I Am A Triathlete

Luna All Women's TRI-It Sprint
Blue Lake Park in Troutdale, OR
1/4 mile Swim/12 mile Bike/5K Run
Overall Time: 1:31:14 (31/135, 8/32 AG)
Swim: 0:09:12 (9/135)
T1: 0:04:22
Bike: 0:45:27 (72/135)
T2: 0:02:21
Run: 0:29:51 (30/135)

Well, I did it. And it was one of the coolest things I've ever done! So cool in fact that the very first thing I did when I got home was sign up for my next race, the L'il Escape from the Gorge in September. But we're not really here to talk about that.

Pre-race jitters started about a week ago when the race director mailed out the confirmation cards and pre-race briefing. I spent the week driving myself and I'm sure everyone around me crazy. Dragon-sized butterflies in the stomach, anxiety dreams, general neurosis. You name it. I had it. I picked up my race packet at Fit Right NW on Friday and immediately went home to pack my transition bag. I was so afraid of forgetting something that I even put things like my front bike tire on my checklist and just to be safe, printed out 4 copies of said checklist and made Chad check to make sure that I really had everything. I also got an e-mail from a fellow triathlete-in-training jokingly reminding me to check my bike for frayed cables. I did...no joke-even though I recently had the bike in for a tune-up. Nothing more to do now except hydrate, carbo load, and try to relax.

The alarm went off at 5:30 on Saturday morning. Not that I really needed it since I had been awake since 3:00. I rolled out of bed, put my trisuit on, and went downstairs to make coffee. After a breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter, water, coffee, and Gleukos, we packed up the car and headed out to collect Chris who was coming to cheer me on. We got to Blue Lake Park a little after 7:00 and parked the car. Chad, Nathan, and Chris went down to the beach to stake out a good viewing spot while I wheeled my bike to transition to get body marked and set up. Once I set up my little spot in transition, I had just enough time to go to the bathroom and put my wetsuit on before I had to go to the beach for the pre-race safety and course briefing. Since I entered the non-competitive division, my wave was the last to start so I had plenty of time to get wet, warm up with a few strokes, and cheer on all the other waves as they started their races.

The Swim: They finally called my wave down to the start corral-a mass start of about 130 women. My plan was to line up in the middle but off to the side to avoid the worst of the scrum but I'm short and the water got deep pretty quickly so I suddenly found myself towards the front and in the middle of everything. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. The horn went off and the water turned into a churning mass of flailing arms and legs. Thankfully, no one kicked me or swam over me. My swim plan was to breathe every four strokes and sight every eight. That went down the tubes pretty quickly. I found that I could do one or the other but not both. I chose to sight since the lake was rather murky and I could not see more than a foot in front of me. After about a hundred yards, I relaxed into a strong even stroke, kicking just enough to keep balanced. Around the first bouy....feeling good and I had plenty of room to swim. I pretty much set a dead-on course straight for the second bouy and had to adjust a little to get around the left side. According to Chad, most of the pack went wider. Second bouy down and I can see the arch at the finish. Not much longer now. My hand finally touched bottom and I hauled myself up. No dizziness! Woohoo! Off with the goggles, cap, and the top half of my wetsuit as I run to transition.

T1: A bit slow with a recalcitrant wetsuit which refused to go over my left ankle but I'll take it. I quickly toweled my feet off, slipped my socks and bike shoes on, buckled the helmet, jammed on my sunglasses, and took a swig from the water bottle I left on my towel. I grabbed my bike and took off towards the bike course. Chad thought he'd catch me in T1 for a photo op but when he got there, I was already long gone (even with the stubborn wetsuit) so he took a photo of my lonely running shoes instead.The Bike: I had ridden the course a few weeks ago and knew it was fast. A few rollers but otherwise flatter than a pancake. My bike plan went off a lot better than the swim plan: strong pedaling at a high cadence and drink the full bottle of Gleukos I had in my bottle cage. I turned onto Marine Drive and settled in, enjoying the sight of boats bobbing in the Columbia River and the planes approaching the runway at PDX. I passed as many people as I could on my hybrid while the roadies flew past. I made a pact with myself that it didn't matter how many speedy chicks on road bikes passed me but I'll be d-mned if I let someone else on a hybrid or mountain bike pass me without a fight. It happened...once. A mile later, I caught up with her, passed, and didn't see her again. I wanted to average 14.5-15 mph on the bike. I glanced at my bike computer at the turnaround point and saw my average speed was about 15.5 mph. Awesome! About a mile away from the park, I started stretching my shoulders and back to loosen up for the run.
T2: I ran back into the transition area and heard Chad & Chris cheering me on, racked my bike, pulled off all the biker gear, and tugged on my shoes. No laces this time. I love Yankz. It took three tries to get my first shoe on but my sock was bunching up so it was fix it or risk blisters. I grabbed the race belt and my hat and headed for the run course.

The Run: The legs didn't feel too bad and I settled into a pretty comfortable pace after about a 1/2 mile. It felt like I was going snail-slow but I was passing people so I didn't worry too much about it. I just wanted to finish strong without having to walk. The course exited the park and turned the other way down Marine Drive on the bike path. A few rollers and a larger mini-hill at the turnaround point but nothing too terrible. I was feeling great and all was right with the world. I re-entered the park and the course veered off the pavement down a steep dirt embankment to a path right by the lakefront. All I could think was, "Don't trip. You're almost there. Don't trip." When I got down to the lakefront, I kicked it up a notch and sprinted to the finish.
I DID IT! I am a triathlete! I know the goal of the first is to finish and have fun or "Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't trip." But I'm a competitive numbers geek so I set some secret goals. I wanted to finish in 1:35:00 or less, the triathlon calculator predicted 1:33:54, and my actual time nailed them! I can't wait for my next race!