Super Sprint race report - Longer than the actual race. :)

[finallykrisb]

Yesterday I dragged my husband and kids out super early (because it was Mother's Day after all) to cheer me on in my first triathlon.  I'm so glad that I chose (or was talked into) a women's only, extremely beginner friendly super sprint as my first tri.  And without the support, encouragement and advice from awesome friends like katinthehat, texassmith and runclt I would never had done it.

Saturday afternoon I picked up my packet while KITH was working packet pickup and we talked a bit.  My two biggest fears were the swim and passing people on the bike.  I'm not a strong swimmer and my OWS pratice before the race was limited to a 125ish yd out and back course at a local river with beach access that we had done twice.  I knew there was a chance the lake could be pretty choppy on race day.  My swim goal was strictly not to drown.  I was much less worried about the bike but was concerned about cornering and passing without drafting since I had never ridden with more than three others at a time.  Kat is such a calming person to talk to and I left packet pickup feeling much less anxious.

Saturday evening I went for a short ride to work out my nerves.  Then it was home for burgers and a beer, packing up my transition bag and an early bedtime.

Sunday morning I was up at 4:15.  I unpacked and repacked my transition bag just to be sure.  Coffee and a bagel, drag the family out of bed, load the car and we were off.  We arrived at the park just as transition opened.  Texassmith was already there and Kat arrived shortly after.  They were doing the relay.

We headed to transition, got our body marking done and everything set up.  I handed my hubby my bag and then we hit up the ladies room.  After that Kat insisted I GET IN THE WATER.  Holy moses it was choppy, my biggest fear.  Getting in was the best advice ever.  The water temp felt pretty chilly but once you were in and back out it was downright warm compared the the ambient temp with the wind blowing.  We swam out a little ways and back and I knew the waves would be an issue.  But at least I felt more prepared.

I tracked down the hubby and kids for some last minute encouragement and it was time for the National Anthem.  Then the first wave was off and my wave was up next.  Cassie had arrived to cheer us on and told me "Don't screw it up".  This was my only goal for the swim.  Then I was at the boat ramp and something just felt off. 

The gun went off and I was in the water.  But my goggles weren't on!  My husband said he had noticed and just kept waiting for me to put them on.  I told him he should have yelled at me.  I got them on, but not sealed and I started the swim flustered.  This combined with the waves had me panicking by the time I got to the first kayak.  I took a big mouthful of water and couldnt catch my breath.  I stopped at the kayak and calmed down.  I knew there was no way I was quitting.  The course was an inverted triangle and I was almost to the first bouy.  It still didn't click that my goggles weren't on right.  I struggled with the section of the swim that was parallel to the shore.  The waves were worse here and there were lots of ladies treading water in the middle of the course.  Trying to navigate them was exhausting.  At the second bouy I realized that the next wave of swimmers was catching up and I didn't want the stronger swimmers from that wave swimming over me so I decided to stop again.  This is when I realized the problem with my goggles and had a chance to fix them.  The last leg of the swim back into the shore went great (well it went better at least).  I could finally get into a groove and just swim.  I knew that I was far behind most of my age group but that wasn't the point.  I hadn't drowned or DNF'ed.  My husband yelled that I was doign great, even though he admitted later that he was terrified because almsot everyone from my wave had finished and he hadn't seen me yet.

T1 went smoothly.  I was a little shaken up from the swim so I took a few second to just breathe and compose myself. 

I got on the bike but was too shaky to get clipped in.  After just a few seconds I was much calmer, clipped in and I was off!  The bike was by far the most fun part of the race.  I forgot to start my garmin until at least a mile in but I felt great.  There were several 90 degree turns that I was previously concerned about but they weren't a problem at all.  I had ridden the course twice before so I knew what to expect.  I passed quite a few ladies, which was a real confidence booster.  With about two miles left I started thinking maybe I was pushing too hard and started to back off a little.  I was passed by a girl and as she went by she told me she had been trying to catch me for a couple of miles.  That didn't work for me so at the straightaway right before the end of the bike course I passed her.  She came into the transition area just behind me.  You can already see where this is going.

T2 was uneventful.  Rack the bike, lose the helmet, change the shoes, switch Garmin modes and I was off.

