Written and saved in drafts June 22, 2015
Food
Night Before Meal
Banana Chips, Salmon Filet, Roasted Sweet Potato and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, 2 DHK
Wake at 5am – 8:30 race
Smoothie – Vanilla Whey Protein, Raspberries, Banana, MCT Oil, ice and water
UCAN Vanilla Protein Smoothie 30-45 minutes before
UCAN Plain + MCT Oil + Nuun – 20-30 minutes into the bike
UCAN Plain + MCT Oil + Nuun – 10-30 minutes into the run
Race
I rented and used a wetsuit for the 1st time for this event (the 1st of many 1st!) at Gear West. I tried it out on Lake Harriet on Friday afternoon (day before race). I’d watched a video, read a few articles and got additional tips for the salesman but none of them could prepare me for the difficulty in actually putting this thing on! I was also worried about scratching/ripping this rental as well – which didn’t help the matter! A lady came up to me and actually helped me zip it up! The weeds were icky but I liked having the extra buoyancy from it. I swam a bit and called it a day. Omg – what was the morning going to bring!
I was a bit nervous and I’ll call that a good thing. After so many of the same running races, being nervous was a welcome feeling! The nice thing about a small event is that is a actually small. The packet pickup, restrooms, transition areas were small and easy to get to. I followed suit with what others did and set up my transition area. I followed the advice from REI and saw most others did the same thing for help in setting up my area. Instead of a 5 gallon bucket, I’d get a small Rubbermaid storage bin to sit on and use for storage. Triathlon call for a lot of gear; not just my tennies!
OMG – I have to swim that far! Actually it didn’t look too daunting. My nerves stayed at bay and before I knew it we were in the water and the gun went off. It was a nice ease into the water given that it wasn’t too cold and wasn’t weedy – actually very clean for a lake! I tried to focus on the form and not get too anxious. The nice part about the start was that I had noodles along the side of me to keep me in bounds. These went away after a short bit though and swimming to the next buoy was difficult! I had a canoe by my side and would tell me if I was going too off course (which happened a few times – that sucks to swim more strokes that needed!).
It was tough – there were several times when I thought that I wouldn’t finish. I had to focus on my stroke and relaxing. It was tough to the last one out of the water even though I knew I would be.
I missed that 5 gallon bucket to sit on as I was slightly light-headed when I tried to take off my wetsuit – it was a little alarming but I tried to relax, sit on the ground and get ready for the bike.
Of course I had to yell at a girl who crossed my path without looking up. Dude, it is hard to get out of these clips! Then I was on my way! I was told to take a right at the light and that was all the instruction I received. I was expecting to see for signs or people but didn’t see anything. I asked several golfers I passed if I was going the right way and they gave me the thumbs “up”. Okay so I continue on – oh, and I forgot to mention that when I went to put on my watch it was already on and running. Awesome. I should have take 30 seconds to reset it. Lesson learned.
So I continued on this road, the rain is pouring and I feared that I’m going to wrong way or missed a turn. Based on my “running” time, I’d been on the road for about 4-5 miles and I reach the top of a small hill and had turned my bike around. I stopped a car (yes, crazy, I know) and asked him if he’d seen a bike and anything. He said, “yes, and a guy in a car with a cone”. Thank you, thank you! So I continued on, saw the guy, and didn’t have trouble for the rest of the ride. I saw 4 bikers but was still about 5-10 minutes behind.
Lesson learned – study the bike course!
I finally saw runners on the run (they were the sprint members who started later) and that was great. My legs felt okay, better than I though and I averaged just over a 9 minute mile. I carried my water bottle filled with UCAN that was kind of annoying but enjoyed drinking it. It sat pretty well in my stomach given that it was my 1st time using it. I was convinced that I was the last one on the course – finished with a smile and found out there were 2 others on the course!
I finished in 3:08 – which was a good time considering where I thought I was at in training.
I was the 21st of 22 finished and received a 1st place medal in my age group and 3rd place female. Ironic.
I looked up a few other triathlons in the area and found I would have finished in the 75-80% – okay and lots of room for improvement.
No Comments