First Triathlon = Conquered
The day started with a 6 am wake up call after a night of tossing and turning. I pulled on my swim gear (Pearl Izumi tri shorts, Lululemon sports bra and fitted Adidas tank), slathered on the Body Glide and ate my oatmeal while trying to wake up. We headed north around 6:45am and got to Corvallis over and hour before my swim heat began.
We picked up our race packets, got marked (age on the left calf, race # on the right) and set up our bikes and race gear in our appropriate areas. The Beaver Freezer is put on by Oregon State's triathlon club team and is their main fundraiser for the year. They've been doing it for a while now so everything runs like a well oiled machine.
About 20 minutes prior to my swim start, I headed into the women's pool (women were in one and men in another) and waited for instruction. We got about 2 minutes to warm up after the heat before us finished so I slipped in two laps to get the jitters out. Before we knew it, we were swimming!
There were three of us in my lane, which worked out well. We each passed each other a few times and ultimately, I stayed in front of both of them and even lapped one, which made me feel confident about the swim. When the kickboard was put in front of me, I knew I had just 25 yards left of the swim and I hopped out of the pool, grabbed my hand towel and ran out into the transition for the bike.
My transition from swim to bike left MUCH to be desired. It took me about 4 minutes to take off my tank top and add my Smartwool, Pearl Izumi jacket, cycling shoes and gloves, glasses, etc. It didn't help that my number came unpinned AND my cycling gloves would NOT go on.
The bike consisted of 12 miles of mainly country road that was fairly flat. This is where we really lucked out with sunny weather. While there was a bit of head wind and some road grime that got me a bit dirty, it was a pretty nice ride overall. I kept having to remind myself to push harder. Overall, I felt like my time on the trainer was well spent and the legs felt strong.
The transition from bike to run was much faster than the previous transition. My legs felt like bricks here, but I was so happy to be on the last leg of this thing and the portion I feel most trained in.
Three laps around campus later, I was running into the finish line!
Okay, I think I kinda liked that...
Because the manfriend is faster, his swim started later. He was just starting his bike as I was finishing mine.
I couldn't believe this woman did the ENTIRE tri in just a swim suit. Seriously, some of these triathletes are craaaazy wearing nothing just to shave 30 seconds or so off their transition times.
The manfriend was happily flyin' through his run!
First triathlon for both of us
And then of course, it was time to refuel with a beer sampler, black bean burger and sweet potato fries. Yum.
Sassy's Time: 10:25 (swim), 3:56 (T1), 43:53 (bike), 2:12 (T2), 22:16 (run) = 1:22:44
Manfriend's Time: 9:38 (swim), 4:11 (T1), 35:28 (bike), 1:35 (T2), 21:20 (run) = 1:12:15
Sorry that was so long! I thought the photos would help explain it a bit better. And THANK YOU, Mom for cheering us on and taking so many photos during the race! Near or far, my mom always tries to make it to an athletic event I'm participating in and I appreciate it more than she knows.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention my fueling system that worked pretty well. Before the swim, I had a sip of my gatorade/water mix. The rest of my fueling was done all while on the bike. I took a chocolate agave gu at the beginning of the bike, took sips of my gatorade/water mix every few miles and then had a few honey stinger chewies at the end of the bike. I felt strong and hydrated the whole time.
We picked up our race packets, got marked (age on the left calf, race # on the right) and set up our bikes and race gear in our appropriate areas. The Beaver Freezer is put on by Oregon State's triathlon club team and is their main fundraiser for the year. They've been doing it for a while now so everything runs like a well oiled machine.
About 20 minutes prior to my swim start, I headed into the women's pool (women were in one and men in another) and waited for instruction. We got about 2 minutes to warm up after the heat before us finished so I slipped in two laps to get the jitters out. Before we knew it, we were swimming!
There were three of us in my lane, which worked out well. We each passed each other a few times and ultimately, I stayed in front of both of them and even lapped one, which made me feel confident about the swim. When the kickboard was put in front of me, I knew I had just 25 yards left of the swim and I hopped out of the pool, grabbed my hand towel and ran out into the transition for the bike.
My transition from swim to bike left MUCH to be desired. It took me about 4 minutes to take off my tank top and add my Smartwool, Pearl Izumi jacket, cycling shoes and gloves, glasses, etc. It didn't help that my number came unpinned AND my cycling gloves would NOT go on.
The bike consisted of 12 miles of mainly country road that was fairly flat. This is where we really lucked out with sunny weather. While there was a bit of head wind and some road grime that got me a bit dirty, it was a pretty nice ride overall. I kept having to remind myself to push harder. Overall, I felt like my time on the trainer was well spent and the legs felt strong.
The transition from bike to run was much faster than the previous transition. My legs felt like bricks here, but I was so happy to be on the last leg of this thing and the portion I feel most trained in.
Three laps around campus later, I was running into the finish line!
Okay, I think I kinda liked that...
Because the manfriend is faster, his swim started later. He was just starting his bike as I was finishing mine.
I couldn't believe this woman did the ENTIRE tri in just a swim suit. Seriously, some of these triathletes are craaaazy wearing nothing just to shave 30 seconds or so off their transition times.
The manfriend was happily flyin' through his run!
First triathlon for both of us
And then of course, it was time to refuel with a beer sampler, black bean burger and sweet potato fries. Yum.
Sassy's Time: 10:25 (swim), 3:56 (T1), 43:53 (bike), 2:12 (T2), 22:16 (run) = 1:22:44
Manfriend's Time: 9:38 (swim), 4:11 (T1), 35:28 (bike), 1:35 (T2), 21:20 (run) = 1:12:15
Sorry that was so long! I thought the photos would help explain it a bit better. And THANK YOU, Mom for cheering us on and taking so many photos during the race! Near or far, my mom always tries to make it to an athletic event I'm participating in and I appreciate it more than she knows.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention my fueling system that worked pretty well. Before the swim, I had a sip of my gatorade/water mix. The rest of my fueling was done all while on the bike. I took a chocolate agave gu at the beginning of the bike, took sips of my gatorade/water mix every few miles and then had a few honey stinger chewies at the end of the bike. I felt strong and hydrated the whole time.
Comments
I was supposed to do a tri (super sprint) on May 7 but I have to go out of town for business that weekend so now I'm on the lookout for another one :)
I also think it's so cool that your mom always comes to all your events to cheer you on!
Also, I don't know if you looked, but your run was almost the fastest split out of ALL of the women. Rockstar.