My first triathlon: Island Lake Tri & what's happened since then
I've had a draft of this post partially written since the day after the race. Its fair to say I am overthinking it. Part of me wants to capture the perfect words for my first ever triathlon. But I don't know what those are. On September 7th I took my first real steps towards this goal, and in just a touch under 9 months I did the dang thing. I go back and forth between celebrating this accomplishment and reminding myself that this is just the first step towards my ultimate goal of 70.3.
So, to get down to it. Friday afternoon Pam arrived and we pretty much immediately got in the car to head to the race site. Once we arrived we waited in line to get my packet, which was a neat backpack with all my stuff in it, and then hung around waiting for Triathlon 101.
We stayed for about 45 minutes of it and then I was feeling a bit of a time crunch and also felt like at the pace they were going through things we would be there all night, so we left and headed back to Jackson to go to the open house for Ayden, a family friend's son (he's going to MSU!). We snacked a bit at the open house (I think I ate 4 cookies and a cupcake) but the plan was to get Chinese food for dinner, because it is fairly common for Shane and I to do that on Friday nights, and race prep 101 is to be consistent in your routine leading up to the race.
That night I got my stuff together, bike all loaded up, and prepared for an early morning wake up. The alarm went off at...I dunno what time. I do know that I did not sleep hardly a wink though. Silly adrenaline. So when it was time to get up, I was up and ready to go. I took a quick shower and got all set in my kit. Pam helped me put on my tattoos for my participant number, and we headed to the park.
Got to the park in plenty of time, got a parking spot and got all unloaded. Pam and Shane staked out a picnic table that would seem to be a good place to wait for things to get going and I headed into the transition area to set up my spot.
Not long after I was all set up my Dad arrived, and not long after that it was time to head towards the lake for warming up and for the first races to start. I was really happy to have Dad there <3.
And from there, things moved incredibly fast and yet in slow motion at the same time. The Olympic distance triathlon started first, so I watched as athletes entered the water one at a time. Each one taking me on step closer to when I would start. Eventually it was my turn to line up and before I knew it I was running into the water.
Swim: The water was actually a really good temperature. It was somewhere around the low 70s, so felt cool but not cold. It was easy to adapt to it and once I got swimming I was really comfortable without a wetsuit on. It was definitely different to be swimming surrounded by people. I mostly managed to avoid hitting anyone and I didn't get kicked in the head, so that was a win for me. I was able to settle in pretty good on the swim and I am happy with my pace overall. I am still getting used to swimming in mostly straight lines and sighting objects in the distance to help with that. You can see that in my swim details haha :). But its all good and I was done swimming and crossing into T1 in 22:08. I swam 914 yards at a 2:06 pace (min/100 yard).
Transition 1: My transition from swim to bike was 2:46. I obviously have no comparison to my own past performance so I just have to go on how it felt. I ended up having to go back to my spot because I forgot my belt so that definitely added probably 10-15 seconds to my time.
Bike: Ah the bike. Welp, there sure were some hills. And I continued my trend of learning something new every time I ride my bike. The bike was through the park on the roads, so there was not only hills to contend with but also traffic from vehicles and other bikers. These were all things I have never experienced and its fair to say I was in my head a bit on the bike. Not even 4 minutes into the ride I was trying to shift gears and I dropped my chain. I pulled over and was trying to fix it and having zero success when some kind human being saw me and offered help. I took her up on it and am forever grateful. She got me going quickly. What I learned was that to put my chain back on the gears I have to lift up the back of the bike. After that I just did my best to get through. The hills were insane, both the up and downhill. At points I was going 24 mph on the downhill which felt crazy fast and awesome and scary all at the same time. I actually walked up one hill, so that definitely can give you a sense of them. Once I hit the turnaround point I just set the goal of finishing in less than an hour, and I pulled into the transition area at 58:22. I averaged about 12.6 mph, which is about 3mph slower than I was doing on my training rides. Considering all the circumstances of that ride, I was thrilled with it. I definitely know that hill training on my actual bike will be really necessary in the future. 12.29 miles done and on to the next.
T2: T2 felt fast. It was only 56 seconds. I wear my running shoes to ride in still (haven't yet ventured into cycling shoes) and so I literally hung up my bike, threw down my helmet, and kept going.
Run: By this time the heat was really starting to kick, and the hills on the bike felt like they killed my legs. As you all know I have done brick workouts and came off the bike busting out under 9 min miles. That was not happening on this day. The run was an out and back and honestly once I settled in I felt pretty strong on the run. Running is my place of confidence and comfort between these 3 sports, and so while I was certainly feeling the impact of the bike on my legs, my head was solid.
I was really pleased that I kept my pace under 10 mins per mile, averaging 9:33 min/mi. The course was out and back and what I realized as I was heading back was that the course was short and not a full 5k. The course came up to 2.83 on my Garmin. I go back and forth between being really pleased/disappointed that the run course was short and only came up to 2.83 miles and not the full 3.1 Pleased because I was tired. Disappointed because I wanted to see if I could do a 5k in under 30 to close out my race. The other downside, which I later came to find out, is that because the course was short, I got to the finish line sooner than my spectating support crew was expecting <3.
I crossed the finish line and felt that lump rise in my throat. The feeling of strength and accomplishment wash over me. I had done it. And then I was looking and looking for my dad, Pam, and Shane and I couldn't find them. I didn't understand where they could be, and so I got water and headed towards my stuff. And then I saw them, and gave big hugs and celebrated and it was lovely. Pam said that I was too fast and they were just getting ready to head to the finish area when they heard my name. I explained the course was short and that was why and we all had a good laugh. Pam later told me that once she heard my name and was looking at the finish area she saw me looking around for them and she almost cried. Apparently I looked like a lost puppy haha.
Briefly...what's happened since then? I took Sunday (day after the race) off and did yoga on Monday. And Tuesday I was back to working out. Important things:
1. I signed up for another triathlon - June 27!!
2. Pam and I planned a trip to Indianapolis to run a half marathon - November 6
3. I found a hilly park in Jackson to practice riding my bike on hills
4. I learned how to properly shift gears (would have been helpful to do this before my first race)
And that's about it. With those two races on the calendar, that pretty much sets my training for the rest of the year. I am maintaining my fitness right now, continuing my Peloton and Tread workouts during the week, and getting outside on the weekends. After my next tri I will have basically 3 weeks before Half Marathon training starts.
So with that I will sign off. Much more to come in the next few months. Thank you all for supporting me through this journey!!
PS: A quick note about all these photos. All the amazing professional looking ones that don't have a water mark? Shane took those <3 #skillz
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