Celebration Triathlon: Race Recap

Thanks for all the well-wishes on the last post! You guys are the best. Here is the full story of my first triathlon.

Before the Race
Saturday morning Neil and I drove up to drop the dog off and pick up my racing bike from my parents. We headed to the race expo where I got my shirt, timing chip, bib and stickers. The expo was tiny compared to some of the races I have been to, so it was not exciting. We drove to the race site to get my bike inspected and racked. I was a little nervous to leave it there over night!

Then we drove to Wilmington, DE to attend a wedding. I was exhausted from having worked so much and slept so little. We ended up leaving right after the cake, but I think the bride and groom understood. We didn’t get home until about midnight.

I perused the Triathlon website to make sure I had all the details straight. My wave wasn’t starting until 8:31 (the last wave) so I assumed I could get there later also. WRONG! I’m very happy I found the schedule on the site because otherwise I would have taken my time getting there. (One complaint I have about this race is a very poorly designed website).

I can honestly say I was much more nervous about this race than any running race I have ever done. I was scared about the open water swim because I’m not a strong swimmer. I was scared about the bike ride because it was supposed to be hilly. I was scared about the run because I had only been able to run for 9 days before the race. I even said to Neil the night before the race “I wish I hadn’t signed up for this.”

My alarm was set for 5:30 am Sunday morning and we had to be out of the house by 6 am. I made a packing list to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

We didn’t get out of the house until about 6:15 am. Here I am half asleep leaving the house. Note the one piece trisuit I’m wearing – I bought it the day before and it fit like a glove. (I was worried with tri short + shirt combo, the shirt would be riding up the whole time).

When we were about a mile from our house Neil asked me if I ate anything and I realized I had forgotten! Who forgets to eat before a race?? Sleep deprivation = forgetfulness. But unfortunately the GPS for the car said we weren’t going to get to the race until 6:55, and the course closed for people to enter at 7! I wasn’t about to risk missing the whole race.

We ended up getting there around 6:45 and I rushed to the transition area. I was very happy to see a familiar face: my roommate from college’s friend from high school. We are both in my roommate’s wedding in a few weeks, so we know each other and had talked about the race last time we had seen each other. She told me we actually had to be OUT of the transition area at 7. So as you can imagine I was rushing around like a mad woman to get my area organized and to get my body marked. She also had extra safety pins for me to put my bib on my running shirt. Lifesaver!

I quickly ate a pack of exercise Jelly Beans I had and went toward the start area. We had about 1 hr 15 minutes until our start time. Danielle was there with her friend Sami, who was very tall and competing in the Athena category. She was hoping to win her group and I’m happy to report she did! She gave us a bunch of tips while we waited.

Neil somehow managed to find me in the crowd and brought me a bagel and a coffee from Dunkins. I felt relieved to get some real fuel in my body.

Finally 8:15 rolled around and it was time for us to line up in our green swim caps.

Swim – .62 miles

I felt least prepared, mentally and physically, for the swim part of this race. I stayed toward the back of the pack at the start to avoid getting kicked. I got kicked in the hand but that was it.

The swim course felt like it was taking me forever. There was a bunch of seaweed at the beginning and I was getting tired quickly. I alternated between back stroke, breast and crawl. At one point, I got quite off course and a kayaker volunteer had to call out to me to change directions, so I’m certain I swam more than .62 miles.

Finally, I saw the end was in sight. Unfortunately, I also noticed the seaweed was getting thicker and thicker. (If you have read or seen Harry Potter 4 – think the seaweed that grabs you and pulls you down). You can see as I exited the water I was literally COVERED in seaweed. GROSS!

Neil was there cheering me on. I ran up to the transition area, happy that the worst part was over.

Swim time: 28:08

Bike – 17.5 miles

As you all know, I bike anywhere from 6-20 miles a day just getting around town, so this was the part of the race I was most confident about.

The uphills were really tough, but the downhills were so fun! My top speed was 34 miles per hour according to my Garmin. The clip-in bike shoes were a big help going uphill, because when my legs were fatigued from pushing down I could pull up instead. Whenever I was struggling, I kept reminding myself that the bike ride was the fun part.

This was the part of the race I was able to pass a bunch of people, which felt great. I drank out of my water bottle a few times (about half the bottle) and had some gatorade at a turnaround. I had forgotten to put on my sunglasses and was starting to get a headache toward the end of the ride because I’m very sensitive to light. It was hot out, but the bike ride gave me some natural air conditioning!

When I was coming back to the transition area, I saw a big crowd of personal cheerleaders. My family came out to join Neil!

Bike Time: 1:07:50

The next transition was easier because I just had to put on my running shirt and sunglasses and change shoes.

Run – 3.4 miles
I was feeling pretty parched by the time the run came around. There was a women with a hose who I asked to spray me down.

Now I’ve run a bunch of shorter races (5Ks, 10Ks), but let me tell you, I’ve never run a hillier race than this. My body was not ready to tackle these hills yet. After all, I’ve only been able to run a combined total of 10 miles in the last 4 months or so! I decided to power walk up most of the hills.

I also walked through the water stations. I ate one disgusting hammer gel that was given to us with the race packets. It was nasty. My feet were also hurting – I could tell I was developing some big blisters. Luckily they didn’t bleed like in my last half marathon.

Toward the end of the course, I saw Neil again. He was telling me how great I was doing and ran alongside me for a bit. I walked a little up the last hill and then decided to sprint into the finish line (my max speed on the run was 10.4 mph and I’m guessing this is when that happened). I ran by my family and threw my hands up in celebration as I crossed the finish line.

Run Time: 34:01

Total Race Time: 2:15:44

After the Race
I was feeling very shaky, but incredibly proud. I had not trained as much or as hard as I would have liked, but I still managed to get decent times and make it to the finish line. I was so thankful to have my team of cheerleaders there: my mom, my brother, Vanessa, my Dad and Neil.

Neil was especially great. He was there at each transition encouraging me and cheering me on. Also he took all these great pictures!

I ate a granola bar in the car, and then had a big breakfast at my parents. Unfortunately, I had to work the rest of the day but you better believe I wore my medal around the house all day.

I’m also looking forward to the official race pics because I made a conscious effort to smile at all the cameramen, whereas they usually catch me looking like I’m about to die of pain.

Would I do another triathlon? Definitely. One thing I loved about this race compared to a long-distance running race is that there was never a mental struggle with boredom!].

However, tri-training is much more time consuming for me than running races, so next time I would try to do it at a time in my life when I didn’t have so much going on. You know, not 2 weeks after my own reception and when I’ve had to be out of town almost every other weekend.

Have you ever done a triathlon? Would you consider it?