Catching Up Part 1

This post is to begin catching you up on what happened over the summer between my May post & the IM at the end of August. The first thing of real significance was my first triathlon ever on May 17th at Taylorsville Lake.

I spent several weeks leading up to this race in a perpetual state of indecision. I kind of wanted to get a tri under my belt but I wasn't certain I was ready and, quite honestly, I was afraid that I would embarrass myself & quite possibly come in last. Coach Monica thought I should do it, Kelly & Aimee were doing it, Brian thought I should go - the pressure was unrelenting - I gave in.

Race morning I was so nervous I thought I'd be sick. I'd packed & repacked everything I could think of the night before & had gotten everything into my car so all I had to do was get up, eat my bagels with peanut butter, throw on my tri suit & go. Brian had offered to be my fan club so I picked him up on the way & before I knew it I was there.

When we got there I quickly got my bike ready, my transition set up & my wetsuit on. Kelly, Aimee & I made our way to the water for a quick (and unbelievably cold) dip & next thing I knew we were lining up to start.

Let me start by saying that the water in Taylorsville Lake was absolutely disgusting. In addition to being only one step above freezing, the was so much silt & debris in the water that it was like putting your face in a mudpuddle - gross! I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have a panic attack in the water but I definitely didn't enjoy the swim. It was a 2x out & back course & lots of people were going off course & crossing over the bouys. At one point, I was hit head-on by some guy who had crossed over to my side...fun. Although I was slow, I wasn't the last person out of the water - which was quite a relief & I made my way up the boat ramp & onto my bike. One thing I learned in this race - go to the bathroom before getting on the bike. I spent the entire bike ride having to go pee - & no, I didn't pee on my bike.

I had practiced the bike course the week before so I knew what to expect & was pleasantly surprised when I was able to maintain a much higher than expected mph. During my trial run, I averaged just over 15 mph but during the race I was >17. It was great & I really enjoyed the ride - which is more than I can say about the run.

After I made it through transition & out onto the run course the misery of the day started. The run course is a 3x out & back in the full-sun with the out being uphill & the back being downhill. Normally this wouldn't be so bad but on this day, when we should have been getting the relief of going downhill we were heading into an incredibly strong headwind. It wasn't long before I was negotiating with myself for every step forward. I would try to make myself run to signs, poles, rocks, whatever just to keep moving forward faster. However, the longer I was out there, the more I walked. I walked fast but still walked. The only time I was really strong on the run was the last 1/2 mile when the finish was in sight! The good news, though, was that everybody was suffering on the unexpectedly hot & windy day & my finish time was much better than I expected.

When the race was over, I was really glad I had done it. All of my times were better than I expected & I didn't come in last! My splits were as follows:

Swim - 51:50
T1 - 5:27
Bike - 3:10:02
T2 - 3:21
Run 2:22:26
Total Time - 6:33:08

Overall, a really great start to my triathlon "career".

A special thanks to Ben Wilson for all the photos he took of the day!