10/1/06: My First Tri-Try Andy's Tri!

It wasn't pretty, and I certainly DIDN'T have a chance in HELL of placing in my age group, but I finished the damn thing. And you know what? It feels pretty cool to call myself a triathlete now that I have done one, and there are certainly more to come in the near future!!!

Anyhow, to the actual report…I probably made the dumbest rookie mistake of not packing my stuff the night before, but I knew I wasn’t going to sleep as well as I would have liked, so I just got up extra early and slowly packed my things. For those of you that have done Tri’s, you know there is 20 times as much stuff needed in your gear bag then you need for a road race. Not to mention your bike! And then there are the logistics to plan around, like how to get your bike there and lay your stuff out at the rack, as well. I printed a check-off list from http://www.racechecklist.com/ so it really saved any headaches and it helped me plan everything out.

After all the gear was loaded, I readjusted my bike seat and checked my tires for pressure and put my bike on the car’s rack. I didn’t get a chance to oil up my chain or really check out my breaks, but oh well, I guess I would have to handle 10 miles on the bike the way it was…and it seemed fine. Okay, good so far. But I was running a little behind. And did I mention it was warmer then I would have liked, great.

I get to the race parking after driving 80 mph with my bike flapping (it seemed) down 59S. Ekkk, not cool. I was in a good mood though, I just wanted to hurry and get there and relax. I ate my typical bagel and banana breakfast at home since I knew eating at the race start wouldn’t allow me enough time to digest before the swim. I rode my bike from the parking lot to the start which was about a mile or so. Something crazy happened though, as my chain randomly fell off while I was casually riding-hmm, I should have noticed that this could be a sign of things to come. I quickly fixed it though and got my body marked up and the bike to the rack.


I had forgotten my bike marker/flag but luckily, my rack was easy to spot and my bike, about mid-point through (made a mental note here). I had another Tri expert help me rack my bike (since I have a hybrid, my bike doesn’t rack by the handlebars like road bikes do) and I put my race # on my helmet and bike. Those two numbers were foreign to me having to put on and luckily the race officials reminded me to put those numbers on. I pinned my chip on my ankle and stripped to my suit…ahhhh the joy of walking around strangers in a swim suit isn’t as weird as I ever thought it would be.

I made a last-minute pit stop, said hi to Strider Andrea and looked for my ‘training partner’ Stacie Pyle, who had agreed to do this crazy thing with me. I felt instantly relieved when I saw her, knowing she was about to do this crazy thing with me, too. I was in the last wave, women ages 29 and younger. We were the smallest wave, with maybe 60 women or so. There was also a girl that was 12! I told her I was happy for her for doing her first Tri so young. We had a moment of silence and all that jazz and inched in waves towards the water. I was instantly more nervous and yet relieved watching others swim.

Then, right before we stepped in the water, I got really really nervous. For some reason, I KNEW the one lake swim I did wasn’t going to help me now. The water was temperate and muddy at this point. I got in and felt my chip strap slipping around on my ankle so I quickly repinned it tighter. I looked under the water just to see what it was like and could see nothing but mud. Ughh, this was not going to be fun. The gun sounded and I allowed the faster women to swim in front of me. I then took a big breath…and began.

Instantly, I swallowed water and panicked as I got hit in the head by another swimmer. Hmmm, this swim thing wasn’t going to be very pleasant. I tried my best to freestyle (just like in the pool), but as luck and the dirty water would have it, my body just refused to allow my head in the water. I would freestyle for a few strokes, panic, and switch to a backstroke or sidestroke. I pretty much did this all 300m. It was the longest 11 minutes of my life. There were a few other girls behind me, including Stacie. I didn’t know how she was doing, but I wasn’t doing well, and she was a better swimmer then me…

After 11 minutes of HELL, I got out of the pool, glad to see the familiar face of one of my student’s dad help me out of the water. Then, I heard my Marathon training buddy, fellow Strider Hillary cheering wildly for me. All I could do was shake my head slgihtly dissapointed and tell her I panicked in the lake. “It’s okay,” she said, “You can bike, you can run, you will pass them all in the run, right?! Right!! Go, just go, go GO!” That meant the world to me for her to be there. I can never thank her enough.

