Out of a five star rating, I definitely give a full five stars to the sport of Modern Pentathlon.  I competed in US Nationals for MP last weekend and it was like nothing else I have ever done before, and I like to believe I am pretty adventurous!!   It was an international competition, with representation from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Canada.  With only 4 weeks of training prior to the event, I was very pleased with how it turned out. 

So what is Modern Pentathlon anyway?  It is an Olympic event this is comprised of 5 different sports: swimming, fencing, running, shooting, and horse jumping.  For this event, I did not participate in the horse jumping event, as I have not yet learned to jump.  

Never having any experience competing in this event, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when race day finally arrived.  In fact, I guess I was confused with what to call it even:  a race, an event, a competition??  All in all, I don’t really think it matters!  What does matter is that I fell in love with the sport.  I had the most amazing support crew too, which included my coach, George, one of my dearest friends in the world, Hugo, and my awesome LA family, Nick, Gina, Sammy, Tony Jr., Milton, and Lil Bit.  They made my day more amazing than I could have ever expected. 

The day started off with a 200 meter swim.  There was plenty of time to warm up and warm down for events throughout the day, as the sports are held separate from one another (except for the run/shoot, which I will talk about later.)  For the swim, I jumped in the water at 7 AM for a 20 minute warm up in my new 2008 Olympic Speedo LZR swimsuit, direct from the fantastic folks at Speedo.  It took me a full 20 minutes to get on, but man, did I felt like a fighter jet in the suit!  (The suit is AMAZING.  Thanks Daniel!)  The race itself only lasted just over 2 minutes, but I was certainly pleased with the outcome, coming in first over the entire field.   A good way to start the day!

Next was fencing.  I have never even been in a fencing tournament, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect there either.  We started off with more warm up time, where I paid close attention to what the other girls were doing.  I was especially interested in the current US Olympian who was competing that day, as it is always amazing to watch and learn from the best of the best.

For fencing, you are put on ‘teams’ of 2 that ‘travel’ around together and fence other teams of 2.  This helps in the tournament bout scheduling.  I became fast friends with my fencing partner, as she had never been in a fencing tournament before either!  I started off pretty rough, losing several of my first ten bouts.  I was very proud of myself, in that I was eventually able to relax and turn things around.  I won 4 out of my last 6 bouts after I finally got the hang of it.  I have a lot more training and practicing to do with my fencing coach, Oswaldo, but I am certain all our work thus far has paid off.  My body is quite bruised from the other end of someone else’s weapon, but I am working on that.  J

After fencing, we headed to the US Olympic MP Equestrian Center for the run, shoot, and horse jump.  What a beautiful facility!  Usually, the third event is Equestrian, but the format was changed to accommodate scheduling for this event.  After an hour or so rest, we headed out to the heat of the desert to warm up (again) for the run/shoot.  These two events have recently been combined to add more ‘excitement’ to the sport.  Personally, I think shooting is quite exciting either way, but it is not up to me, is it?  J  As for the run, I wouldn’t mind if they dropped it all together.  Being a water animal (swimmer), I am working very hard to get faster on the run.  I shot pretty well for being new, but the girls next to me were hitting 5 out of 5 with no problem.  I have set up a shooting lane in my basement and get up every morning to enhance my skills.   

All in all, it went very well, with only 4 weeks of training.  I am taking a quick vacation break, but am ready to start hammering out some more great training before the next big event in August.