This was my first triathlon. On a whim after hearing about some friends mentioning a training program I decided that for my 30th birthday I wanted to give myself the present of accomplishing what I would consider a pretty substantial goal. I joined a training group and along with my partner Barb and a few friends we set out to train for the Charlotte SheRox Spring Tri that we just completed two weekends ago.

Here’s how it went for me:
The wake-up call from the front desk, my alarm and Barb’s alarm finally woke us up at the slightly crazy time of 4:15. Trying to eat that early in the morning was a real battle-one of my pop tarts was spared its life. We got to the park and then had to walk our stuff ¾ of a mile, in the complete darkness to the site. Thank goodness my dad and brother had loaned us their headlamps! In the distance you could hear music playing and see the lights that were set up—all under a full moon that was still pretty high in the sky.

We got to the transition area and there were tons of people waiting to write our numbers on us. As soon as a woman had written my number on my arms in, Sharpie marker, Barb and I realized that I had been carrying her bike. Since they got the numbers from the tags already stuck to our bike I had the wrong number on me. So she had to scribble over the number and below it wrote the correct one. I was secretly hoping this was not a sign of how the day was going to be.

We eventually walked down to the lake and found a spot to watch the first waves leave at 7am. We were the final wave and didn’t head out until 7:30. I was extremely excited looking at the crowd. This event was relatively small with only around 400 participants but there were tons of supporters there. Having only ever trained in a pool I mentally knew I could swim well beyond that distance but seeing it out like that for the first time made room for a little doubt to creep into my mind.

The voice of Lloyd (our coach) stuck with me throughout the race. We all reminded ourselves to not let the adrenaline get the best of us but to start at the back of the pack and to relax when we first started swimming. It was really nice to start beside of friendly faces who you’d trained with. Of course when we were told to start I think my heart almost jumped out of my chest but I tried to relax. I quickly lost sight of everyone but I’m sure I swam almost up on top of Barb several times at the beginning. As expected on the swim out breathing wasn’t that easy but once we looped around the end buoy and started to make our way back in it became much nicer. Sometimes it was almost too relaxing. I caught myself a few time just treading water and looking around. It really was almost an overwhelming feeling to be in the middle of a gigantic lake that felt like bathwater with the sun just coming up doing something that you had trained constantly for almost 15 wks for. Swimming in the open water was a much more pleasant experience for me for one due to the lack of chlorine in the water and just the really unimpeded feeling I had (besides the bodies jostling all around me at times).

I eventually decided that I needed to try to focus a bit more and really try to swim like I knew I could. I evidently became so focused that I didn’t realize the last buoy was right in front of me until I swam into it. It didn’t hurt-physically that is but I did stop for a bit wondering if anyone saw that. I’m sure a few of the kayakers who were keeping watch over us got a bit of a chuckle once they realized that I was okay. As I came out of the water a bit tired I was instantly energized by seeing everyone I knew cheering me on.

The transition out of the swim was very long, uphill and dirty! I tried to take it slow and at one point posed for a picture-which probably didn’t help my time too much. Transition went smooth and I was glad I took the time to really clean off my feet before I shoved them into my socks. Looking back I do think it is a bit humorous that I was about to leave with my bike and then I saw that the seat was wet. So I went back and wiped it off. As I was leaving I then sat my still rather soggy butt on my dry seat. Strange the things you’ll do when you’re just a little tired.

We knew from riding the course the day before that the bike would be a little hilly. I just started riding with not much of a game plan other than just to go. As I was riding out I saw the leaders coming back it. It was actually not discouraging to see them but was strangely reassuring to me that yes-I might come back from the bike as well. For some reason I got bored really quickly on the bike so I started playing a game of giving myself a point for everyone I passed while deducting one when I was past. Needless to say there was both a lot of adding and subtracting going on until I realized it was hurting my head to do all of that math.

I did find it to be really nice at how supportive everyone was. There was lots of chatter of “looking good”, “keep doing it”, etc. I tried to say something nice or funny every time I past someone. And I secretly took a lot of pleasure of passing someone on a road bike considering that Barb and I both were clunking it up with our big ol’ mountain bikes. I think the pleasure was due in part to a bit of jealousy! There were times that I spaced out a bit and was brought back by someone saying something to me. I passed a lady who was a bit older than I at one point and a bit later I heard her yelling to me “I know I can’t pass you but you’re riding too slow-pick it up a bit!” That made me laugh so hard. I gave her a big thank you and took her advice and picked it up. I thought it was really great to have our ages on our calves. It was inspirational to see some of the older ages (61 was the oldest I saw) and exciting to see ages as young as 12.

I could hear my mom’s gigantic cowbell from a mile away as I came in from the bike and it brought a big smile on my face and I tried to look all refreshed even though I was far from it. After replenishing my chapstick supply and hitting the porta johns (surprise!) out to the dreaded run I went but knowing that I would soon be accomplishing this goal very soon. The trail started out on a paved and shaded road-just my style but soon turned a little treacherous. We were told that it would be “packed dirt” and there was dirt but I wouldn’t consider it packed. There were tons of big loose rocks, exposed roots and eroded banks. I actually spent a lot of the time looking at the ground to make sure I wouldn’t fall. Many people still spoke words of support but in general it was much more quite than the ride. I ran at a pace that I thought I could maintain throughout but I did start too slow down at one point. Then to my delight I saw Barbara and we were able to run together for about 5 minutes. That was really a nice boost at that point. We got to check in with each other, know that we were both going to make it and personally it revitalized me a lot.

At one point on a loop I realized that I was actually in front of someone I trained with that I should have been pretty far behind but she was beginning to catch up. So I decided it was time to “dropped the hammer”. I decided to pick up my pace but quickly realized I might have done that a bit too soon. Just as I thought I would take a quick walk break I could hear that cowbell and see all of our supporters waiting in the distance…just what I needed. So I took off and started passing anyone near me (the words of wisdom from Lloyd in the back of my mind tell me to “eat her up!”). Being pushed on by the cheers and bells I leaned to pass one more person at the finish line which at the time seemed like the thing to do. I had finally made it and felt…well, like a needed to find a place to hurl! Fortunately that passed and I got to join my supporters and cheer on my teammates with that big ol’ cowbell!

Overall at first I was elated to finish and be in one piece. When I started this journey I knew I would finish but I didn’t know how pretty it could possibly be. Then I started replaying everything over and I wished I would have pushed harder here or there. I don’t really know how my times are I came in about in the middle. Most of my training group has already decided they are addicted and going to do this again. I honestly can’t say for sure if I will. I wanted to finish and be addicted but for some reason it didn’t totally happen for me.

We trained for around 15 weeks which I think was more than enough time for a sprint tri. If anything I might go for a different distance next time that I feel like would push my limits a bit more-maybe that was my problem. Who knows! The experience was great and I think I have picked up many habits that I will maintain for the rest of my life. I know for sure that I love swimming in open water-so maybe some longer open water swims are what I’m looking for. A quick thank you to trifuel--this has been an amazing resource and source of inspiration throughout this process.

Swim: 00:23:21,T1: 00:02:53, Bike: 01:04:41,T2: 00:02:54, Run: 00:31:10
Total: 02:04:57