Just got home from a long day of racing in my first triathlon and then driving three hours to Michigan for my cousin's graduation party and driving three hours home :) All on no sleep! (Actually my extremely sick husband was kind enough to drive home this evening so I caught a cat nap in the truck)
The triathlon was awesome!!! It was really cool. I had a blast, and did pretty well. Everyone else that went with Team in Training did great today too!!! It couldn't have been a nicer day.
There were over 100 people there today. (They had planned on 70) The swim was two laps (400-500 yards) in a smallish lake/pond. Very murky and green! The bike was two 6 mile loops out on the roads which they called "flat". And the run was an out and back 5k on a trail at the park.
I got there fairly early so i had time to watch other people set up their transition area stuff so I didn't look like I was completely clueless. Coach Melissa was there too so she helped us get organized. I had station 21 which was in the last row. So I had to run further from the lake to my station but dropping off the bike before the run was quicker. I was worried about running from the lake to the transition area because it was on pavement and I have had a stress fracture and bone bruises on my feet. (Pavement plus no running shoes=Bad!) But I didn't even notice it during the race.
You get a swim cap with your number on it (I was 242), a tag for your bike, and a number tag for your outfit. No body painting today.
There was also a super sprint going today (half the distance of the sprint). So they started the super sprint in the lake. Then the women doing the sprint started two minutes after them. (The men started ten minutes after us) I was amazed at how little you could see in the water. I was one of the first women out of the water (about 8 and a half minutes) which was pretty neat. Other than some trouble keeping in the right direction and running over some of the super sprinters I did great! When I got out of the water I was a bit dissoriented and tried to go the wrong way but everyone steered me onto the course.
Got into the transition area and I couldn't get my darn bike helmet to snap on, uggh. I also had a hard time getting my bike gloves on. So even though I was one of the first out of the water I was not one of the first onto my bike :(
Started the bike at decent speed (the slick tires were a real blessing). I passed two people going up the first hill (Not a flat course by any means). It was a two loop course and I made pretty good time for me. (about 44 minutes on the bike) I got passed by about 6 women out on the bike ride (I thought I would get passed by quite a few more). I got into the transition area and was much quicker this time but had some trouble getting my bike back on the rack. Chugged some water and headed out onto the run (at about 57 minutes at this point).
The first 3/4 miles were a little rough. My legs felt a bit like jello and the course was on gravel so I was worried about turning my ankle. After that though I got into a groove and the course switched to a paved trail. I passed quite a few people on the run so that felt good, especially because I didn't have to push too hard to do it.
I finished the race in 1:22:07. (By my watch, the official times have me at something faster check it out 86th overall and 17th out of the women) I have no idea if that is good or bad but I felt great! I had planned on about 1:30:00-1:40:00 so I was really pleased. Plus I think I came in about 4th or 5th in my age group (3rd in my age group was 1:20:00)!
I was so proud of everyone today. We had three of us that had never done a tri before and we all did really well. One of our mentors did it and she got a trophy. And we have a teammate who used to participate in tri's about 15 years ago doing her first one since 1989! It was really amazing!
I will try to post pics tommorrow! Thanks to everyone who encouraged me :) Two more months till the real thing! (Now I am off to bed!)
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