Sunday, July 8, 2007

My First Tri

I did my first Sprint Distance Triathlon today. 400m swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. I was nervous and spent most of the week leading up to the race obsessing about whether or not I had everything I needeed and how I would set up my two transition areas. I decided in order to calm myself down I would create a mantra for myself. So all week I have been saying to myself "I swim like a dolphin, I ride like Lance and I run like a Kenyan". On Saturday night I finally told my husband my mantra to which he replied "alright".

The race had two separate transition areas 3 miles apart. So before checking in I had to drop off my run stuff at T2 (transition 2, where you get off your bike, put on your fancy runnin' shoes and take off). T2 was in a park parking lot and I was one of the first ones there. While I was hesitant to leave my stuff, several others had already done so and my hubby assured me no one would mess with my stuff. Off to check in. This was also where I would set up T1 (from swim to bike) and where I would do the pool swim. I wasn't sure how they were gonna do this pool thing. The pool was divided into 8 lanes so we would swim up cross over to the next lane, swim back and so forth with someone starting every 10 seconds. The registration form asked for your estimated swim time so the order was based on that. However due to a clerical error I was one of the last in the pool, which actually ended up being okay. I was out of the pool in 9:34 minutes, 9 seconds slower than my usual time. Now off to my bike.

I'll admit the bike is my strength. So one by one I start picking people off. I was only passed by one guy at mile 3, only to cruise by him at mile 13. I don't have my official time on the bike but I estimated the 15 miles took me about 47 minutes. I was feeling good as I pulled into T2. Found my hubby near my stuff, dismounted, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, water in mouth and over my head, and off to run. Legs feeling a little tired but I pushed through the first mile and found my legs and my pace. As I came to mile 2 I start my mantra. At 2.5 I begin to become aware of my legs but people are shouting "Almost there". I pick up the pace. Then I hear "just around the corner", and now I am sprinting. I round the corner and see my husband, and now I am running like a Kenyan. Again I don't have the official but I think I finished my run at 31 minutes bringing my total to about 1 hour 34 minutes, including transitions. I felt so good afterwards and had so much fun doing it.

I drank my recovery drink, ate a banana, got my t shirt and hung out for a little. All and all I am happy with my results. I wanted to be under 2 hours but mostly I wanted to finish with a smile on my face and that's exactly what I did.

5 comments:

Moist Rub said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Moist Rub said...

Rock on, Ms. F'er!

MJ said...

CONGRATS!!! I'm so proud of you! I can only hope you had so much fun you came home and signed up for another!

;)

Anonymous said...

Yea, Ms. F'er!!!!

On Saturday night I finally told my husband my mantra to which he replied "alright". LOL! A master with words, ain't he! Good for you, though, to find the phrases that would work for you.

Positive waves to you for your next event. :-D

Anonymous said...

Wow! Congrats on what I'm sure will be the first of many!