It is official, Russell and I are triathletes! In January we decided we would try our hand at a triathlon so with the much coaxing from some friends, we both took the plunge and signed up for the Spudman Triathlon in Burley, ID. This was a big step for us because while we have done running and biking races, we have never done a swimming event. Russell was not worried about this because he is fine in the water but I was terrified. I am not a swimmer. In January I could barely swim one length of the pool without looking and feeling like I was drowning. I knew this would be a struggle for me but I decided it was time for me to overcome my fear of water. It literally took three to four months of dedicated swimming practice, some coaching from a friend, and lots of YouTube tutorials to finally get the strokes down and actually learn to breath in the water before I felt like I was getting the hang of it. Then it was just working up the endurance for the distance. Oh and then relearning all of it when we started practicing in open water rather than the pool. Open water was a totally new experience and made me have to face new fears of not being able to see or touch the bottom or sides...
Well the day finally came. It was time to see if all of our hard work and training had really paid off.
Here we are all tattooed up and ready to go. We reserved a campsite at an RV park near Burley and spent the weekend. Unfortunately our trailer was still in the shop being fixed from the water damage. Thankfully though Tyler let us borrow his trailer so we were not stuck with a tent. I don't think I even slept the night before the race because of nerves. I kept running all sorts of scenarios through my head about what the race would be like but in the end none of them really happened.
That morning we woke up really early to get to the race. My start time was 7:10 am and Russell's was 7:30. We met up with our friends and had to get a group photo before it all started:
Okay so it is mostly Russell's friends and they let me tag along. Our group included Tyson Booth, Tim Rohmann, Jimmy Neville, Justin Slack and us. Tyson and Jimmy were the ringleaders that challenged the rest of the guys to sign up. Originally I was just going to let the guys have it but then Justin made some pop comment about it being a Spud'MAN' not a Spud'WOMAN.' That just made me mad so then I had to sign up. My whole goal in training for this thing was to beat Justin! (or at least make a good effort at it.)
The morning wasn't necessarily cold but I was shaking with nerves. I didn't know what to expect and the huge Snake River full of giant sturgeon lay before me just mocking me. I knew that if I could get through the 1 mile swim (downriver thankfully) I could get through the rest to the race with no problem.
At the sound of the gun, we jumped in the water and started swimming, or doggy paddling, or back floating, or anything we could do to get down river to the end. The swim for me was a learning experience, let's just put it that way. I wasn't panicking or anything but the whole time I was just like, "please don't drown, please don't drown." So I would back float or doggy paddle most of the way. Don't worry I was not the only one doing this actually the majority were except for the elites. Anyway then I would get bored and start doing the real strokes. I went so much faster when I would do that but then I couldn't see where I was going so I'd go back to doggy paddle. Then I'd get me bearings and go back to strokes. Finally I made it to the finish of the swim and was so relieved!! I was alive! Except for tripping on a big rock getting out of the water, I was safe! Now on to the things I like to do, biking and running.
The bike portion was awesome! I was cruising on my bike and the scenery of the farm fields was pretty awesome too. Yes I got passed by a bunch of elites but I also passed a bunch of people too. I could have kept riding all day on that course. Next it was time for the run, my sport. This was not my best run but it was okay considering I had just swam 1 mile and biked 25 miles. I was going along great passing people along the way when at mile 3 I had to go to the bathroom... I hate that feeling. So of course there were no bathrooms and the one port-a-potty had someone in it. I decided to wait and use the one port-a-potty. When I got in there, my tri-suit was a pain to get off because it was still kind of wet and then I didn't even need to go! I was so mad I had wasted so much time! I got back on the road and tried to make up some time but by then my legs were done. Stupid bathroom break... The best part of the race was the last quarter mile which was all downhill. I was basically sprinting to the end and it was so cool! I crossed the finish line with my hands in the air cheering. It was the best feeling to be done. Now to cheer on Russell.
So there I was getting ready to do my first triathlon. I was watching all of the swimmers get into the water and I was getting excited. They called our heat and now there was no turning back. Tyson and I got into the water and the gun went off. I started to swim and think positive thoughts. As I was swimming, I looked up and noticed the shore moving really fast. I was like yes this current thing is great I am going to be done in no time. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming was going on in my head as I dodge people in the water. The end was close and I swam fast to catch up with Tyson. We came out of the water at the same time. As you can tell, my gut is big and I had to scratch my back.
