Osprey Race Recap: One Year of Tri's!

Quick summary for those who don't want to read this very long post.  I crushed last year's time...by 16 minutes.  The swim was tough only because of the jellyfish - they freaked me out.  The bike felt good but my average MPH was slower than I had expected.  The run was HOT and my pace suffered as a result.  However, overall I am very pleased with my performance.  Plus I got 2nd in my age group!!! That was amazing.  When I look back at my very first triathlon last year, I am simply blown away by how far I've come.  I am very proud.

Keep reading if you want all the details of the day!

There are a lot of reasons why yesterday was a special day.  (1) It was the one year anniversary of my very first triathlon.  (2) Colleen was doing her first event since her accident.  (3) I just love triathlons.  So I woke that morning with some extra excitement about the day.

Matt picked me up at the hotel so that Stephen and the girls could get some extra sleep.  We got there pretty early and were able to grab a very good spot on the bike racks close to the bike in/out.  I set up transition quickly...I am getting pretty good at the set up.  Colleen and Keith got there shortly after we did.  She set up her transition area right in between Matt and me.  

I was freaking out about the jellyfish.  Colleen and I walked out the pier to check them out.  They were HUGE and scary looking.  And there were a lot of them.  I was really starting to get nervous about them.  I had purchased some Safe Sea lotion which is supposed to have a jellyfish protectant in it so that if you touch the jellyfish, you won't get stung.  I lathered up and hoped it would repel those suckers!

Before long, it was time to walk down the road to the swim start.  I put on my wetsuit and tried to get the jellyfish out of my mind.  I wished Matt good luck as he entered the water for his wave.  He had his game face on and looked really ready.

After his wave went off, it was time for Colleen and I to get in the water.  She is a very fast swimmer and I had hopes of drafting with her.  She wanted to start in the front of the pack and since it was a small wave, I was OK with starting up there with her.  I did my breathing bobs and tried to stay calm.  My heart was already racing and I was still thinking about those damn jellyfish.

The gun went off and we started swimming.  I tried in vain to stay with Colleen.  She quickly left me behind and I was just struggling to get my breathing in check.  The water was super salty.  I am not used to swimming in salt water and that always messes with me in the start of the swim. 

I had forgotten to start my watch which really annoyed me when I thought of it about halfway through the swim.  I broke my stroke and hit the start button on my watch.  I figured that I had been in the water for about 5 minutes...so I would have to add 5 minutes to the running time on my watch the entire race. 

As I got closer to the pier, I had in mind that the jellyfish were really prevalent in that area.  I saw a jellyfish and even though it wasn't even close to me, I picked my head up and screamed.  Then I immediately laughed at myself...there was no need for that.  But from that point on, the jellyfish were in my head.  I couldn't put my face in the water so I did the same stroke I did last year...a glorified doggy paddle.  Luckily I was only about 50 yards out from the pier so it didn't totally mess up my time.  But I got out of the water very disappointed; knowing that I could have done much better.

Colleen was about to leave transition as I was running in.  She did well on the swim and was a little nervous about the bike.  This was only her 2nd time riding a bike since she was hit by the car.  It takes a lot of courage and strength to get back on the bike after what she went through.  I was so proud of her and took a moment to wish her luck as she left transition.

I tried to go quickly after that with my transition.  I had already wasted some time celebrating Colleen's courage so I needed to get busy and get out of there!  Wetsuit off, dry feet, socks and shoes on, throw on the helmet and glasses, and go!  As soon as I was on my bike, I felt better.  It's time to rock and roll!!!

Heading out of the transition, there are a few tight turns to get out on the main road.  That gave me the chance to warm up my legs a little bit before I really took off.  Once I got on the main road, I geared down, dropped into aero and focused on keeping my cadence high.  I was flying and passing a lot of people...mostly guys from the wave right in front of mine.  It wasn't long before I saw Colleen.  She looked good and I cheered for her as I passed. 

Not long after passing Colleen I noticed that there were 3 men that I was playing leapfrog with.  Sometimes they would pass me but I would hang with them...sometimes I would pass them and they would hang with me.  I tried very hard not to draft.  It's illegal in triathlons, but it's commonplace in cycling events.  With the steady headwind, I really wanted to draft but I didn't.  The last 2 races I've done were IronGirl races and were all female.  As I was riding with these 3 guys, I realized that I had missed racing with men.  I like the fact that there are more competitors who are my pace on the bike.

The wind was constant for the bike.  It was either a headwind or a sidewind.  I kept waiting for the tailwind.  As I made one turn, I finally found the tailwind.  My speed went up to 27 MPH and it felt easy.  Unfortunately this section of the road was very short and we made another turn...right into the side wind.  I was holding a good pace and ended up averaging 19.4 MPH, however I had really wanted to hit 20 MPH as my average.  Again, got off the bike feeling a little disappointed.

Transition went well and I was off on the run.  I had forgotten my Garmin watch so I had no idea what my pace was.  I had my watch with the total event time (estimated to be 5 minutes short) but that didn't give me my pace.  I felt slow and sluggish.  I had a cramp in my side and just couldn't seem to get going.

 

I really wanted to finish in 1 hour 35 minutes.  I kept looking at my watch during the run and calculating how much time I had left.  I knew with the pace I was running that I would not be making that goal.  I was about halfway out to the turnaround when I saw Matt.  He shook his head like he wasn't happy, although he looked like he was running pretty well. 

I hit the turnaround and just tried to keep my feet moving.  As I was running back in, I saw Colleen, then Dave, then Gail.  I cheered for each one as I passed.  I yelled to Colleen how proud I was of her. Here she is in the pink:

I crossed the finish line and remembered crossing that same finish line a year earlier.  I remembered that feeling when the first thought that went through my head was "I can't wait to do that again!"  Here I was a year later doing it again...and I've done so many races in that year.  I have come SOO far since that first triathlon.  I cut off 16 minutes from my time last year.  Even though I didn't hit some of the performance goals I had set for myself, it was really hard to be disappointed with anything when I look at the race as a whole and remember where I was a year ago.  My official time was 1:40:06.  And an unexpected surprise...I got 2nd in my age group!!!