Osprey Sprint Triathlon Recap

I have completed my first triathlon! And I had SOOOO much fun! I'm going to go into a detailed recap in this post, but for those who don't want to read the whole thing, I'll do a quick summary. Overall time was 1:54:51...my goal going in was just to finish and I was hoping to finish in under 2 hours. Both accomplished!!! The swim was the worst part, I felt great on the bike and the run was HOT. For those who want all the details, keep reading...

I was a jittery mess driving to the race. I had everything I could think of to bring, I'd gone over my transition strategy several times, and I was at the point where I just wanted to get the show on the road. Although part of me was wishing I had never signed up for it.  But that part was really a very small part of me.

I arrived and parked next to a couple who looked like they knew what they were doing. So I struck up a conversation with them. As it turns out, it was the woman's first time doing a triathlon but the man had done several. I walked with them to the transition area and they helped me set up my things. They were very nice and I was relieved to have someone helping me.

After getting everything arranged, I looked for my friend Matt. Once we connected, I felt even better. Then I saw my friends Chris and Allison. I knew that Allison was in a similar situation to me, that she hadn't fully trained for the event. She's in my age group and I was really hoping to hang with her at least for the start of the race.

Pre-race the big discussion among almost all of the competitors was whether or not to wear a wetsuit. Chris and Allison decided not to. Matt was wearing his. Most of the people I talked to were going to wear it, simply for the benefit of buoyancy that the wetsuit provides. So I decided to go with the masses and wear the wetsuit. I figured that I definitely needed any advantage I could get. Matt and I went to get our body marking done. I felt like such a bad ass with my number written on me! Here I am proud of my marking prior to the race. 50 is my number, not my age! That was written on the back of my leg.

We had to walk down the road to get to the swim start. As I walked, I felt very anxious but also excited. Allison and I were in the 4th wave of swimmers. I was really hoping not to be the last person out of the water. I wondered why in the world I didn't train for the swim! With jitters at an all time high, I lined up with the other women in red swim caps for my start. I purposely started off to the left and in the back. My main goal for the day was to stay out of everyone's way!

The air horn went off and I waded into the chilly water with everyone else in my wave. Once the water got deep enough, I went under and realized quickly that it was salt water. Of course it was considering how close we were to the ocean...but my open water swims had been in fresh water. OK, I can handle this. I started to swim and quickly realized that the waves were washing over my head and every time I went to breathe, my mouth filled with salt water. I started to panic. So trying to get myself calmed down, I lifted my head out of the water and just swam the best that I could. I still ended up drinking a lot of salt water.

Allison and I swam most of the way together. She is a much stronger natural athlete than I am, so I wasn't surprised that she finished way ahead of me. As I saw the pier and the steps getting closer and closer, I got very excited to get on the bike. I just kept thinking, "you're almost done with this awful swim!" It's probably not the most positive message I could have been telling myself, but at that point I just wanted the waves to stop splashing salt water in my mouth. I banged my shin on the bottom step...I didn't realize that they started that far out...otherwise I had a pretty easy time getting out of the water and jogging down the pier to the transition area. Stephen and the girls were positioned at the end of the pier and got this picture of me as I was getting ready to get out of the water.  Notice there are still red caps behind me!  So I wasn't the last one out of the water from my age group!

I couldn't get the wetsuit off! I had practiced a couple of times in the hotel room, but for some reason I couldn't get the zipper undone. Running Buddy Colleen and Michelle had come to cheer me on and were standing right near the transition area. I ran over to Colleen and asked her to help me get the zipper down. I didn't want to yank too hard since it was her wetsuit! She unzipped me and I ran back over to my area and finished my transition. I didn't know if that was illegal or not, but I really couldn't get out of the suit. I didn't see any other choice at that point. Once I was out of the suit, my transition went relatively well. With some practice, my time in transition can definitely improve.

I got on the bike and immediately felt more comfortable. While I haven't trained for the bike either, I have definitely spent much more time on the bike than in the water. The first 5 miles of the bike I spent just trying to get a comfortable pace going.  I noticed that I was passing quite a few people and getting passed by only a couple. The second 5 mile segment of the bike was flat with only a slight wind. I felt very strong and kept increasing my average speed.  At one point I was going 22 mph and still pedaling to go faster.  Considering this was a speed where I freaked out on my first ride, I smiled to myself at how far I've come.

When we were about 12 miles into the bike, I was passed by a very fit-looking woman.  I decided to see if I could hang with her for the rest of the ride.  I was able to stay with her until about 1/2 mile out when she took off and I simply couldn't go any faster. I was SO happy with my bike leg. Overall I was only passed by about 10 people and I passed probably 30 or so. I felt good and strong. As I rode back into town and could see the transition area, I had a huge smile on my face. This was fun!

They made us dismount and walk/jog our bikes into the transition area. This was the time where my legs felt the worst. I tried to jog with my bike, but decided pretty quickly to walk. I figured that walking would give my legs more time to relax and I would be better off when I started the run. My second transition was pretty easy since I didn't have to change shoes like most of the serious bikers did. Advantage to the newbie for a change! I racked my bike, took off the helmet and replaced it with my running visor, took off my gloves and put on my Garmin watch. As I ran out of the transition area, I saw Colleen and Michelle. I pointed to them and yelled "you've got to do this...it's so much fun!" I meant it too...they both would love it.

At about 1/4 mile into the run, my legs still felt like I was running through cement. I looked at my watch and saw that I was running a 9:10 pace. WHAT? How am I going that fast and feel so slow? 1/2 mile and I'm still doing that pace even though I felt like I had slowed down even more. This is crazy. But by 3/4 mile, my legs were feeling more like normal and the pace showing on my watch matched how slow I felt.

Since the run was an out and back, I basically passed everyone ahead of me on the way out and everyone behind me on the way back in. There were a lot more people behind me than I expected. I heard Matt yell for me as he passed me.  He was finishing the 5K as I was starting. But I expected that...he's an amazing athlete.

I definitely ran a slow 5K. At that point, I was tired and the sun was really HOT. I saw Allison on her way back in. She was looking good. By the time I hit the turnaround, I was feeling good again. I could have picked up the pace on my run but I didn't want to do anything to hurt myself for the half marathon next weekend. So instead, I went into "Karen" mode...yep, the cheerleader came out. I encouraged the guy who was walking right before I got to him. I spotted several of the newbies I had talked to pre-race and cheered for them. I waved to the crowd and thanked them for being there. As I made the turn for the final stretch, I saw my girls. I waved and said a big hi to them. I was having so much fun.

I crossed the finish line and had a huge grin on my face. I couldn't wait to do this again! I don't remember ever thinking that immediatly after finishing a race. Wow...what a cool experience.