Oh Issaquah

Today I participated in my first triathlon of the season, fourth in my life. I don't know all the numbers yet, but I do know this: I was 18th out of 50 in my age group and I finished in 1:31. The distances were slightly off from a standard sprint tri: they were:

1/4 mile swim
14.5 mile bike
3.5 mile run

Okay, so after yesterday's session, I felt super-prepared for this - maybe even overconfident. I walked down to the water, lined up, and was in the front of the pack.

BAD IDEA.

Before the gun went off, I felt awesome - I even thought to myself that I could maybe keep these women behind me at bay for the entire swim, and just be out front. NOT AT ALL. Panic set in after just a few strokes, I couldn't put my face in the water, I swallowed water and couldn't catch my breath - all the usual stuff. A woman ahead of me turned and saw me, asked if I was alright. I sort of choked out a yes, but she didn't believe me, so she yelled to the person watching the swimmers in a kayak "Hey, keep an eye out for her!" Not much of a confidence boost there - but actually, at the time I was more concerned about her race and how she should go and not waste time on me (I never once thought I was going to drown). I did, however, alternate between side stroke and a crawl with my head out of the water. I kept my S-pulls (which I used to lose in stressful situations), but still: I was slow. The numbers aren't out yet to share my shame.

So, lessons learned from the swim:

1) Do not start at the front. I'm not that good yet.
2) Hang back a few seconds, wait until the splashing dies, then go.
3) No more pool swimming. From now on, it's open water all the way. SUCK IT UP. I need the practice.

I was proud that I held my line - about half of the swimmers in my wave got off course and had to re-set, but I was far enough back to see it and I didn't follow suit.

The bike pretty much made up for the swim. As soon as I was out of the transition area (transition was fairly easy and fast; I got my wetsuit off okay, socks and shoes on, a shirt over my tri suit because it was still fairly cool and my helmet on, no sunglasses because my contacts were turned around so it was hard enough to see, gloves were in my Bento box in case I ended up wanting them, which I didn't), I felt amazing (despite a HR somewhere in the 170s). I yelled to the guy ahead of me, "I'm so glad to be out of the water!!!" I actually felt, I'm so glad to be on my bike. I felt at home and comfortable.

As soon as I was out of the no passing zone, I got in my big ring and just hit it. I was above 20 mph for most of the ride, except for the most significant hill (both out and back) - and even then I was going 12-13 and passing people. I ended up near a group of four riders who rode approximately my pace, and we just kept passing each other most of the route. Towards the end, one of the women said to me, "Wow, you're really strong!" in a voice that told me she was impressed - and that gave me a great boost, even though I already knew I was strong. One cool thing: a few miles in, there's one of those "Your Speed" things that tells you how fast you're going. Usually when I pass it I'm going about 18 to 20 - it's slightly downhill, but right after an uphill so you haven't achieved a high speed yet. Today: 23! (And I know it was me, because I was alone when I got there.)

I did have one bad thing happen on the bike: I went to take a drink from my water bottle, dropped it, and ran over it. I had to pull over to make sure my bike was okay (it was - the funny noise I heard was my race number blowing up against my jersey), but I was too far ahead to go back to pick up the bottle. I felt bad about losing it, both because it's now an obstacle on the course for riders behind me, and because I only had one bottle and therefore lost all water 3 miles into the race. NOT GOOD when the sun was already coming out. Also not too good was hitting two cones as I was trying to pass people in a tight area - it may have been a no passing zone, I'm not sure. I ended up with my bike computer saying I averaged 19.5 (that includes the running parts in and out of transition) and saying it took me 44 minutes.

So, lessons learned on the bike:

1) Either use my aero bottle or have two water bottled half-filled in case I lose one
2) Carefully study the course map beforehand to know for sure where no passing zones are
3) Um, I can go harder than I thought. My HR was so high, but my RPE was fairly comfortable (labored breathing up hills and while passing, otherwise RPE of 6-7). I should work harder on the bike in general in training.

The run was so-so. I was so thirsty, and it was HOT by then, and I didn't need my long-sleeve cycling jersey but I wasn't body-confident enough in my tri suit to take it off. So I was warm. A ton of people passed me on the run, but I didn't let that get to me: I didn't feel any weird leg stuff, but I didn't feel super-fast either. At the one-mile mark, my watch said I'd been going for 9 minutes. I didn't see any other course markers until the one that said 1/4 mile left, and I picked it up then. But I think my run only took 30 minutes, which means it couldn't have been 3.5 miles. Not that I wasn't ready to see the end!

There was no water on the run. Actually, about half way in there was a water station set up - do it yourself style, though, and I wasn't willing to stop. So the rest of the way my thirst was really my fault.

Lessons learned from the run:
1) It gets warmer and your body gets warmer as the day wears on. Clothing that might work for bike racing might not for running.
2) Have an extra water bottle at the transition area, for drinking, washing, etc.

So overall, a good day. Plus, my six-year-old son did his first triathlon today! The kids tri (for his age group) was a 75-yard swim, 2 mile bike, and 1/2 mile run. He was soooooo cute!

I might do food data later; calories were somewhere around 1000, but more for the day, because I ran around to watch Gabriel race and later in the day I ran around my neighborhood looking for a lost kid.

Update:
I got my times. Here goes. Oh, and I was 18th out of 72, not 50. I guess the sheet I was looking at had early results.

Swim: 13:00 <-- HORRIBLE. MUST WORK ON THIS.
T1: 2:19. <-- Danielle did 1:25; I could have been and will work on becoming faster.
Bike: 43:40. <-- This is, if my math is correct, a 20 mph average. YES. I will do this again - especially since I did stop once to check my tire, so I might have been even a little faster. This time exceeded my expectations. They say you're not going to race faster than you train. I'm not sure that's true.
T2: 1:06. <-- Could have been faster here, too. I really wanted to check my odometer. Next time I will remember this is a race, and every second counts.
Run: 31:11. <-- Not sure what to say here. I know thirst contributed to this time, which if the race really were 3.5 miles this would be a great time for me, but it wasn't. So, basically, I need to fix the hydration and nutrition issues and be better on the run.

What I'm most proud of, though, is Gabriel's time. He did his tri in 27:06. I had estimated it would take him 40 minutes - after all, he's just six years old! But he was awesome. They don't rank kids, which is good, because apparently a lot of the girls and some of the boys didn't do the required number of laps on the bike. I'm just so proud of him, though - what a hard-core kid!