I'm a Triathlete!

Triathlon Completed! 4 hours and 1 min.

This weekend was so much fun. I can finally say I am a triathlete and I LOVE it! I did my triathlon this Sunday in 4 hours and 1 minute. My goal was 4 hours but with some obstacles in the bike and run part of the race I just missed my goal by a minute. I learned a lot about my body and what it can withstand this weekend. I also grew so much closer to my team.

The morning of my race, I woke up with some nerves. I had two hours to get something to eat, get my tri suit on and gear packed up, and head down to the transition area before my wave took off. It took me about 30 mins to get down in the transition area and set up my gear before my wave. The anticipation of waiting for my wave was a little nerve racking but overall I wasn't nervous at all. I was more excited to get in and do this event. I hadn't been able to workout the past week due to an emotional event in Ohio, so I was totally game to get this race started.

We started to suit up about 30 mins before our wave, getting the wetsuit on and taking tons of pictures..lol. Once our team was ready we headed down to the start of the swim where there were tons of athletes in their wave waiting to go in. All waves had their own color of caps so we found our light purple wave of girls and picked an area that we all felt comfortable in. The TNT men's wave was before us and when the horn sounded for them, us girls started to jump in and get some water in our wetsuits to warm our bodies up to the temp. of the water. Once we did that we all headed back to the starting line and waiting the 5 min before the horn would go off for us. At this point I still didn't feel very nervous. I was chatting with a teammate when the horn went off. I swear that 5 mins flew by. We all started a jog into the water, all 150 of us! The water felt great but the feet and arms hitting me and me hitting others was quite an experience. It wasn't until around the first buoy that we all started to spread out and get into a rhythm. BUT once that rhythm started the wave that started after us, the strong swimmers, had caught up to us and that started another cluster of chaos..lol. Needless to say, I enjoyed the swim and did it in 33 mins.

Transition 1. Getting out of the water we had to run up a ramp into the massive transition area where 3,500 athletes gear were all at. Luckily the transition area had flags around it and I remember what two flags I was near and ran in that direction. Once I got to my bike I hurried to put on my cycling shoes and top and grabbed my bike and ran it to the start of the bike portion of the race. My transition time was 5 mins 30 sec. A little slow but for my first one I will take it. Most pros do the transition time in a 1min... lol.

As I clipped into my bike and started up the first mile, which on this course is an uphill climb. I noticed that my bike wouldn't shift from my middle gear to my smallest gear. You need your smallest gear to get up steep hills. I rode my bike up as much as I could and jumped off and tried to move my chain myself to the smallest gear. I had oil all over my hands it was ridicious. I couldn't get it to shift over so I started to walk my bike up the hill. It was so frustrating walking up a hill as athletes are riding. And I had cycling shoes on so I couldn't walk on the top of my shoes so my calves were burning when I got to the top of the hill. Before I got to the top, at one point on the hill a man that was cheering on everyone asked me what was wrong with my bike and I told him. He took my bike and started to shift the gears for me. After about a minute of messing with my bike, he turned to me and say, "I am sorry but your f***" That was his exact words. I was like "What" I didn't want to hear that! I was only a 1/4 of a mile into the race. So once I got to the top of the hill I got back on my bike and started to play with my gears until for some crazy miracle my gears started to work. THANK GOD! The rest of the bike went really well. There were a lot of challenging hills and at one point on the bike, towards the end I started to space out a little. My body wasn't fatigued but I just felt "out of it" So at the last aid station of the bike portion I took a Gatorade instead of water and I cant tell you what a world of difference that made. I was lacking sodium and that did the trick. I did the bike portion in 1 hour and 56 mins.

Transition two. So I get to the line of the end of the bike portion where we have to get off of our bikes and walk or run our bikes into the transition area. Well when I got off my bike at the line and started running my bike in, my legs were so "jello" like that I almost fell down at the line.. lol. I shook my legs out a little and walked my bike back to my area and found out that someone had put their bike in my transition spot. I remembered what bikes where around me before the race and they were all there. So this person must have put their bike in the wrong row and forgot to move it. Well, I had to shift all the bikes down just to make room for my bike. After I bit I started to change my shoes and top for the run portion of the race. As I was started out of the transition area my ankle, which I have had trouble with for the past month started to throb. I knew right then that the run portion was not going to be very fun. My transition two time was 3 min and 44 sec.

The run portion of the race was horrible. My ankle started to act up the second I left the transition area. And of course this running course is 6.2 mi, 5 mi of it uphill and 1 mi straight downhill..FUN FUN..not! So I tried to jog down the rolling hills of the first 2 miles but I had to walk up the uphill parts. Miles 3 and 4 were all uphill which I walked. Even walking was painful. And in the last mile I tried my best to jog the downhill but the hill was steep and the pounding of my feet on the pavement just irritated my ankle even more and I had to walk the downhill part. As I was getting to the last corner before I would see the "shoot", where all the fans were standing on each side... my teammate Melissa caught up to me and we decided to run in together. When we got to the fans my ankle was to the point where I couldn't, well shouldn't have jogged any more.. but come on, fans are watching...you have to run :) So we jogged into the tunnel of fans. Melissa insisted we sprint into the finish line which of course my body couldn't do but me being competitive was not going to say no.. so the last 200 yds we sprinted to the finish line. This moment was suppose to be a "life changing" experience and I can honestly say it wasn't. I hate saying that but I was so concentrated on my ankle and getting it across the finish line that I didn't have the chance to absorb the fans cheering or the excitement of crossing the finish line. All I wanted to do was have someone cut off my ankle. lol. I completed my triathlon in 4 hours and 1 min, the run portion being 1 hour and 22 mins. If I didn't have ankle issues I would hope I could have completed the run in about an hour.

Even though I didn't have the "life changing" experience, I would 100% do triathlons again. I am hooked. But before I start training again for a triathlon in the fall I have to get my ankle fixed. I want to enjoy the run portion of the race and so after diagnosing my ankle I plan to concentrate more on my running then the other two events. I want to be strong in the run. I thought the swim and bike portions of the race were fun and almost not a challenge so I know that I can do a 1/2 Ironman in those two events. OR just really improve my time in the Olympic course. But until I learn to love running and mentally prepare myself for the run I will continue to do the Olympics course. And maybe sneak in an Aqua/Bike Race or Century Ride.

I am an endurance athlete now!
(pictures posted soon!)