I did it... my first Triathlon

[Suzann]

Ok, so I was nervous the night before... But I did have a good pre race meal as I took a friend out for her birthday dinner at a pasta place. Went to bed on time (Around 10:30pm). Woke up and tossed and turned a bit during the night before my alarm went off at 4:15am. Ugh, that's early. Ate my cheerios, made myself a protein shake, loaded up the car and was on my way to my friends house to pick her up and carpool down.
The ride there took almost an hour, but we got there in great time and found a parking spot actually still in the lot of the park (apparently it fills up fast). Walked over to packet registration.. and got my big envelope. Flipped through it quickly until I was ushered off to get my legs marked.

After that, walked back to the truck and searched through the rest of the packet to see what I got. They tucked the t-shirts already in there so you didn't have to worry about picking up one later.. that was nice

Ken, my training partner and friend helped me get my bike off the truck and I was ready to go set up.

Set up my transition area just like I planned. Then took a stroll to the lake to see the swim area. It's a triangle swim.. you can see one of the buoy's.

It was getting close to race time.. so my nerves were getting a bit to me. Decided to stretch and loosen up.

They started the first waves of people (the elite) so I watched them off and into the water when I decided it was time to get the wetsuit on.. at least half way.

Watched more of the groups go, and realized that my group was going to be last.. I didn't realize that when I signed up for the 'friends and family' group. So I patiently waited.. and donned my swim cap. Funny, I have never swam in a swim cap before.. I definitely should have because it felt weird. Especially with the water around my ears for some reason

They finally called our group into the water and the enthusiasm from the group was inspiring and funny! One guy said "Friends and family.. the first aid and rescue should be more on alert" or another person said "Don't worry, we won't suck up all the lake, just most of it" and one more said "As soon as that horn goes off, I've already got a personal best" That brought a smile to my face!

Well, the horn did go off, and we all were off swimming. I got into a rhythm early.. not a lot of pushing or shoving and I had my own space. I kept drifting to the right though, so I'm sure I swam a whole lot more than a quarter mile

 

[Suzann]

My swim went pretty well.. I only had to flip on my back a couple times to catch my breath, but I kept moving. Finished the swim in 11 minutes. As I got out of the water, I automatically started to pull at the velcro for my wetsuit to start taking it off.

This one is my action shot.. but really, I was worried about tripping or running on any rocks

Did T1 in 3:32 which I think is a good time (maybe not) and was off with my bike and Ken right behind me. I even remembered to grab my sport beans (so yummy)

Ok, so I don't have any pictures of the bike ride, but WOW was it tough!!! Toughest super sprint series in the state apparently and i had to pick it as my first tri. Ugh. The bike was 14 miles... but 14 miles of hills! One hill was over 500 vertical feet. Ouch. I did have a mishap on the bike.. my chain came off, but I slowed down, dismounted, fixed it and I was off peddling again. There was a woman in a red jersey I could see in the distance and I set a goal to try to catch up to her... took me 6 miles to do so, but with only 2 miles left on the bike, I finally did. Yay! I walked a couple times on the steep hills, but I felt it would have been faster than me trying to climb them on the bike. Oh, and seeing the head of the pack runners already finishing the race when I was just STARTING the bike was a bit discouraging.
Finished the bike in just under an hour and was happy to be done with it! (The picture is right before the dismount area)

T2 went really smooth, just over 1 minute and we were off running again

Look, I'm moving so fast I'm blurry. Ok, maybe not so fast, but my legs felt like lead bricks. Ugh

No pictures of the run, but I think I did well. Averaged just over a 10 minute mile for the 4.3 miles. On parts of the run, I could see people in their cars leaving the park and they were already done with the whole race.. medal around their neck, bike on the car and off to probably eat a cheeseburger. Darn them! I have miles to run! I caught up to and passed about 5 people
in the run, which felt great. One of which was an older lady telling me how this is definitely the hardest first triathlons I could have picked. Thanks.. say that to me now when I'm asking myself why I even signed up for this thing at all

But I finished.. I sprinted at the end of the race toward the finish line, as I always (try to) do. And I was glad to be having that timing chip off, knowing I was done with the race!

Got my medal from a kid that looked SO enthused to be there (spilling sarcasm there) and put it around my neck as I searched for food.

Ok, finishing near the end of the pack for the entire race is kind of a let down in some areas like end of race food. No bananas left, no oranges, no fruit what so ever. Only thing left was bagels, peanut butter and then some yogurt. None of which sounded good, but I powered through half of a thing of yogurt. (It tastes so dry to me after a race, not sure why). Thankfully my friend that was taking pictures brought some clementine oranges that I snagged one of.
Finally looked at the medal, its the outline of the lake and it says the year on it. Nice!

Went over to check my final time......... 2 hours, 1 minute. DOH! One minute past my goal, but hey, I finished!

 

[ironz]

Suzann....super job!! I've been waiting for your RR, knowing the big day was this weekend.
Congratulations!!

great pics, too!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Congrats on a great race Suzann! Thanks for sharing your pics with us! It looks like you were having a great time the whole way through

 

[postesf]

Hey! I just bought those shorts! lol! How did they do?

CONGRATS!!! Looks like you did awesome! I'm so glad you posted pics!

Stacie

 

[Suzann]

I really like the shorts (the whole outfit) I only had a chance to run in them once before the race and was nervous about the rubber on the bottoms to hold them down and in place, but they were awesome! Just enough cushion on my tush to help on the bike, but not too much that I felt like I was wearing a diaper Oh, and I like that when I'm leaning on the bike, my rear end doesn't hang out... some 'low rise' shorts do that, and I'm not a fan!
The shirt does ride up a little on me, but I got used to it, and doesn't ride up past the shorts.

 

[wtpclc]

COngratulations SUzann!!!! Your times sound awesome to me! Way to go!!! Got any more planned?

 

[Suzann]

Thanks guys!!!

I want to do a women's triathlon that's scheduled the first weekend in Sept. Haven't decided on which distance yet..
1) .5 mile swim, 14.3 mile bike, 3 mile run
2) .25 mile swim, 6.2 mile bike, 1.5 mile run

I think the smaller one would be too short of a bike and run for me.. but not sure if I'm ready for a half mile swim

 

[twoWDWfools]

Congrats Suzann!!

 

[wtpclc]

I think you can do the half mile swim! I did mine in 24 min and was not last (and did mostly side stroke). One of our local races has a limit of 35 min ofr the half. So, I think you could do it.

 

[Steffwalks]

Great job!! Congratulations!

 

[hoosmi]

Cool report! Loved all the pictures. The hills would have killed me for sure (provided I made it past the swimming...) I am very impressed!

Jen in GA

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Congratulations Suzann!!!!

 

[GirTheGecko]

Congrats! See, you didn't drown!

 

[Suzann]

Thanks everyone!!!

I did have in my head "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, what do we do, we swim, swim, swim." (Dory sings it in Finding NEMO)

 

[escape]

Congratulations on your first tri! Great report.

Good job!

 

[FatElvis]

Congrats! That was a great report and I loved all the pictures! Man, all you first time triathletes are making me want to do one too. You just looked so happy throughout the whole thing - great job!