So I did my first Olympic distance triathlon!!!!!! Yeah buddy! And I can say that after Saturday's adventure, I've learned more than a few things about triathlon in general, and I guess about myself as well in the mean time.
I'll say this first. I wrote a blog here several months ago talking about running and it being such a friendly sport. I went on ad nauseum about how encouraging other runners can be at races, and I singled out triathlon as a much less friendly sport. I said this from a place of ignorance, as I stated it having never done a triathlon myself. I watched as a spectator, and it looked pretty hardcore. But I will say this, I owe triathlon an apology. Because this triathlon was friendly. People all over encouraged me along the way. So at least in my experience now, I can say that triathlon is also a friendly sport. I may retract that when I do it again and get run over on the bike or kicked in the face in the swim. But for now, sorry triathlon. Keep on being friendly!
So Saturday morning, I approached this just as I would a marathon. I expected to be turtle slow. In fact, I planned on it. And this time at least, I didn't even need to plan, because circumstance ensured that I went slow and steady...more on that in a minute. But I got up and got out there with very little mega anxiety or stress. That was a super huge win because stressed out pre race Lacy is no bueno. However...
My husband was a basket case. Yes, Kristofor, I'm calling you out. And he actually called himself out. He was quite ummmm...fidgety. He didn't participate, so he couldn't help me set up in the transition area. But he sure could watch me like a hawk from across the fence-line! And although I thought it unnecessary to listen intently to pre race directions, he was extremely frustrated with my lack of attention. Hey, I was having too much fun chatting with Deb and Lisa about the impending swim, food, our outfits, having to pee, etc etc etc. Much more pressing things. Directions, schmirections. He was tense. Really, it was sweet. But I was glad he opted to leave before watching me plunge into the water for the first time. What? Did you think I was gonna drown or something :)?
So the water. Loved it. Loved the heck out of it. Swim was by far my favorite part. The part I was least prepared for, but by far my favorite. I was last in the water. We could kind of choose when we got in, and RGV Tri Club represented strong at the end of the swim line. We were the last 4 in the water. No biggie, it was cool. I went in last. Very last. I didn't swim super off course, I pretty much went buoy to buoy, one stroke at a time. And I watched the pink swim cap that belonged to Deb in front of me like a hawk. I tried to stay as close to her as possible. So thanks Deb for guiding me through my first 1500 meter open water swim! I never got pummeled by anyone, I did run into a fellow swimmer that had opted to backstroke the remaining 500meters. That was cool...I think I scared her more than she scared me. And I wasn't the last one out of the water either. So that was cool too, since I was last to get in. I will say this. I am what I would consider, a relatively strong swimmer. And by strong, I do NOT mean fast. By strong I mean rhythmic and measured and pretty much unfazed by my surroundings. At least so far. I may change my tune when I have to get in with more people and fight it out, but this time, I felt strong-ish. I got out and felt great and ready to hit the bike....
The bike.
Mkay so I'll say this now. Had I not been 3 beers deep and consumed by peer pressure two weeks ago, and known that this bike course was super hilly. I probably wouldn't have done it. Ignorance was for sure bliss. Because homegirl had never ridden up a hill except for my one 20 minute hill practice that took place last week because Javier suggested it. And since we live in a place with such vast topography like Harlingen, its super easy to train for monster hills named heartbreak. Yeah no. So that was special. The hills were rolling upwards for the first half of the bike. I kept my bad language to a minimum, which was amazing, and the first 5 miles or so flew by as I was still pretty exhilarated from the swim. By mile 6, I hit heartbreak hill. I did catch the part of the instructions in the AM talking about this monster, and I recalled something about "inexperienced cyclists should dismount" and "no braking and 50mph". So I did as I was told and dismounted before I would regret it. I saw one person ride up it...ouch...mind you I was not at the front of the pack with anyone super experienced I gathered...I did after all start the swim 15 minutes or so after the race began...
Yeah it sucked a lot. Walking in bike shoes up a huge ass hill pushing your bike is not a good time. And it was super hot and my helmet was melting to my hair (not really but it felt like it). It hurt. I didn't like it. I did not say any bad words.
***Side Note: I would like to take this time to pat myself on the back personally for my lack of colorful language during this triathlon event. I was almost a lady. I think I said the "F-word" like 2x. And that is like a record. Because I am known for making sailors blush during sporting events that get hot and/or tiring. My grandmother could have watched me and wouldn't have wanted to wash my mouth out with soap. So good job Lacy for not sounding trashy at this event. Well played.
