First Sprint Tri Race Report (very long)

[woowoo]

Hi guys! I did my first spring tri yesterday, thought I would share my experience since it seems like there are a few people on here considering getting into the sport.

A little background on me – I was never an athlete, but about 5 years ago I finally got active (once entering my late 20’s) and started doing boot camp classes/weight classes/etc. I still hated endurance sports though, especially running! I got involved in CrossFit about 3.5 years ago. LOVED CrossFit, did it for about 3 years but after numerous injuries (which I more blame on me cherry-picking WOD’s and letting me head get in the way than I do on CrossFit) I decided to take a hiatus in January to focus on all the things I sucked at: swimming, running, all things endurance…and backsquats. =)

I’ve been lifting on my own since then, worked with a swimming coach, and started running. In May I joined up with a Tri training group (all women) through my gym. I cannot recommend this enough! It was SO helpful to have my workouts programmed for me, and have a group of women to be accountable to.

The Tri yesterday was the Athleta Iron Girl in Pleasant Prairie, WI. For those of you looking to do a sprint Tri for your first time, the Iron Girl races are an EXCELLENT experience. The race is women-only, and is a very non-competitive, non-intimidating first-time Triathlon. The average age was 41, there were a lot of cancer survivors, older women, MANY women who were very overweight but in various stages of weight loss (which was incredibly inspiring).

I won’t go into too much detail about the day before the race because it was smooth and easy, but I really wish I had hydrated more. It was such a busy day that I just kind of forgot until right before bed, then downed a bottle of water before bed, and of course I had to get up and pee twice. No good with a 4 am wake-up.

Race Day:
We all left the hotel REALLY early because we wanted to get in the easier parking areas (otherwise we would have had to walk over a mile from parking) and have plenty of time to relax beforehand. I wish I had eaten more that morning, but it was so early I just wasn’t hungry. I choked down an English muffin with peanut butter but that’s all I could stomach. It was a cool morning (around 54 degrees) but there was steam/fog coming off the lake because the water was so warm (it had been 76 degrees the day before). I knew the weather/water would be perfect.

Transition setup was smooth and easy. My only pre-race complaint was that (considering it was a women’s only Triathlon!) there were not nearly enough Porta potty’s and the lines got very long.

Swim:
My heat was to start at 7:35 am (the start times are done by age groups, with the oldest ages starting first). While we were waiting they were announcing the names of cancer survivors in each heat and sharing how long they had been cancer free. There were even a few women that were putting swim camps on bald heads from chemo treatments. I had to bite back tears several times.

My heat started just a few minutes late. I had 131 women in my grouping, and it really felt like chaos. I felt prepared for the swim, but had no idea how to deal with this crowd of people so my only goal was to finish under 20 minutes (half mile). I realize this may seem very slow to some, but I was allotting for craziness and lack of experience swimming with 131 other women. I got in my groove pretty quickly, and ended up out of the water by 18:01.

T1: It took me a LONG time to get out of the water and into the transition area. I was a little dizzy, couldn’t get my legs under me, so I walked a bit towards the transition area. Then I heard my husband calling out to me, and I almost cried, it was so great to see him. I waved, then remembered I still had a race to finish so I ran to my transition area. I was still a bit dizzy though, and almost had to sit down to put on socks. I was so worried about forgetting something, couldn’t get my wits about me…etc. etc. Yeah……3:34. Whoops.

Bike: The course was really flat, 12 mile, but because this race was more of a “feel good” race, and I was in one of the middle heats, there were so many bikers already on the course and a lot of them were on really simple bikes…even some beach cruisers. This was really frustrating. I had been training hard on the bike, plus doing spinning twice a week, so I was ready to PUSH. There were just too many people to do this safely. I ended up at 36:58, averaged about 19 mph.

T2: Another disaster transition. I ditched my helmet, gloves, etc, donned my running shoes and ran out FAST…got about 200 meters and realized I forgot my bib/race belt. I honestly didn’t know if I would be DQ’d or not (the packet info said we HAD to wear our bibs for the run) so I make the split second decision to run back and get it. I lost about 90 seconds; they counted my 2nd transition exit so total T2 time was 3:23. Woof.

Run: This was going to be my most challenging piece. As of January of this year, I couldn’t run more than a mile, and even that was at a slow pace, probably 12 minutes. In May I did an 8K, at an 10:30 pace, but my goal for this Tri was to finish the run in under 30 minutes. The first mile was ROUGH, but then I got into a nice groove and was able to pick it up. I also had one of the girls from my training group catch up to me around 2.9 miles and she pushed me that last little bit. Finished my run at 30:59, which was very close to my goal.

My husband was waiting right before the finish line and got a great shot of me blowing him a kiss. The announcer called my name, and my training teammate’s name, as we crossed the finish line together, and I almost cried. And I practically kissed the guy that handed me my first (of hopefully many) medal.

I had been hoping to finish the entire race in under 1:40, and my stretch goal was 1:30. I ended up at 1:33:04 which put me at 56th out of 131. I am very proud of my time, especially given how badly I messed up my transitions.

Moral of the story…...for those of you that think you aren’t an endurance athlete or aren’t sure you can do a Triathlon…..just put in the work and you CAN do it. Start slow, find people to train with, keep shaking up your training routine, and stay positive. A supportive spouse helps too, but is not required. =)

My next Sprint Tri is in 5 weeks – can’t wait! I do plan on practicing my transitions more, doing a few more swim to bike bricks, etc. If anyone had any other advice (if you made it through this entire thing) please feel free!

[boston340]

What a great first tri experience! It sounds like an amazing day for you. Congrats!

I've been contemplating getting my feet wet in the tri world and this post was so encouraging to read.

[wambam]

That's awesome that they have a women's only race! Glad you had a good time and reached your goal

[taratru]

That sounds awesome! Even with your transitions, it sounds like you did a great job.

[sadlebred]

Great job!

[sassystace]

Great recap and race!! With all this tri talk, one of these days you guys are going to convince me to swim/bike! It sounds like so much fun.

[Wines Not Whines]

Great job!