I did my first tri of the year yesterday – the BTT Sprint course which is 750 meter swim (~.5 mile), 12.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.
In the morning I was relaxed and excited. I got over to the race early, set up my transition area and went for a quick ride on my bike to warm up. Then I put on my wetsuit and headed over to the beach to warmup for the swim. I have been struggling with my open water swimming this year. Every group swim I have had has made me nervous, anxious and breathless. So, this past week I spent more time in the water by myself, just trying to figure out how to calm myself. I had not talked to my coach about how I was feeling until late last week – I figured he won’t be able to make me less nervous – it’s a feeling and I need to figure out how to deal with it. But, I finally told him what was going on and of course, he had some great suggestions. He thought I wasn’t spending enough time prior to swimming getting acclimated in the water. That means going in slow, just up to ankles, then waist, then shoulders,… Eventually put face in the water and do some bobs. He suggested I take 10-15 minutes to do this acclimation process. So, this past week that’s what I did and felt so much better when I did my swims this week. Yesterday morning I followed this same routine and I was feeling very calm, relaxed and ready when we started the swim.
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| Warming Up/Bobs |
SWIM
3 – 2 – 1 – GO! I had a decent swim. There were a few people bumping me along the way but, once I got around the first buoy I got into a rhythm and just focused on sighting (which means looking for the next buoy and swimming in a straight line) and staying calm. I still have a lot to work on with my swimming but, overall I was happy to get through that swim without a panic attack! :) Swim Time: 16:01.
T1 (transition 1, swim to bike) went well. Got my wetsuit off, put on some sunscreen, helmet and bike gloves and then ran my bike out to the mount line.
Bike
I had a really good bike ride. It’s a hilly course and I wanted to go hard. Starting out my legs were feeling a bit heavy but, I switched into an easier gear for a minute or so, got my legs moving (cadence up) and then put it back in the gear I wanted and went for it! It was so much fun –I almost had one wipeout, coming up on a corner and I was going too fast. I had been in a zone and just didn’t realize how close I was to the corner. Luckily, the roads were not wet or I think I would have crashed on that corner. Lesson learned –pay attention! :) Bike time: 42:22 (17.6 mph)
T2 (transition 2, bike to run) was ok. I changed my socks for the run and this cost me some time because I couldn’t get my socks on. Next time I might just leave my bike socks on – it will depend on how wet they are – don’t want any blisters. Some people don’t bike with socks – I have tried that and it’s ok, I just prefer socks so I always use them when biking .
Run
I had a great run – 5K PR! I looked at my watch a couple times but, mostly just went by how I was feeling. Sometimes when I look at my watch and see a pace that is ‘fast’ for me it freaks me out and I end up slowing down because I tell myself “you don’t run this fast”. So yesterday I purposely ignored my watch and just ran hard. I saw Matt when I had about a half mile to go and he said “Finish hard if you have anything left”. I picked it up a bit, ended up passing one guy that had been in front me for the whole run and finished strong! :) Run time: 26:47 (8:38 pace)
I am not one to compare how I did to what others did/do in a race. I just don’t think I have much of a competitive nature when it comes to racing against others. It’s mostly about what can I do. But, Pat was looking at the results and told me some interesting facts:
- My
bike time was the second fastest overall -women. Only the overall winner of women’s sprint
race was faster than me. (40:35 for the winner. Mine was 42:22). That’s pretty cool!
- I would have placed in the top 3 of every age group, not just my own age group! That’s pretty neat too.
Up next is the Spring Meadow Olympic distance triathlon (1.5 K swim (.9 miles), 23.4 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) in Helena in 2 weeks (7/12). I am really looking forward to this race. It was my favorite last year and I am excited to do it again this year. The bike course goes through areas where I spent a lot of time as a kid and it has some really special memories for me.
Here are some pics from yesterday.
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| Me with some of my Women Who Tri friends warming up before the start |
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| We're Off! |
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| Me with my hand on my watch exiting the swim. That's my coach standing there cheering us on! |
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| T1 |
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| T1 |
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| Exiting T1 |
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| T2 - Darn socks! |
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| Exiting T2 |
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| Me - almost done. Mom, Dad and Jenny :) |
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| Coming into the finish! |
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| Done! |
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| Mom and Pat (my biggest supporter!) |
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