My first triathlon race recap: THE RUN

Part 3: The Run
Distance: 3.1 miles

Finally I was getting off my bike and getting ready for the run. All I had to do was grab my race belt, my coconut water, and my running cap.

That's it.

Apparently all this tri stuff is making me one forgetful person.

First, I took a swig of coconut water and almost choked to death. My coconut water was accidentally the kind with pulp which I noted in the AM and forgot about until that very moment. OOPS.

Then I started running and realized that I totally forgot my running cap. Boo. Oh well, no time to turn around now. Then what was briefly mentioned on the race forum and also forgotten about was that most of the run was on trail surfaces.

Shit. I've never trail ran before and for good reason. I have always been pretty sure that I would twist an ankle and/or trip and break my ass. I'm quite happy sticking to smooth, flat surfaces. But not today. And not after swimming and biking. So I set out and ran slowly with my eyes glued to the ground.

My goal was simple - run the whole damn 3.1 miles. That's it.

I started running and tried to avoid rocks, roots, twigs and the like. I tried to get used to the feeling of mulch under foot and navigated the best I could. Every so often we'd have a little bit of running on pavement and the 3.1 miles alternated between trail and pavement.

I passed a few walkers and a few run/walkers.

And I got passed twice on the run.

Once by a girl who was 42 years old and once by the 67 year old silver-haired lady who I passed on the bike! Touche, lady. Touche.

(By the way, that lady actually did beat my overall time and later was kind enough to offer to take a picture of me with my medal. She is pictured below)

oops. The 'selfie' way was on when she
was trying to take my picture.  She
got me on the run! 

I was a little tired but I was feeling pretty good on the run. I wasn't cramping and I knew that I was within minutes of my goal - I just had to keep moving forward.

And I did keep moving. And I didn't walk.

I was so excited to round the corner. The only bummer was that the finishing road was not roped off and it was the only way in and out of the area so as I was finishing all the people who had finished before me were on the path, walking their bikes, chatting it up, milling about. I felt like I wasn't even going in the right direction and once again felt a little like the last person to the party. It was like everyone had finished this thing HOURS ago and I was in a race by myself. I felt twinges of embarrassment and disappointment in being so slow - those feeling of inadequacy that I need to find a way to silence - but then I heard my fellow Moms In Motion screaming my name and welcoming me home. They had all waited for me and I could hear their legitimate excitement in seeing me so near the finish and that made me happy. It gave me a little pep in my step and I pumped my arm in the air as I neared the finish line.

Here I come - Coconut water in hand, hat-less and in one piece

Whatever. So I finished 6th from last place. I did it. I swam, biked and ran to the finish line.

The lady did get a nice picture.
Glad she beat me on the run

The bling close up:

A year ago today I ran my fastest 5K:  26:46 (a 8'37 mile) which seems like a dream time for me now because even on my fastest day I'm lucky to break 10'30…

Today I ran a 5K in 35:50 (a 11'33 pace).

But a year ago I wouldn't have dreamed that I'd be doing a triathlon.

Overall I am very happy and although jokingly said on Facebook "Not sure if I loved it or hated it" I can honestly say that I loved it and will be "TRI-ing" again.

Read about the swim here and bike here.

Next up: Final Thoughts and my biggest obstacle.

XO
Jen

My first triathlon recap: THE BIKE

Part 2: The Bike
Distance: 11 miles

So I make it onto the beach. Disoriented but the swim is done!

Yay. I made it to land!

And I get to transition and again, this photo speaks for itself. I'm still dizzy, a bit shaky and trying to pull it together. Gotta love my speedy, hustling transition. HA.

Wow. Wet, in tiny unforgiving Tri clothes, and sporting
the whitest legs in America. LOOKING GOOD. ;) lol

So I get out on the bike and because I felt so slow out in the water, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the last on the bike course. But I was wrong. There were still plenty of people behind me to pass me by and remind me of my slowness. Though I did count 3 people who I passed on the bike including one silver-haired lady of 67 - who obviously had a better swim in her wave than me since i was only now passing her and she was two waves behind me.

Once passed, I was on my own a lot of the time on the ride. I had space for miles. So I guess that's a benefit of being a back of the packer. No jockeying for elbow room and the volunteers are very kind in support. 

