My First Triathlon!

Okay, So I just got home from my very first triathlon and I thought I would give the details since they are still fresh, and at the end I will share what I learned...
So I went to bed super early last night and set 5 or so alarms just in case. (unless you count drinking a lot of water, then it would be 6 alarms ;) ) I did my pm yoga practice to calm me down and do some stretching and it worked like a charm. I woke up 1 or 2 times in the night with a mix of excitement and my 6th alarms going off early, and when 5:00 came, I was up and ready to go, having laid out all my stuff the night before, and my bike in the car already. I ate some oatmeal with peanut butter and a banana and took off. I way overestimated the time it would take me to get there, in my frazzled and excited state of mind I actually factored in extra time for traffic, just in case. (note: it was 5:30am on a Saturday!) Suffice it to say, I was there in like 15 minutes, got my race packet, they wrote numbers all over me, I stashed my bike in the transition area, and still had 2 hours until the pre-race meeting.

I spent most of the time just wandering around in the cold in flip flops and a swimsuit, fortunately I did bring a hoodie, but my feet were cold. I did some stretching, some a.m. yoga (which made me feel silly in front of everyone) and eventually the time passed and it was 8:00, pre-race meeting. They covered the basics, told us where the course went (like I'd remember, that's why they have signs!) and I headed to the bathroom before the race. Apperently, I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good idea to lose a few ounces of weight before starting because there was no toilet paper, and unfortunately I did not notice until it was too late. This was a dilemma, 20 minutes until race time and I was stuck in a stall. How humiliating. I quickly analyzed my options, and decided I'd have to ask the stall next to me if they could "spare a square". I was just working up the courage when I heard the people in both other stalls loudly complain about a lack of TP in their stalls as well. Now I was doomed! I scanned my surroundings for other options, no toilet seat covers, no tissues, and then... there it was. Divine providence had placed a scrap of paper towel at my feet, and though I knew it was disgusting, I had no choice, that scrap saved me.

After that exciting moment, we all got in line to start the swim according to our 100m swim times. I placed myself with the "average" swimmers, I stood in line among these middle aged women and thought I was in the right skill group, I was wrong. My number was called and jumped into the water and took off. I haven't been swimming hard core for a couple of weeks because of a recent illness, but I thought 2 weeks wouldn't matter, I was wrong. I struggled to make it to the end of the first lap, near paralyzed at the prospect of doing the same thing 7 more times, I tried to keep reminding myself I was a good swimmer and had done a mile a couple weeks ago without too much trouble, 400m was nothing. But I did not believe myself, each time a middle aged lady swam past me I felt more and more humiliated, my only scrap of dignity I could maintain was to not give in to the urge to start doing backstroke, if I could do the whole thing freestyle, even if I was slow, I would feel okay about it. I think about 4 people ended up passing me, which is scary because they pace you 5 seconds apart, and I was with the "average" people.

Every time I caught a glimpse of the remaining laps, my determination faltered a tiny bit, but somehow I made it. I jumped out of the water, and wobbled over to my flip-flops and hoodie, and walked to the transition area, not able to jog. I was worried that I felt so drained but I got to my bike, put on my bike shoes, helmet, and shirt, and was off.

Now I was in my element. I was not even deterred by the huge hill that lay before me because I passed almost everyone in sight. It was incredibly satisfying to fly past so many people, I did not even realize that biking was as much of a forte as it was. I cruised up the hill, for a few miles and was regaining all of the confidence that I had left in the pool. It was particularly exciting to pass one of those people with the 3-4 thousand dollar bikes. Right near the top of the hill, another guy managed to pass me, and as he did, he said: "Man, you're flying on that thing!" Oh, that did it, my confidence and adrenaline went into over drive, I couldn't let this guy be the only one to pass me, so I began chasing him down a big hill, but he was quick! So I crouched down and relished in the sound of the wind passing as I torpedoed down this hill at 30-40 mph. I lost a little momentum on a sharp turn, but did not let up, even thought the guy in the blue shirt that passed me was nearly out of site. I kept going, another stretch of downhill, and then it was time to pay for all the fun I'd had with a very long, very steep climb. It was seemingly endless! Each time you thought you could see the top, you would get there and just see another stretch of uphill, but this turned out to be a great blessing, because I ended up passing about 5 or more people on this stretch, including Mr. Blue Shirt. My legs burned each time I pushed down on the pedal, and somewhere in the back of my mind a piece of advice I'd heard or read started to warn me: "Don't give it your all on the bike, because it will make the run incredibly difficult". I tried to reassure myself I was not giving it my all, just my most. Besides, it was now my goal to not let anyone else pass me, now that I had regained my lead over blue shirt. And when I finally reached the top of the hill, I but into high gear and let loose. There were 3 people in front of me that I could see, and I could tell I was closing in on them. I overtook the first one and crouched down into a more aerodynamic position, chasing the remaining two. I slowed slightly at an intersection and the guy I just passed breezed by me. Now it was on. I put my heart and soul into overtaking all three of them, and at about 100 yards to go until T2, I did just that. It was so close that when I dismounted the guy that had passed me was right behind and ran past me to his bike spot. But I did not care, I had won the bike leg of the race! Walking afterward was difficult though.

I made it to my little spot and changed shoes much faster than I had in T1, and tried jogging a little bit. Wow. They are not kidding when they say T2 is the hardest transition. And of course, the run leg began with a nice stretch of uphill running, on grass... I passed people I saw walking and desperately wanted to join them, but just like my determination to stick with freestyle in the swim leg, I tried my best to not start walking, no matter how slow I ran. There was a guy about two feet in front of me that I set my pace with, if he could do it, I could. I just hoped he didn't stop to walk because I needed the motivation I got from following him. The uphill did not end after the grass, and continued up and up through some neighborhood in Kearns. The guy I had been following had a ridiculous watch that would beep every mile, and when it went off the first time, he announced "one mile!" and I just about died. "You mean I have two more to go?!" I almost started walking right there, but did not give in, I could see a water station and knew it must be the halfway point, I only walked to drink my water and then kept running, knowing that the downhill had to start soon, even though I was beginning to think that the whole running course was something akin to M.C. Escher's painting of the never ending staircase!

Then I saw the spires of the Olympic Oval, which I knew housed the finish line, and the descent began! A couple of people got bursts of speed and ran past me, but it was all I could do to keep running, I smiled at ever spectator I saw and made small talk as I ran by at a pace of what may have been only 3mph, until I made it into the building and onto the the track, only 100m to go! My original intent was to sprint the last bit, but that did not work out so well, I managed to pick it up to a normal running pace at least with about 15m to go, and then I crossed the finish line.

Oh, what relief! What fun to hear the people you never met cheering for you as you ran through. I celebrated by eating a banana and drinking some chocolate milk, and I soon learned that was all my body could handle at that point. A few minutes later (ironically) my Sister, brother-in-law, and nephew showed up, and took pictures and gave me a balloon. :)

The final results... 83rd Place, (woot!) which is out of about 300 people I think... And I finished in 1:28:38, which made me happy since my goal was to beat 1:30:00. The realization of what just happened didn't hit me until I was driving home and a wave of satisfaction came over me, now I really am a triathlete!

(Just ignore my weird face on this picture)