Finish time: 2 hours, 56 minutes, 40 seconds
Age Group Place (Women 25-29): 7 out of 10
Overall Place: 146 out of 219
What a great race! I’m pretty impressed with myself on this one. For my first time doing this distance, and not having trained for very long, I think I did rather well!
The day started off at a chilly 64 degrees outside. I was a little worried about the water temp. because I don’t have a wetsuit and didn’t even think I’d need one (until it got rather chilly last night when we were celebrating the 4th). I checked online and it said the water temp was 68 degrees, which is on the cold side. I had bad memories flash through my head from Tri for Joe last year where the pool water temp. was about 64 and I couldn’t feel my feet for most of the race. That was cold! My worries were alleviated once they started making pre-race announcements and saying that the water temp. was 73 degrees. I can handle that. Once I got in the water to test it out, I knew I’d be fine. I’ve been in my fair share of cold pools. The temperature of the lake was actually rather pleasant.
I waited around for awhile for my wave to be sent off. I was in the second to last wave because they had all the sprint distance triathletes go first. So I did a lot of waiting. While I was waiting, I was getting nervous. All those pesky questions started running through my mind…was I prepared? Was I in over my head? Was I going to be dead last and everyone would be clapping for me at the end? I was nervous (shouldn’t have been though!). Finally my wave was sent off.
Swim- I never worry about the swim portion because I was a swimmer growing up. Granted, I was never the best swimmer, but I can hold my own in a pool…and I’ve managed to retain most of my swimming skills through the years. Let me tell you, swimming in a lake is a whole different ball game! Sighting is no fun…you have to look up every now and then (or trust the people around you to be swimming in the right direction) to make sure that you are heading towards the next buoy. When I sight, my body alignment in the water gets all messed up and throws my stroke out of whack, which in turn slows me down and takes a lot of energy out of me. For this triathlon, I had to do 2 laps around the swim course (compared to my usual 1 lap for a sprint distance). The first lap was messy. There were lots of people all bunched up and I started to catch up to the wave that was sent out ahead of us. The second lap was much better…everyone was spread out and at one point this guy next to me started walking on the lake bottom (which is allowed), so I just watched him instead of looking up to sight. I figured he could see better than I could since half of his body was out of the water. I tried to keep myself at a manageable pace throughout the swim. I might have slowed down a bit, but I think I did a pretty good job of pacing. I came out of the water feeling pretty good. Swim time: 29:36
T1- I’ve done plenty of transitions in the past 2 years of triathlons, so this was a cake walk. I felt like I got in and out at a decent pace. I’ve been having some trouble getting clipped in to my new pedals, but they cooperated today and I didn’t slip off of them or anything. T1 time: no time reported
Bike- I was the most nervous about this portion of the race. I typically get passed on the bike…probably by much faster people overall than I, I get that. I am usually in the front half of the pack coming out of the swim, and it all equals itself out on the bike, I guess. It still sucks to get passed by people though…especially when they fly by you out of nowhere! I felt great on the bike today, though! There were a couple killer hills that people got off their bikes to walk up, which are no fun. But I stayed on my bike the whole time and tried to stay in aero position as long as possible. My lower back started hurting around mile 8, which was not fun, but the pain fluctuated between manageable and excruciating. Time to take my bike back in to the store that fitted me, I guess! I have to get this problem sorted out before my Half Ironman. The thought of 56 miles on a bike with lower back pain sounds awful! There was a point in the course where we had to turn around in the road to head back and my left leg cramped up pretty bad after I clipped out to make the turn. I just kept moving it and it went away (although I was a little fearful that my legs were going to cramp up on the run…but they didn’t!). Throughout the bike I just kept saying to myself: “Calm. Relax. Get ready for the run.” It kept my mind off the lower back pain! Bike Time: 1:25.06 (17.5 mph pace)
T2- Easy peasy. Some people on my bike rack took a long time in this transition. I threw off my bike shoes, threw on my running shoes, sucked down a Gu (see picture below of what I think of Gu’s), and I was out of there! T2 time: 1:43 (Maybe next time I just take the Gu with me because I was the 8th slowest transition time in my age group.)
Run- I had thoughts during the bike that I should try to run the whole run portion, but quickly came to my senses and decided I didn’t want my IT band syndrome to flare back up because I was being a little too competitive with a bunch of people I didn’t know or care about. I reminded myself that I was there to race my race and I wasn’t there to try to beat anyone. So I started my watch when I exited the transition area and did my run/walk intervals of 4 minutes run, 1 minute walk. I got passed by quite a few people on the run, yes, but I was also able to finish the run very strongly and pass two girls in my age group in the process! These two girls took off out of the transition area right about the same time I did and they died at the end…which is when I made my move. The run wasn’t too bad, but I think the weather definitely helped that be true! There was no sun out all day, and the temperatures stayed in the high 60s/low 70s the entire race. It was great!
I averaged just under 10 minute miles, and I walked every 4 minutes. No knee pain and I even sprinted at the end while everyone else around me hobbled in. Run Time: 1:00.17 (9:44 mile pace…woo whoo!)
Post-Race - I’ve read in a couple blogs where people recommend you go hang out in the body of water that you swam in after you complete your triathlon to aid in the recovery of your legs post-race. So, that is what I did. The water was freezing (did I really swim in that with no problems only 3 hours prior?)! But after a second of standing in it, it started to feel good on my legs. I don’t know if it helped at all, because my legs are still sore right now…but I’d like to think it helped a little in the recovery process :).
The dogs, wishing they could go for a swim too!
Overall, it was a great first time Olympic Distance experience and I can’t wait to do my next one (which will be Tri Indy)! Next weekend I’m doing the Fit to Fight Triathlon, which is a Sprint (sorta) distance. I’m feeling very confident now in my abilities to do the Half Ironman and even the Ironman next year! This was just the race I needed to kick off my triathlon season :).
Thanks to Eric for taking all these great pictures, while also trying to manage two crazy dogs and all the people that wanted to pet them!
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