Sunday evening a week ago one of my cousins called and asked me if I wanted to come home and do a triathlon. I inquired about the distances. It sounded like it was going to be an olympic distance race (approx. 1.5k swim, 50k bike, 10k run). No way! I had just finished the marathon a week ago and this was only 1 week away.
I thought about it that evening and decided to look up the distances. What I found was surprising. It wasn't an olympic distance. Instead it was a sprint with 600 yard swim, 16.2 mile bike and 3 mile run. This I could do, maybe. It had already been 2 weeks since I swam or biked and I had yet to run after the marathon.
I did what anyone would do before signing up. I went and made sure I could run 3 miles. For the details on that, see the post "My First Run". Since I completed the 3 miles, I began thinking really hard about registering. I had been watching the registration numbers steadily increase all day. There were 825 of 897 particpants registered. Then it was 833, 842...876. Wow, less than 20 spaces left. I registered and hit the road driving.
The racers were lined up according to estimated swim times. Eeeks! I've never really swam open water, especially not 600 yards; so I look at other peoples times and decide to just make a stab in the dark. I chose 11 minutes as my estimated time. On race day, I began to think I was WAY off on my estimate. None-the-less, I was to start as #420. The wait seemed like forever since they started 1 swimmer at a time with 3-5 seconds between us. The sun was rising and it was getting hot. Finally though, I step up, they motion me into the water and I was off and swimming.
Even growing up in Guntersville, I never "swam" in the lake. Yeah, I got in it to tube, ski, whatever, but never just to swim. Now I was having to finally do something I had avoided my whole life. I did the "dolphin dive" for the first few strokes, until it got too deep, and then I decided I had to swim. I started with free, emptied my goggles and then changed between free and breast stroke. I had to swim free mostly to quickly pass someone (which I am proud to say I did a lot) and then I would cruise with some breast stroke. This is the first place I could save some time, do freestyle the entire way!
I couldn't believe it was so short. It seemed like just as I was getting started, I was finished! And, it took me 11:08; I didn't do too bad with my stab in the dark :)
I ran up the chute with my sister racing beside me to take my picture. I headed into the transition area where I wasted way too much time (a second place to improve and shed time). I have a couple of things in mind for reducing this transition.
I headed out nicely on the bike and didn't have any problems getting clipped into the peddles. I was surprised to see my sister here taking another picture. She had sprinted all around the course trying to be a good photographer, and she was GREAT!
I finally settled in on the bike. It seemed much shorter as I biked it than the previous night when we drove the course. That was good. At one point, I had a guy pass me (there were lots of these men flying on the bike) only to see him eating the pavement 2 seconds later. It was sad, but he was fine thankfully. Shortly down the road, there was another guy on the side of the road changing a flat.
I cruised along on the rolling hills thinking about all the guys who passed me. I am very much a beginner biker, which leaves ton of room for improvement. I am happy to say though that only 3-5 women passed me on the bike during the 16 miles. I passed a few men, but not many.
I unclipped as I was rounding the last corner, rested my feet back on the peddles and hit my breaks to launch myself forward to dismount, only instead of dismounting, I too bit the pavement. My left shoe had apparently reclipped. I quickly got up with cheers of "good recovery" and walked (not ran) most of the way through the transition area (another area where I can shed some time). I'm toying with leaving my shoes clipped to the peddles and just taking my feet out for the dismount. I had previously dismissed this thinking it wouldn't save much time, but oh what I have realized.
By leaving your shoes on the peddles, 1) I won't risk falling on the dismount (this has also happened in training) and 2) I can actually run with my bike to my shoes. If you've never worn clips, you may not realize how hard they are to run in. So I'm going to practice this and see how it goes. Then I would also save time on taking off my shoes once I racked my bike.
Finally I started the run. I was so full of water from the bike that I was sick. I kept thinking I was going to have to step off the course. I still ran for almost half a mile and then decided my stomach hurt so badly that I needed to walk. I did but put a time limit on it. I tried running before my time was up, it didn't last long. I walked another few seconds and then took off. Yet, another area I have identified where I could take off some time. Don't drink too much on the bike. The run will go much better and therefore, I'll be able to run faster, sooner.
It was getting hot, but the aid stations helped. I poured some water on me. It was very refreshing. I picked up the pace and was excited the race was coming to an end. Nearing the finishing stretch I saw my youngest cousin and as I approached I told him to run with me. He was outrunning me, but that was ok. We ran together until the chute.
I crossed the finish line 1 hr 40 min and 3 sec after I plunged into the water. It was a great day with an overall successful race. To think, I had just done a marathon less than 2 weeks prior to this race, I hadn't swam, biked or ran and...I finished. I am eagerly awaiting my next race which will be sooner than later!
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