First Triathlon is in the Books!
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Aurora Bay Care Triathlon, aka Green Bay Triathlon
Welll…I did it! It is done!
Here’s the (very long) report. (Mostly for my notes.)
Freaked out leading up to it, which is weird, because I’m not that kind of person. Didn’t really get enough sleep…despite all planning and efforts. Could not eat the whole breakfast I had planned. Forced myself to do about ½ of it.
Left hotel later than I wanted to, but got there at just about the right time. Shaking with nerves. Didn’t know how to rack my bike, and a lady across from me told me how, before I even knew I wasn’t doing it right. I was really thankful…and really, really hoping that she wasn’t going to supervise and correct every single thing I did, because I would’ve been in tears within a minute (she didn’t.)
The lake is warm, so wetsuit optional. NO ONE was putting them on, it looked like. They announced that we could go to the water, so a few of us did. It was “warm,” but still cold enough to me, but I didn’t want to be the ONLY one wearing one, especially since I look so hideous in it.
All of a sudden people started putting them on. So I decided to. My husband has to help me, as I can’t pull the back together and zip it alone yet. We struggled to do it, rushing to get it done before transition was supposed to close…not knowing how incredibly lax they were going to be about that. Then I went in the water and got a bit more comfortable. Met a very nice lady named Sara(h?) and we talked, and that helped immensely.
Swim:
Started with the Olympic. Their heats were timed further apart, which I did not realize, so when Sprint started, my heat was the second one, and all of a sudden they blew the whistle, and we were running into the water. I didn’t have my goggles on! Rushing and adjusting don’t really mix well! But in we go. Freaking out and panic-breathing, though didn’t realize it at the time.
I had “self-seeded” toward the back, since that’s what they’d suggested at the swim clinic we’d done. It is an amazingly shallow lake, with literally less than ¼ of the swim being in deep enough water that you can’t touch. So almost everyone around me walked! I started to try to swim and could barely get through all the verticle bodies moving pretty slowly, so I gave up and walked (jogged) with everyone else. Asthma from nerves was getting pretty bad anyway. Got to the deep part and lifeguard up on a barge thing we swam out and around started throwing pool noodles at people. What the heck?! They asked if I wanted one, and I said no, but they threw one at me anyway. So I pushed it away, and then the lady next to me started pushing it at me, a few times(!), and I ended up struggling to get the dang thing away from me, so I could actually swim!
Gave up on my swim form and just did my best til could touch, and then everyone else was walking and blocking it all up again. Just ran it out, and that was it. Seemed like a really, really short distance. (I’ll have to recheck that the distance I’ve been swimming at the gym is accurate.)
Note for next time: if I do this particular one again…seed much further forward in the heat. Even if a few people swim over me, at least they will all be swimming, around me, and not walking…so I can too.
T1:
Everything went well, except I couldn’t tie my second shoe. Tried three times, and then just stopped, took a breath, and told myself to relax, that I know HOW to tie my shoe and a few seconds isn’t going to make a single bit of difference. Voila.
Out the chute and to the dismount line, and I was shaking, made mounting difficult, but after a little wobble, was off…
Bike:
Well, I started out near some people, but very quickly was left behind. Not the end of the world. Didn’t have to worry about dealing with a pack of people.
The only major thing was that since the website had said there were “plenty of aid stations along the route,” I did not grab my water bottle, thinking I did not want to try to figure out what to do with it, if they gave us water/Gatorade. Why the hell that mattered that much to me I don’t know. But there was not a single aid station. So I did the whole thing on 3 swallows of water I’d gulped down in transition. :( When I passed a business that had a thermometer on the marquee, it said 84 degrees.
I did have my Bonk Breaker, after the halfway mark. When I realized there would be no water, I decided I would just have to suck it up, that it may cause a little indigestion or something. I needed fuel. After that, as I was headed back, the wind was to my back and there were a couple of miles of long flat stretch. I was able to gradually increase gears and really grind out some great-feeling miles.
T2:
Nothing notable in the actual transition area. But, since my bike had taken so long, there was no one else around…and I figured maybe I would grab a quick visit to the porta potty. (My time was going to be bad anyway.) My shorts would NOT cooperate going back up. The sweaty, shaky-leg half-squat twerk-fiasco I ended up having to do to get the shorts and my tank top and the race belt all sorted was the funniest thing ever…I literally laughed out loud, and I could just imagine the girl at the water table nearby wondering what the heck was going on…which made me laugh, also.
I’d realized while in there that I hadn’t removed my bolero, so wiggled out of that thing, and ran back and threw it on my pile. Downed the last half of the cup of water I’d started before using the facilities. I was so glad to see it was still there, so I didn’t have to waste another cup. Even in the middle of all of it, I’m still definitely a mom!
Run:
Ok…somewhere in the middle of transition, apparently someone stole my legs and swapped them out for a pair of clubs, without my noticing. “Brick” is a really NICE term for this shit. WHAT in the blankety-blank??!
I heard my sister’s voice cheering me on, and looked over and waved at her and my mom, and then my son and husband at the exit from the park onto the street. That was really nice.
People were coming back, and were really kind, cheering me on (and I did the same for them, when able.) It was cool.
I walked a little, because my legs just felt so awful, and I knew it was inevitable that I’d have to walk some of it anyway. I decided to really listen to my body, and I stretched out my hips and back by taking loooong walking steps, and then I bent over for about 10 seconds and stretched the calves and low back a little. What a difference! Off and running (well, jogging,) after that!
Mile 1 was done before I knew it. Literally could not believe it…I think I just kinda went into “the zone,” mentally. Walked a little, off and on, in mile 2. It was incredibly hot and humid, and I was sweating pretty good by then. At about 2 ½, I came up on the ONLY aid station out on the entire race course. (So including the water stand at the exit to run at transition, there were 2. “Plenty” of aid stations means something different to me, I guess.) Had some water (even though I had put my small water bottles in my belt and had sucked half of that down already since starting the run. And some Gatorade, hoping I wasn’t going to give myself gut-rot. (I didn’t.)
Turned onto the last long stretch, and ran all but a few blocks of it; walked when I’d noticed that I was not sweating and started feeling cold, actually, even though out in the full sun. Uh-oh.
Began running again with a slow, stretched-out jog…working on finding a good, comfortable pace. Saw my son, my husband, and my nephew up ahead at the entrance into the park and could hear the guy with the microphone and picked up the pace a little. High-fived them, and told my son “I’ll see you at the finish line.” And he said he was going to run (probably not really necessary, lol,) so I said, “I’ll race you there!” That made the last bit pretty fun, and I actually “ran” (fast jogged) up the little incline and high-fived them all again coming in to the finish line. Awesome feeling.
My sister was so excited, and my mom happy-crying, and trying not to. So fun! My sister kept commenting that I wasn’t even out of breath, that I was talking normal and walking around just fine. I actually felt pretty good.
Forced myself to eat, even though I didn’t feel hungry, more for a way to sit down, and get cooled off. My sister, as always, ran and got me water, then Gatorade, etc. She is always like that–a real caretaker–and I know she likes to, so I enjoyed the help, and didn’t feel guilty.
A women I’d talked with at the Tri 101 clinic came over and said hi, and we hugged. She sat and ate her food with us, and talked, for a little while. That was cool.
I wasn’t as sore as I thought I’d be, or as exhausted. I was glad to be done, no doubt. But I wasn’t staggering in, or collapsing, like I’d thought might be a possibility.
