And so it went… my first triathlon.
I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I knew not to have any expectations… so I shouldn’t be. A month now of non-training – not that I haven’t been doing anything, but not following a plan, nor letting myself feel guilty or stressed over the many missed workouts, or the workouts that had to be cut short, or worked around…
This is the biggest turn out for this tri, and likely the biggest triathlon held in the maritimes so far. The swim is in three waves. Ian is in the first wave, Lisa and I in wave 3. He’s out of the water as the next wave starts, so I got to see him before heading into the water to warm up.
Swim. That’s what suffered the most between busy parenting/student schedules and a nasty chest cold. I have managed 2, count them – 2, swim workouts in the last month. Not to mention the many workouts where I focused on breaststroke to ease the discomfort in my rotator cuffs, just to “get in the distance”. I still felt okay about my swim, that is, until the starting horn blew.
Once the water got churned up and I was immediately struggling to keep my head above water, I lost all confidence in my ordinarily strong front crawl. Fortunately, I knew that I could finish the entire 750m doing breaststroke, if need be. I likely swam 400m of it that way, a little backstroke and a little front crawl. Not what I had envisioned. I am certain had I swam this just 8 weeks ago, it would have been a much different (faster) story. I could certainly see why a wetsuit would have helped now, only because I felt like dead weight in the water. That being said, I didn’t feel too bad at the end of it, I passed a few swimmers once I finally felt warmed up enough to attempt any distance of front crawl. I know how much time in the water I want to spend before the next tri.
Swim ends, enter transition. I have opted NOT to wear a wetsuit, thus I have little to do in transition, it’s a very warm morning, scrap the bike jersey, short sleeve or no. I should have left the bike gloves at home, but lessons learned, right? These took the most time of anything in transition I think.
I come out of transition, confident I am strong on the bike. As I mount the bike to start, Ian comes in for the run transition. Man, he’s fast!
Nothing boosts the confidence but to pass a few people, even when you’re not competitive. I believe I passed about 6-8, I didn’t count. The swim must have taken a lot out of me, as it turned out that what FELT really good, was still a little slow for me.
Transition to run, went okay except the guy next to me racked his bike over half my stuff and I couldn’t get it out of my way with my bike in hand. I racked my bike on the other side of him and exasperated, just reached for my stuff.
I’m sticking with the tri suit for the entire race, so all I need is to change my shoes replace my helmet with my visor, and yes – I remembered this time – remove my gloves! Ian’s been done his race for some time now and is cheering me through transition and into the run. The girlies have been there every time I came in and out, cheering and waving. (Thanks again Brendan for watching the race with them!)
I know deep down I’m not setting any records on this run, but a small part of me is really hoping to get the 5k in under 30 mins. Just once I want to run a pace under 6mpk. This is not to be the day.
It’s hot, and we’re fortunate to have 2-3 water stops along this short out and back run, equating to 4 or 5 passes, I took a bottle/cup at every chance, sipped a bit and dosed myself with the rest. I finished the run almost as wet as I did the swim! I passed a couple of runners, one guy laughed and told me not to be drafting off of him. Seeing Lisa after the turn around on the run was a big lift. Secretly, I had to keep my pace up and make sure I stayed ahead of her. However, another part of me would have loved to cross the finish line with her. She came in just 2 minutes behind me.
Having the girlies there was a big bonus this time, especially considering most of my non-training was done WITH them. Finishing these events with Ian right there on the course is another big perk. I really wish I could see him finishing though, that’s when it really sucks to be slow.
All in all this was a well organized fun event. Definitely worth doing again! And, oh ya I’m a triathlete!
189/215 1:45:59
13/17 F3034
Bib: 154
750m Swim overall:186 21:08 2:49/100m
t1/20.2km Bike/t2 overall:185 52:52 22.9kph
5K Run overall:197 32:01 6:42mpk