I had a lot of fun at my very first triathlon. The two things I was most anxious about were the open water swim and the transitions – I really had no idea what I was doing with either and they both ended up being just fine.

Swim: 

500 Meters

Time: 14:13
Place: 351/470

The swim was a time trial start, so they basically just said line up where you think you should go based on your speed. Your race number was technically where you would get in. I was number 339 out of 500. Glenn signed me up for this race so I asked him what he put down for the swim an he said I was “average”. Hmmm, I think I’m slower than average so I probably went in about number 400? Not positive.

So many people tell me they freaked out on their first open water swim. I was prepared for that. And I made the decision to not let it happen. When looking out at the water at the buoys and where the turn around was, it look far, but I knew it wasn’t. It was 500 meters. I’ve been swimming 2,000 meters on a very regular basis now for quite a few weeks so the distance shouldn’t have scared me. I’d never done it anywhere but a 25 meter lap pool though.

I got in the water and just took my time and tried to get in a bit of a rhythm. I was sighting probably every fifth stroke or something though because I was afraid to get off course too much. When we turned the straight away to head in, I felt great, I was starting to feel warmed up and was excited to be on the home stretch of my first open water swim.

I wouldn’t say I absolutely loved the swim, but I did absolutely love that there was no freaking out and I  think I might have enjoyed it. It felt good to finish thinking I could have kept going for a lot longer. (good thing, since I’ll do almost 4 times that at Muncie 70.3)

Does my face indicate how excited I was that I finished the swim?

T1:

Time: 2:32
Place: 374/470

Yeah I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just threw everything on and did what I could. I messed with my watch a bit and feel like it took me forever to tie my shoes. I have old hand me down mountain  bike clip ins that my mom gave me 4 years ago. I need to get some velcro ones or something. Plus these ones are a size to big.

Bike:

10 Miles

Time: 34:18
Place: 307/470
Speed: 17.5 MPH

I should have had my watch strapped around my bike handle like I do when I ride normally. But I didn’t and I jumped on my bike holding my watch. The GPS wasn’t picking up and at around mile 1 I said screw it and stuffed it in the front of my shorts. I’m sure it looked lovely.

I had no idea how fast I was riding but I was trying to ride fast and not burn out too much. I could have rode harder. I liked the course being an out and back because you could see the leaders on the way out and you saw people the whole time.

I think I only got passed by 3 people on the bike and passed around the same. One lady I passed around mile 3, I’d been eyeing her the whole time. I couldn’t hold it though and she passed me right back a minute later. I figured I’d find her on the run, because she looked quite a bit older than me. (not that that means much- the guy who won and is 52.

T2:

Time: 2:14
Place: 385/470

Yikes. Don’t know why I didn’t realize how quick this transition could have been. It was embarrassingly slow. Even though this event was super short, I took a gel because I didn’t eat enough for breakfast and figured I could hammer the run better with some energy.

Run:

3 Miles

Time: 19:51
Place: 38/470
Speed: 6:37/Mi Pace

The run starts going up a big hill. It’s kind of like WHAAAA? There were some people walking up it. I was ready to work though. Got up the hill heavy breathing and all and took off. The rest of the run was flat but really hot in the sun.

It felt good to just pass every single person I could. I was passing groups of people at a time. I did not get passed on the run. At the turn around I saw a girl kind of cruising behind me and it motivated me to keep up the pace. My watch was being funny again, surprise surprise, so I wasn’t sure of my exact pace at the time, but knew it was sub 7 so I was happy with that. The whole watch thing is tricky with three events- do you clear for each discipline?

Here is the video of my run finish:

Overall: 

Time: 1:13:09
Place: 201/470
Female: 28
Age Group: 2

*I’m not sure how many females were out there and I’m not sure how many people were actually in my age group.

Thoughts my finish:

• If I took even a minute off of my total transition time, it would have put me at 185/470. There is no real reason I should have taken that long to transition. You learn though. 

• Running fast can only move you up so far- it moved me up over 100 places, which is good, but if I could get stronger on the bike especially, I could rock this a lot better.’

• I need to be a more confident swimmer. I’ve been putting the time in, I can swim faster than I think I can, I need to execute better form. 