I had done several brick workouts so I felt prepared for running after the bike.  I was pleasantly surprised by my pace since I felt like I was running through mud but I also knew I was going too fast.  I could see the girl that I had leap-frogged with on the bike ahead of me but I knew trying to catch her meant burn out for sure.  The run was only two miles but there was no way I could do it at a dead sprint.  I saw Kat coming in from the bike on my way out and we yelled at each other.  Just before the turnaround the girl I seemed to be chasing stopped to walk and I passed her. Then she started running and passed me again. I was feeling great with a little less than a mile to go. Texassmith flew by me on her way out and I just knew she would pass me on her way back in. With half a mile left I picked up the pace.  The girl was just ahead and I knew I could pass her.  With a quarter mile left I went into an all out sprint.  The hubby and kids and Kat and Cassie were cheering near the finish line and I felt on top the world!

I got my medal and water just in time to see Texassmith finish.  Then I met up with everyone, we took some pictures, changed, grabbed some food and hung around for the awards since KITH and Texassmith took 2nd place in the relay!!  They are awesome.

I spent quite a bit of time trying very hard not to be bummed about the swim.  I told my husband that I can do one of two things.  I can take this as a sign that I shouldn't swim and give up on traithlons altogether.  Or I can really focus on swimming and getting more comfortable in open water no matter what the conditions.  One thing in for sure, I'm not signing up for the sprint tri I had my eye on in 4 weeks with a swim more than twice the distance.  Maybe the du.

[texassmith]

I had no idea about your goggle issues! I'm so proud of you. You did it! It was so much fun for all of us to be there together. I have a race report drafted in my blog, but I'm waiting for the race shots to be up to steal some from them to post

YOU ROCK!!

[kams]

Congratulations!!

Goggle issues can be frustrating for anyone, so don't get too down about the swim. You did a great job!

[coconutbug]

Congrats!! Sorry to hear about the goggles issue; I've had problems like that before too and it wasn't fun. The good thing is that goggle issues are fixable and avoidable for next time, and you shouldn't let it keep you from doing another tri. You did a great job!

[Wines Not Whines]

Congrats! Great race report! You give me hope to do a sprint tri some day.

[cinco]

Congratulations! You have inspired me just by finishing! I really want to do tri's (once I'm not poor from moving, haha), but I'm a total freakin' scaredy cat. Hearing from someone who was nervous about the whole thing and still did it is encouraging. What a great thing to do on Mother's Day!

[trigal]

Nice job! You are now a triathlete!

[gt7301b]

Woohoooo!!!

[finallykrisb]

May 13, 2013 10:55:23 GMT -5 trigal said:

Nice job! You are now a triathlete!

This is what I'm bummed about.  I don't FEEL like a triathlete.  I don't feel like I can say that I successfully completed the swim portion, even though I obviously did or I would not have finished the race.  And I don't feel like a race this short "counts".

Oh the raging PMS hormones!

[libbygrl109]

Congrats! So great that you stuck with it!

[shauni27]

CONGRATULATIONS! What a great experience, I am so proud of you!

[taffy]

That is an awesome write up and AWESOME JOB!! You didn't DNF, you didn't get DQ'd, you finished. Therefore, you are a triathlete!!!!!!

There is always the Trigirl Sprint in August....same course, still no boys, still really supportive, just a little bit longer!!

Congrats!!!!

[taffy]

That is an awesome write up and AWESOME JOB!! You didn't DNF, you didn't get DQ'd, you finished. Therefore, you are a triathlete!!!!!!



There is always the Trigirl Sprint in August....same course, still no boys, still really supportive, just a little bit longer!!



Congrats!!!!

[shorty20]

You did great, congrats!

[LWoods]

Awesome!

[sadlebred]

Awesome job!! Way to conquer your first tri!

[katinthehat]

you did so fabulous! so proud of you!

[amesmarie]

Congrats! That is really amazing accomplishment. Having issues with your goggles in choppy water would be frustrating. Way to stick through it!!

[skwcm80]

Congratulations!! That sounds like so much fun.

[katandkevin]

Congrats, you finished! Way to go!

P.s. I volunteered yesterday and probably handed you a bottle of water when you crossed the finish line. I saw you guys at the end of the race as we were leaving and I didn't have time to stop and say hi.

[So_Fetch]

that's awesome!! congrats!

[Brit]

Great job! What an inspiring story! I'm sure you will nail the swim next time.

[hurricanedrunk]

Congrats on your first tri!

[Deleted]

Great job!