Officially a Sprint Triathlete!

I DID IT!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO J

1/3 mile SWIM

9 mile BIKE

3.1 RUN

I’m sure of exact time yet because I was in the second wave to leave for the swim, and I’m not sure exactly how much time was in between waves, but my time was approximately 1 hour 15 minutes!!!!

RACE RECAP:

Our triathlon journey began last night when we made the long trek down Rt. 28 to Falmouth to pick up our race stuff. They gave us lots of free goodies and of course all of our numbers and things we need for today. Caroline was number 77 and I was 127! Lucky 7’s I guess! Caroline was not thrilled to hear she’d be starting with the ellites (and the under 24 age bracket). I missed that by only a year but I started in the second wave. I got all my stuff ready before I went to bed:

Today we woke up bright and early at 5 am. I actually slept until my alarm but I slept horrible last night. I had all sorts of ridiculous dreams about being disqualified because I was too late (which is weird because that was the least of my actual concerns with the possibility of drowning or permanently killing my knee!)

We packed up the truck and Eric so nicely drove us to Falmouth even though he is NOT a morning person! When we got there, the only part of me that looked ready for a triathlon was the number on my arm.

I went to the bathroom a thousand times and met a really nice girl who was also a first timer. Caroline, my fantastic hairdresser, did my hair in braids :)

Then, Caroline and I walked down the beach to get ready to swim. I was feeling a lot more confident about the swim section because the water was SO nice and calm!!! (Dear God- Thank you for that!). The guy talking on the loudspeaker was making jokes which I found amusing even though I was SO nervous. Caroline started and then I started a few minutes later. Here we go!!!

The swim was unbelievable, it went SO well. I was really worried about swimming in the open water because I couldn't put my hands on the wall in between to take a breath. However, I was happy I didn't touch the wall, I think the time went much faster. I was able to swim freestyle the whole time too, except when I was kicked a few times and I just picked my head up to move away from the kicking. Good thing that everything doesn't hurt as bad in the water :) I was PUMPED after swimming.

Transition #1: This was the transition where I needed to remember sunglasses, knee straps, and helmet but it went pretty quick too. I even decided last minute to grab my half of a banana I had stuffed in my backpack after I put the other half in my oatmeal for breakfast. I figured I'd rather eat before the bike than the run. I didn't do as good of a job as I would've hoped at getting the sand off my feet but I didn't really notice it until the run.

The bike was the part I was least concerned about. It is the area I was most prepared and I figured if I was tired I could always just cruise. There were a few unexpected hills, but as you guys know I live on a giant hill so it wasn't too bad. I even biked right by the lighthouse where my engagement photos were taken so that was a nice happy thought. I was in very good spirits during the bike ride. I was yelling to people in BC superfan shirts and thanking all the volunteers, haha. Anything to make the time go by :)

If you had asked me at this point if I would do a triathlon again in a few days, I would've absolutely agreed. I was having the best time. But, I was about to make what everyone says is the hardest transition, and I haven't ran (except 1.5 miles once last weekend) in 2 months.

Transition #2: All I had to remember at the second transition was to get rid of my bike and helmet and remember my running belt which had my number on it. It felt like I needed more so I asked Chris who took the picture below if I had everything. He gave me the okay and I was off!

Everything that I expected to go wrong during the run did not. My legs were okay with the transition, my knees were 100 percent fine (thank you pataella straps!) and I didn't even really get a side ache at all. However, what I did not anticipate was how unprepared cardiovascularly (is that a word?) I would be since I haven't run in so long. Swimming and biking never really make me out of breath like that (well swimming a little bit but not biking except up hills). I was out of breath within a couple of minutes and IT WAS SO HOT. Keep in mind the last time I was running was early May, and early May in Boston I was still wearing long sleeve shirts to run. My body was not ready for pounding sun. I felt really sick to my stomach so I had to walk about 3 times, which was a bummer. But I think that was actually better than having to walk because of my knee (which is a more permanent problem). I would've liked to be able to run the whole time, but it just was not going to happen. I was also pacing myself pretty bad when I was running (I should've brought my Garmin I think) so I was kind of sprinting and then having to walk, which probably isn't the best plan. But in the end I don't think I lost TOO much time during the run and still finished in a time I am proud of! Caroline finished right with one of those BC Superfans, wooo!

I finished a few minutes later. I was happy Caroline did not have to wait too long for me, I was picturing her starting ahead of me and then taking a nap by the time I actually finished haha. I was less than amused that we finished literally on the beach. It's hard enough to run on the beach normally, forget after a triathlon! Apparently some people fell at the end, so at least that wasn't me. The coolest part was when they announced my name and where I was from on the loudspeaker!

The clock says 1:18-55. Supposedly we were starting 3 minutes between each wave which would mean I finished in 1:15-55. We will see when the official scores come out. I'm interested to see how I did on each leg as well because I think I lost a lot during the run, but maybe not. Here and me and the sis at the end:

And me with my #1 fan :)

And me, Eric, Caroline and Chris. My parents were there too, but no pictures of them haha.

Overall, it was a ton of fun. I will definitely be doing more sprint triathlons in the future. But next time I will not hurt my knee and actually be able to train for the running part! It's funny how I told my PT that I was most confident about the running part (this was 2 months ago) so I didn't mind taking a few weeks off running. A few weeks turned into 2 months and then today I was definitely not so confident about running.

I hope everyone had an great weekend with some beautiful weather like we did! I'll probably be back tomorrow or the next day with more triathlon thoughts :)