游內側一點這樣就不會多游太多，沒想到內側人群之多！加上我的蛙鏡能見度實在太低，在內側根本無法游（看不到前面的路和人啊！！），所以又乖乖回去外側了！😓
The bike:
1. Preparation: I got my first road bike from my Mom as part of my husband's graduation present 😍. And I rode ~60 miles per month since then. I also took a T2 workout class from YWCA, which really gave me the feeling of what the race would be like. The rest of my T2 workouts were in the gym.
2. The race: My target pace was somewhere between 17- 18 mph. My strategy was to follow what my body felt during the race. The volunteers were very helpful in cheering racers up and giving out clear directions! 👍👍👍
腳踏車：
1. 五月初媽媽送我人生第一台公路車。想說第一次騎公路車，就先使用腳套，還先不要上卡鞋。從五月開始到七月，我們平均一個月騎96公里。有在YWCA Minneapolis那上過一次T2轉換的課程，很實用，很有實戰感。之後大部分的T2訓練我都是在室內做訓練的。
2. 比賽當天我的目標是騎在 17-18 mph。當天有發現，若能超車就加把勁超一下，因為大部分的人後來都不會追上來。當天也被很多姊姊阿姨級的用風速般超車，她們簡直是我的偶像來著！💓比賽中途我補水也補的算頻繁，因為心跳上去了，趁著喝水補個咖啡因，順便休息一下（誤😌）！志工們超認真，除了打氣加油的，還有認真引導方向的，由衷的感謝他們願意花時間，給我們這些素未謀面的人加油打氣！！（聽到加油就又認真多踩了幾下的概念？😜）
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| Heading out 耶～出發！ |
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| Transition GO! 終於回來了，我的腿！！ |
The run:
1. Preparation: I had been using two 5 K races as my training benchmarks. Garmin watch has been my good friend to track my trainings and performances. I also started to work with a running coach from Taiwan in late July.
2. The race: Oh my! After my efforts in biking, my legs were just....NOT MINE. My heart rates were high (aka. my average 5 K race heart rate at the start of the run). So my strategy was to focus on my heart rate and not care too much about my pace for at least the first 2 miles. I turned my watch to the pace mode, and started to "speed up" as much as I can sometime after I entered mile 3. It turned out to be a good negative split. (9:36/mi, 9:33/mi, 9:09/mi) I still think that there are a lot of room for improvement for my cardiovascular strength.
跑步：
1. 基本上我是用四月和七月兩個五公里路跑來當作跑步的訓練指標之一。Garmin的運動手錶很實用，也每次都有使用。我七月底開始也開始跟一個台灣的跑步教練做遠端課程教學。
2. 比賽當天，一下腳踏車，心中第一個想法就是：該不會我的跑步要爆掉了吧？？這腿，動得了嗎？？當時一整個腿酸屁股酸，心跳又是跑五公里均速的那個高心跳。不過，從之前的訓練我知道，這個心跳我至少能維持三十分鐘到一小時。於是我的策略變成：專注在讓心跳維持或慢下，先不管速度。我是到了第三英里後，才把手錶條回速度開始加速的。當然後來心跳也就上去囉！😉感人的是，一路上，大會在路邊插了各種旗子，旗子上寫了簡單的打氣標語，例如：你跑得很好，加油，不要放棄，快到了，之類的。同時還有很多志工，會很認真的唸你的名字，等你到他附近時，給你“客製化”的加油打氣。在這種環境下比賽，怎麼會想放棄呢？？是不是！！！💖
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| Almost here - The finish line |
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| 快到終點囉！！ |
Conclusion:
I enjoyed the training process (~6-8 hr of training per week), and got to interact with some other strong women! I don't know yet about which and when will be my next triathlon race (perhaps one indoor in the winter). My current goal is to focus on running and more swimming in the Fall (and some social rides before it's too cold)!
最後，非常喜歡這陣子的訓練過程（6-8 小時每週）。有適當的訓練讓我能夠在賽前 賽中 賽後都能健康平安。目前還不知道下場比賽在哪，現在會專注在練跑和秋天的游泳（大師班？？）吧！也感謝我最死忠的粉絲（
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| My biggest supporter and cheer leader! |
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| I didn't look tired in this pic, but I was exhausted! |
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