My transition to the bike was okay, I couldn't get my watch to change over and it took up a couple of minutes. The bike was my bread and butter. I cruised so fast. My average speed was around 22mph. It was a cool course to ride. I found myself close to the finish line and I told myself to take it easy you still have 6 miles to run. I look back now and I should have sprinted and taken off a few minutes. Oh well. My body was feeling good and ready for the run. I took off and did the first two miles, and then my body hit a wall. I was trying to keep positive and I ended up getting into a groove of run .50 miles and then walk about a .25. I tried this electrolyte gum Tiff got me. I put it in my mouth and I chewed it a couple of times and spit it out. It was so nasty. I still finished just over an hour, not too bad. I got to the finish line and all my legs wanted to do was keep moving. Tiff found me and she came up and I told her I can't stopped moving. We walked up to the Intermountain tent for chocolate milk, I was excited for that. I took one swig and I was going to get sick. I never thought my mouth could play tricks on me from being that out of wack. A banana even tasted bad. I stuck to electrolyte drink and other treats until my bad slowed down. It was a fun race and well worth the training. Tyson and I were sitting down for a minute and then decided to jump back in he river to cool off. It was a great idea. The whole weekend was a great time. I would do this again.
We had done it! We are officially triathletes and have the medals to prove it! It was so nice to work so hard for this accomplishment.
We were both so happy to be finished and both ready to sit down in the shade and eat all of the post race snacks. The food wasn't really anything special just some fruit and chocolate milk but it tasted so good after that race. At least it did for me. Russell thought everything was gross. Ha!
We are Spudmen! (OR SpudWomen!) The Spudman was also on our 17th wedding anniversary. What a great way to celebrate our life together.
And our results are in:
Russell finished in 2:58 and I finished in 3:01. I may or may not be a little upset that he beat me by 3 minute.... (Stupid bathroom break...) Anyway... good job to both of us for doing something we have never done before. Our goal was to do the race in 3 hours so we both accomplished that goal. So did I get my goal of beating Justin? Well yes and no. Overall he did beat me by about 5 minutes. But I totally beat him in the run (even with my unnecessary bathroom break) and our bike times were about the same. He did much better than me in the swim and transition though. So yeah I was okay with the results.
If you would have asked me if I would do another triathlon that day, I would have said a big no. But now that I have thought about it and kind of analysed my race, I think I would like to try this sport again now that I know what I know. I really think I can improve on the swim portion and I can definitely improve in the transition areas. Overall it was a great learning experience, and a check off of the old bucket list!
After the race, we cleaned up a bit and headed out to see the sites good ole Burley, ID. Well there is not a lot to see but we heard great things about the Shoshone Falls so that is where we went.
The Falls were really cool from the lookout above. The Shoshone Falls are known as the Niagara Falls of the West. While they were not running at the full capacity this late in the season, there was still quiet a bit of water rolling over the Falls. We were hoping to actually kayak to the falls and see them up close though, so, after talking to some locals, we found out we had to drive to another park and then kayak up stream to the Falls. All right we thought this would be fun. Well, like everything in Idaho, this was another disappointing tourist trap.
We drove to Centennial Park where we could put the kayaks in the Snake River and started paddling up stream toward the Shoshone Falls. We didn't think it was very far down the river so we didn't take any water or anything with us. Well we were wrong... As we kayaked down, we went under this cool bridge near Twin Falls. By this time we had gone about a mile down the river. We knew it had to be just around the next bend. Then we called to some other kayakers to see how much farther we had and they said "Oh not much more you are probably half way." So we kept going and going. Finally we asked some other kayakers and they said "Well to Shoshone Falls you probably have about two miles but to the small falls just around the bend." What? What small falls? and the other guy said we were almost there? We kept going.
Well we got to the small falls (above) and that was literally the end of the river! There was no way to get through on a kayak unless we went up the water fall or got out of the river and packed the kayaks around on land for a quarter mile. We were so sad... Shoshone Falls was another 2 miles up the river on the other side of this land barrier. There was no way we were going to get there. Maybe if we had known, we would have packed a lunch and some water and made a day of it but we were not prepared.
Oh well one dream dashed for the day... We do want to come back though and make a day trip out of it and make it to the Shoshone Falls because that would be fun to be up close to the falls. So sadly we turned the kayaks around and paddled back up the river to the truck. Going back was harder because the wind was against us and we were paddling upstream. Whew another workout for the day... Finally we made it back to the dock and loaded the kayaks. We had kayaked close to 5 miles! It was time for dinner and bed.
This was a great trip and a great accomplishment for Russell and me. We had a great anniversary!
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