The transition went well…put my bike shorts over the suit, took off the cap and goggles, put on my socks, shoes and sunglasses, snapped my helmet and race # on and went on with business. There were hardly any bikes there so it was easy to spot mine. The transition flow was confusing, but I just kind of winged-it and followed where people were shouting from. I must have been in a daze or something from swallowing muddy lake water. But I got on the bike and away I went…

The bike felt slow, as I had used way more energy in the lake then I needed to. Plus, my bike computer was not working (go figure!) so I had no way to gauge distance/speed other then my running watch. Also, it’s kind of funny to think about now, but there were no mile markers for the cycling portion. The course was rather boring anyhow and had lots of long, straight-aways. Other then that, there were some overpasses that looked potentially scary, I noticed. And, mind you, I hadn’t biked on anything with an incline in my training rides up to this point…so when my bike chain fell off as I incorrectly changed gears going ‘up-hill’, all I could do was not get scared and try not to panic.

My chain fell off one other time…towards the end of the bike portion. I had managed to pass a few people on the bike by this point and put a nice gap between us, but I felt the minutes and my small lead pass by as I had to dismount again. I probably lost 2-3 minutes due to my chain both times. Ohh, the things I learn about quickly fixing my bike when I have to do it though…

As I approached the transition point, I had already put my bike into a higher gear to get use to my legs moving faster. I slowed down, quickly dismounted and threw my bike in my bike spot. I didn’t have to do anything else other then grab a big swig of Gatorade out of my water bottle, take my helmet off and put on my running hat, and grab my Sports beans that I had taped to my bike. Woohoo, I flew through the transition in under a minute (probably one of the fastest times for my age-group) and on to the run! Again, Hillary was there to cheer for me and tell me I could do it. I felt my confidence coming back, as now I was in the familiar running territory and I was ready to tear it up!

I felt a little sore and wobbly and it took a minute for me to catch my breath, but after about 5 minutes, I felt mostly ‘normal’ again. I grabbed water at every stop and ate my Sports Beans. I was passing people like crazy. I probably passed about 50 people I would guess. I was very surprised by how many people were walking, just like Hillary had said. With every person I passed, I cheered for them and felt even more confident. As the finish approached, I passed a girl in my age group and then started to sprint. And I saw one of my students cheering for me! How cool is that! I saw the finish line and saw the crowd and heard their cheering. I knew I was going to finish it, I knew I was going to finish!

The moment I crossed the finish line happened so quickly, but it felt so glorious and I felt so on top of the world that I didn’t want that moment to end-I had literally stopped dead in the finish shoot. I just stood there thinking and pondering--all of the training since June...paid off. How rewarding is it to compete in a swim, a bike AND the run! And even though I didn’t win, I certainly wasn’t last, and I did pretty well for myself on that run. It was a blur of a finish and but a true reflection of my real prize, being a triathlon finisher…and a second later my chip was unpinned, I was handed an icy towel and I kissed my boyfriend. (<--All in all, not a bad finish line prize besides finishing the race! :))

So…now came the glory of being done and I ate like a horse (pizza, breakfast tacos, cookies, a coke…) after stripping off my soaking swimsuit top and taking off my shoes and socks. I was completely soaked in water from head to toe. I figure it was JUST humid enough to where the lake water never quite evaporated? Not sure how my shoes got wet, other then the run course was a bit cross-country...I found Hillary again at the post-party and gave her a big hug. I then watched and cheered Stacie in to her grand finish. I am so proud of her for doing it too! And of course, I had to ask her if she is going to do another Tri, and we both agreed-we have to avenge our times!

So, look for a repeat performance from me next July…but you bet this time there is going to be a pool swim! Now, go laugh at the pictures HERE!

AND THANKS TO ALL THAT HAVE ENCOURAGED ME AND HELPED ME AT THIS POINT…I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOUR SUPPORT DID NOT GO UN NOTICED. YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!!!

THE STATS:
20th out of 27 women, in 25 to 29 age group
436th overall out of 535 finishers

26th in swim-11:10.3
16th in T1-2:22.0
26th in bike-42:37.1 (ave 14.1 mph)
NO official T2 time, although I pulled .43 seconds off my watch
6th in run-27:24.1 (9:08/M)

TOTAL DAMAGE-1:23:33.5

BUT, most importantly and why I did it:
TO HAVE FUN (haha) and TO FINISH.
and I did both! Can't wait til the next one:)