I have to look at my bike later. I think it felt harder yesterday but that could've been because of the swim first? Not sure. I felt like I was pushing harder than usual.

Also - I have to adjust the water cage. Since changing my bike seat height, I can't reach the bottle! I was getting so thirsty and had this bottle of water out of reach. I was too stubborn to pull over to swig so powered thru. 

I counted down the miles and was so happy to make the turn into the final stretch: 

Yay! I'm almost done!

Oh yeah. I still have to run.

I have to get cage things for the pedals - look at my knee and I felt like I kept slipping off the pedals. The only cramping of the day I had was in the arches and top of my feet during the bike. Not sure what to make of that but something to figure out.  I may need even more seat height. My knees feel a little achey today.

All in all the bike was pretty good. I wish I was faster but this was only my fourth time on an outside bike since I'm 10 years old so I can't complain. 

Total time on bike: 49:34 (13.3 mph pace) 

Read the first part of this race report, the swim.

You can read about the RUN to the finish here.

XO

Jen

My First Triathlon Race Recap: The Swim

Part 1: The Swim

Distance: .25 mile

Wow!

What a day.

So many emotions swirling around I don't know even where to start.  

I got up at 4:45 AM and this whole week I had a strange sense of calmness for such a big event for me. I felt like "I got this."  

And then I rounded the corner to the event and saw all the triathletes and bikes and began to hyperventilate. OMG I'm really going to do a triathlon! I suddenly got REALLY nervous. But I managed to get my bike out of my car and walk it over to the right place. I was feeling shaky though.

My coach and friend Dana called my name and I was so happy to see her. She's so comforting and positive and really helped me get into the right place (and space) without her I would've never had been able to rack my bike or set up my transition - I was just too nervous to focus. :) 

By the way, all of these great pictures you will see are courtesy of Dana as well. She's the very best. 

Getting ready 

A few of the other Moms In Motion were doing this one too so I wasn't entirely on my own, though the rest of them were doing the "Try a Tri" I along with one other MIM (she has done other Tri's before) was doing the sprint.

I forgot about the barefoot thing though and from the bike to the water was black top with pebbles and I've got sensitive tootsies.  Ouch, ooh, ouch… I thought to myself, "this should be interesting coming out of the water to bike."

136 baby - love those numbers - so official! 

I got in the water for a warm up. Temp was nice. On the very warm side which I personally like.

So far so good

Then I got out and started to scope the course. 

hmmmm...

Um. I think I can make it.

How many buoys? What? Oh.

And then the race started and I was definitely last in my wave. There was about 15 or so in my wave and none of them looked like newbies so I was OK with being last but then all of a sudden I started getting mowed over by the fastest of the wave behind me. EEEKS! And then the fastest of the wave behind that. OY VEY. Where the hell am I? At some point I realized I had about a million buoys to go (or three - same thing).

How'd my swim go? A picture speaks a thousand words…

OMFG What the hell am I doing here? Heeeelllp Meeeeee! Gasp. Gasp.

Seriously. I laughed for forty minutes over this picture. Though it was no laughing matter at the moment. In addition to being totally demoralized by getting smoked by several other waves behind me, I kept hearing the lifeguards shout to one another: "Keep an eye on the blue cap." Well the Jersey in me was like "Don't you worry about the blue cap. I'm fine. I'm just slow... (and having trouble swimming and breathing but this is how I roll.)"

Though, I'm glad someone was on it in case I dropped dead in the middle of the swim. It was comforting they "had an eye on me."

And then I was done and feeling relieved that I made it out alive it was over. 

When I looked up my swim time I had to ask what "13:30" meant. They said that was my time. I said that was certainly an error because if I had to guess, I was in the water for at least 4 hours - minimum. They said, "nope, that's it." Longest 13 minutes of my life.

I've got a lot of work to do before my IronGirl which is twice the distance and probably in rougher waters. 

Good news about the swim though was that I was so shaky and appreciative for land that I didn't even notice my bare feet. I could've walked across glass coated nails and I would've been the happiest person on earth to be out of the water - I didn't even notice the run? crawl? shuffle? I don't know how I got to my bike but it was totally fine.

Despite the not-so-great swim experience, I'm proud of myself for doing it and not dying giving up. 

Bike report is HERE.

Run report is Here.

XO

Jen