I had won an entry to the Rockford Triathlon in a drawing through the Tri Shark triathlon club, of which I have become a more active member these past few months, this past winter. I was excited by this for a number of reasons. First, hey...free triathlon! Second, I have some very good friends that live in that area and I am always excited by the opportunity to be able to see them.
The week leading up to the tri, I checked the weather a few times and was somewhat discouraged to see that it wasn't looking good as far as having a pleasant weather situation for the event. Regardless, I was pumped for my first "real" triathlon of the season (I am referring to this event as a "real" tri...since it involved an open water swim. The first tri I did in Morton had a pool swim and the Tri Shark triathlon was turned into a duathlon thanks to the E. coli adventure!). I was excited to see where my skills lie in a tri with an open water swim, bike and run, compared to last summer.
Friday night I was awoken a couple of times by heavy rain. Saturday morning when I got up...it was sprinkling. When I arrived at the transition/registration area, it was wet/mushy/icky. Ugh.
While I was waiting in line to pick up my packet (yahoo for smaller events with day-of-event packet pickup!), I was greeted by a familiar face...my good friend (and graduate school roomie!) Brooke walked up to me! She had driven out to the park from her home about 45 minutes away and had arrived at the early hour of 6:30am just to hang out with and support little old me! It was great to see her...and meant a lot to have her support in the minutes leading up to the race.
After I got my number, shirt, and cute little bag with the race logo on it, I set up my bike and related accoutrements in the transition area. I was pleased to see that we had assigned areas based on race number...and I had scored a spot right at the end of a row on the inside aisle. Ideal!! After setting up my bike, I sprayed myself down with lube and wrestled into my wetsuit. I headed down to the beach and did some yoga poses/stretches in the sand to get prepped and ready to rock. The water looked less than inviting, however I was still pretty excited to get moving.
I was in the third wave of swimmers, so after the first two waves set off I made my way into the water to wait for the start. I quickly realized that the neck of my wetsuit was a bit too snug. Every time I breathed on the left side, the wetsuit rubbed on the back right part of my neck. Darn it all! Rookie mistake...I didn't adjust/check for areas that rubbed on the wetsuit prior to taking off.
The swim course was approximately .45 miles long...after completing one loop of the course, participants had to get out of the water, run over a timing mat and jump back in for round two. Approximately 300 yards or so into the first loop, I felt a crawling sensation on my exposed skin. I realized I was swimming though some sort of water plants. It kinda grossed me out, because I'm a wimp in the water. It kinda felt like snakes or bugs. Sick. Thankfully, swimming through crap didn't last forever.
I was out of the water in 34:45. This isn't a super-fast time, but it is decent for me. There were 8 women in my division (Females age 30-34) and my swim was 7th out of 8. Looks like I still have lots of work to do in the water!
Once I was out of the water, I had to run up a small incline that felt like a huge mountain after being tired out from the swim ;-). I "hurried" to the transition area and fought my way out of my wetsuit. I am soooo uncoordinated when it comes to getting out of that darn thing!! I secured my helmet, put on my shoes, grabbed my bike and was out of T1 (transition 1)....in 3:35. I was 5th out of 8 in T1....WAY too slow. What the heck was I doing in there?! Ha! ;-)
I was excited to see another Rockford-area friend, Jill, standing under an umbrella outside of the transition area with her cute 1-year-old daughter Gia. It was hilarious to see Gia's look of disgust as she sat in her mom's arms under the umbrella on that nasty morning! Also with Jill and Gia was Michelle, a friend and former college roommate who now lives outside of Rockford! It meant so much to have so many sweet supporters!
The bike was challenging for me. It rained basically the entire time...which freaked me out. I'm not really sure why. I've never fallen or crashed or anything during a ride when it's raining, but for some reason it's one of my (many) paranoias. I was also trying out some racing wheels from a friend (zipp 404's)...trying new things makes me nervous too. Not exactly rational, I know, but my nervousness on the bike definitely showed in my finish time: 1:26.24, breaking down to a 17.4 mph pace. I was actually 3rd out of 8 in my age group on the bike, which is pretty great. However, I was frustrated because I know I'm capable of much better in that area.
I was happy to get off of that bike...it's definitely not fun to be uptight/nervous for about an hour and a half! The run is the "easy" part for me, and I always feel better once the swim and bike are behind me! I was out of T2 (transition 2) in 1:10. This was the 3rd fastest time out of 8.
I happily (yet tiredly) set out on the run course. It was raining steadily at this point and my shoes sloshed soggily with each step. Brooke was waiting right outside of the transition area and ran with me, singing encouragingly in true Brooke-fashion the entire time, for about a quarter mile or so. This was a fun distraction from my tiredness!
The run course was kinda beastly. It was rather hilly...I really don't feel like any of it was actually flat. It seemed to be all either uphill or downhill. A 10k (6.2 miles) is really no big deal to me, but I wasn't crazy about this course ;-). It thankfully didn't rain the entire time I was running (unlike my time on the bike!), but my shoes sloshed/made rhythmic duck-like noises (from being soaked sitting out in the transition area) for 5 miles or so...which was kinda irritating.
Toward the end, a girl in my age group passed me on my left during a flatter portion of the course. I complacently allowed this, until I mentally realized I really should've been pushing harder. I was able to turn on a bit of steam and we fought one another (with smiles in a friendly fashion, I must add! ;-)) for a big until I ultimate pulled ahead on an uphill and kept it strong until the end.
I took a slight wrong turn a few hundred yards before the finish, but was quickly redirected with shouts from onlookers. I finished in 53:54, with an average mile per hour pace of around 8:33 (average for me). This was 5th out of the 8 of us in my age group.
My overall official finish time was 2:59.39. I was ECSTATIC to finish in under 3 hours! This was my first time finishing an Olympic-distance tri in under 3 hours. My place was 6th out of 8 in my age group...definitely not stellar, but I'm pleased overall in spite of that.
After the race, I was greeted by Brooke who had spoiled me by bringing me treats (strawberries and nuts!) to chow down on after I finished! Yummmmm. It was nice to spend a bit of time talking with her and recapping the race to her before she had to head home to get cleaned up to get to a wedding out of state! It was awesome that she was able to come!
I've spent some time perusing my results from last year's triathlons. It's fun to see how far my training has come from last year. Last year was really my first season of doing tris. My first tri in May of 2011 was a horrid experience (I had NO idea what I was doing!). I had thrown in the towel on the whole tri-thing until a year later...on May 24, 2012 when I decided to go big and give the world of triathlon another try and registered for the 2012 Branson half Ironman on September 23.
Last season I completed 7 triathlons: 1 sprint, 3 Olympic, 1 "modified" Olympic (longer than a sprint but shorter than an Olympic tri), 1 half-Iron distance (though non-sanctioned) and my big half-Iron distance A-race in Branson on September 23, 2012. I didn't get under 3 hours in the three Olympic-distance races last year, thus had made it one of my goals for this season.
This season has been good to me...a half marathon PR, completing my 8th marathon (and officially having the training base to be able to pick up a marathon "on a whim"!), placing 3rd in a 70.3 relay, placing 3rd overall female in a sprint tri (and getting a PR :-)), placing 5th in my age group in my first tri-turned-du AND now getting under 3 hours/PRing in an Olympic-distance tri!
This all speaks highly to my awesome coach, Laura! I'm so thankful to have found her and to have her leadership as I work toward my personal goals. I'm stronger physically and mentally than ever, thanks to her!
Can't wait to see what else is in store for me this season!
(Teaser: I confirmed today that my season will now include the NYC Marathon on November 3! I'm ELATED. Stay tuned for details!!)
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