Other thoughts:

I had my bike fitting today for Muncie 70.3. The owner of T3, explained to me how much I’m slowing myself down with the bike I ride. My mom gave me this bike 5 or so years ago and it weighs nearly 26 lbs. He said with a lighter bike I could easily take 2-4 mph off my bike time. It was discouraging to hear that, although I’m not super competitive with triathlon at this time, I hate to think of 10-15 minutes being added to my time simply because my bike is terrible. That seems like a lot of freaking time! He also talked about how it would effect my run because my legs would be more fatigued. For now though, we’ve decided I’m going to ride it out with my old heavy bike. Maybe it will make me feel that much more tough at Muncie. And I’ll secretly be hating you if you pass me on a fancy bike.

Kyle, Glenn, Marshall and Chrissy were out cheering. Chrissy probably knew like everyone there. And Erika on the far right competed as well. She is doing a full Iron Distance in two weeks!

Swim:

I’ve never done an open water swim. Anyone I’ve ever talked to who isn’t a swimmer by nature has freaked out on their first open water swim. Glenn did it just like all the others. Brian tells me I’ll freak out once I’m 50 meters out. I asked him how to prevent it and he says just calm down.

I plan on starting toward the back. I think there is at timing mat and they kind of just go in short waves and you can get out there where you feel like you fit in, speed wise. I’m thinking I’ll go in once 60-70% of people have gone in. I’ve got the breast stroke in my mind for if I have a freak out. I’m prepared for it and I’m prepared to stay calm.

Right now, I know I need to work on form when I swim- I did a speed workout yesterday and it probably would have made more sense to slow the speed work down and focus on form a little more. The heart rate was sky high!

I talked to a couple of girls last night who were swimmers growing up and they gave me some helpful tips for both the race and when I practice. We’ll see how it goes.

Bike:

10 miles on the bike is no big deal, but I’ve never rode 10 miles all out. I’ve never raced on a bike. I want to work hard, but I’m not super familiar with how to work hard on the bike. I’m thinking that’s how new runners feel. On the swim- I don’t care about pushing hard, I just want to finish feeling strong and not stopping really. On the bike, I know I should be able to hammer it and really test myself. I just have to make it happen.

Run:

It’s a 5K- I’m not sure what kind of goal to give myself, I think I should be able to run 6:55ish miles if it’s not too hilly (or hot!) BUT, I have never after both swimming & biking, so we’ll see.

Transitions:

No clue about transitions, but I’ll have all my stuff set out and will roll with it. I read Michele’s post after she completed her first triathlon last weekend (Congrats Michele!) Her post had lot’s of good stuff in it and didn’t stress me out too much, but made me start thinking about knowing what to have out there more. (and I have thought about the hair thing- gonna wear my haird in long pony tail under swim cap, since that’s how I have to wear it with bike helmet!)

I’m not good when working out gets complicated. Which is probably why I’ve never done a triathlon before. The whole packing up a bike thing or having to put a swim suit on and get wet thing is just more work. That’s why I like being a runner. You just need shoes and clothes and you go run. No body of water, no potential flat tire. Adam, commented on Michele’s post with some really great tips, but had me feeling a little overwhelmed about being prepared. Not that I necessarily need to be crazy prepared for this sprint, but for the half IM, I need to have my shit together.  (side note, I met Adam at the Shamrock marathon, we ran a lot of it together in the same pack- even have a finisher pic with him – it’s the second pic in the sequence) Thanks for the tips though for real. It has helped prepare me

Tomorrow morning at 8am is gun time, the race shouldn’t take too long. I’m not nervous about completing it, I’m mostly nervous about getting the swim done and transitions. I also hope it doesn’t make me all nervous for the half IM… which is a heck of a lot more intense than a sprint right?

The nice thing is, no matter what time I run, it WILL BE a PR. I won’t lie, I want to do well, but it’s not near as stressful as trying to beat a hard earned PR. This is why I wanted to do some triathlons this summer. I was getting burnt out after training for Shamrock. I put in a lot of big and hard miles for that PR and I didn’t want to think about trying to beat it again soon. Not sure when I’ll go again on racing my next marathon, but I will definitely be after 3:10 for my primary goal and 3:05 for a big goal. Glenn and I like laying the numbers out there- holds you accountable. If I don’t speak it, how will I believe it?

Happy Friday! Race recap to follow!