So I'm at the top of heartbreak hill, and no it didn't go directly down. It continued to climb just not as steeply. I clipped back into my bike, and well, ya know, a girl is thirsty after walking up a hill in bike shoes pushing her bike in the 145 degree heat. So I used my magical bike skills and reached down to grab my water bottle to hydrate. After all, Kristofor said, biking is where you fuel. So sweet, lets get this fuel coming. I took a sip. Heard the familiar sound of an engine coming up behind me, and I got a little startled, and yeah. Dropped my ONLY water bottle. And then it was subsequently run over. I'm pretty sure my first F bomb occurred then. So here I am at mile 7ish of a 24.5 mile course, and I have no water. That definitely caused me some concern. I knew there probably wasn't going to be a fueling station on the course, so I was pretty effed. From that point on, I kind of went into conservation mode. I didn't want to push myself as hard as I had been because I couldn't hydrate. In retrospect, I probably should have flagged down another one of our tri club members and asked for a bottle. I saw them all before I got to the turn around. But I wasn't thinking. After the half way point, I totally coasted. And by coasted, I mean went flying down the hills, and tried to keep my momentum up to go up further without really pedaling too much. I got up to around 33mph-ish (I couldn't really look at my Garmin...I saw a 3 in front though...) on the downside of heartbreak hill. I like rollercoasters so that is what it reminded me of! WEEEEEEEE!!! By the time I was to mile 22.5 and heading back into the park, I was way past thirsty. It was Africa hot, and I still had to run 6.2 miles. In transition, I told Kris what happened, and he suggested I hang around and really hydrate. So I took my time, drank an entire Gatorade, gu-ed, more water, THEN left on my run...
My run was hot. And it was on trail??? Not all of it, but a lot of it was on caliche roads, some going up and down. That was cool. I poured water all over myself at the water stop. And then I was super smart and took a wrong turn and added over a quarter mile to my run. I did not even say a bad word. Seriously, I have no clue what had come over me. Kristofor had said when I passed transition, that it was only 2.5 more miles. That was a total lie. But I was pacing at about an 8:15 minute mile so I evidently had plenty in the tank post swim+bike. I passed some of the people that had passed me on the bike. One guy yelled "I KNEW YOU WOULD PASS ME ON THE RUN, I KNEW IT" Thanks for the vote of confidence buddy! I doused with more water before I headed out on the out and back uphill for 2 miles, down hill for 2 miles ending to the run course. And there she was.
**And I'm going to take this moment to say this. I don't think I'm some super special amazing person for doing what I did. Lots of people would have done the same. I would have wanted someone to do it for me. But this experience definitely impacted my race. I would do it again. And if it were one of my girls, I would want someone to help them too. I do believe in Karma.
At about the 3.1 mile mark, there was a girl about my age on the side of the road, getting sick. Having a lot of trouble. There wasn't really anyone around us, and it was pretty damn hot by this point. So I stopped with her. Tried to help her with her cramp. Talked to her trying to get her mind off of it, and then I walked with her almost until the turn around at the top of the hill. So I took at least 15 minutes off of my 10k time for this little detour. By this point, it really didn't matter. And I didn't have any sort of time goal...
Alright so I had a little bit of a time goal....
But whatever, it was not that big of a deal anyways. Approaching the top of the hill, she said she was ok. I doused with more water, grabbed a cold towel from the volunteer, and then I hit it hard the last 2 miles. But it was way too little too late. Even though I was flying (for me anyways) pace wise. Kristofor was about a half mile out with our dogs to greet me, and I told him that I had stopped for a while. I don't know if he quite understood how long I had stopped/walked. It was almost time for awards by the time I came into the finish. And a lot of the fanfare was over. I ran through the finish again a few minutes after so that they could snap my picture...
This was my best re-enactment! So first Tri finished, ready for the next one. Yes. I DEFINITELY want to do that again. One of our other members did this one, and said she wanted some redemption. And she definitely got redemption this time around, as she did SUPER amazing Saturday (Go Lisa Go!). And now I want a little redemption of my own....so September 16th, I'll be doing another Olympic @ South Padre Island.
This was an amazing experience for sure, and I couldn't be happier that I did it the way I did it. Just like when I ran my first marathon, I was cool and calculated about my pace and how I would go, simply because it was my first time. I'm a huge believer in that your first race is an experience. Not really a race. Any time is your best time. I've been beating that into my girls that are training for their first full. IT IS NOT A RACE...IT IS AN EXPERIENCE. Still, I know for anyone competitive, it is difficult to go at it that way. It was for me, and I allowed myself a full 5 minutes to have a pout session over how not fast I went. BUT...my 2nd marathon time was over 35 minutes faster than my first marathon. And although I don't anticipate shaving that much time off, I can hope for an improvement next time. That's the thing with triathlon. There are so many ways to improve things. There's always ways to get better. And I plan on working on a few things this next month to get better.
So bring it OPEN WATER OCEAN SWIM with sharks and jellyfish and all sorts of things that can eat me. I'm ready for you!
Thanks for cheering me on,
Lacy
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