Beam me up Scotty - I'm a triathlete!

Ok, that's to go with the theme: Jeff and Brede's Intergalactic Triathlon (there were no people dressed up as Klingons or anything like that.)  300 meters/12 miles/3 miles

Total time: 1.25 - I think that's pretty freakin' good for my first one!! Oh, here's my official numbers:

20   401 Jane    HOUSTON  TX 34       34    7:58    2:27   39:55    1:56   32:48         1:25:01
In my age group, I came in 20 out of 39, so not even in the back of the pack!

Photos to come....

I didn't forget my bike, or anything for that matter; I-10 wasn't even closed at that time in the morning, oh yeah and I didn't break anything! The weather was a factor, which I will go into in detail.

I slept okay the night  before and woke up at 3:30 in order to leave by 4:00. Breakfast: coffee, chocolate soy milk and rice cakes. I tried to eat a banana but it just wouldn't go down. The drive was uneventful. We got there around 4:45 and was there earlier than most volunteers! The mosquitos were awful! I sprayed OFF anyway, although it made my numbers smear off.

Setting up was a bit confusing. I was told that you had very little space, and they weren't kidding! I wasn't sure how to put my bike on the rack, conferred with many people and it all worked out. Since I got there so early, I had a lot of spare time to just hang around and be nervous - ugh! I did talk to several people - seasoned athletes who were very supportive and other newbies who looked as confused as I did.

My swim number was 401, so I had wait nearly 2 hours before I started swimming. That really was the worse part of the whole day. Just waiting, waiting - getting anxious, stiff, thirsty.  I was still really concerned about the whole passing thing. Then is started raining - really pouring. Oh great. The first swimmers were out soon and had to ride in the downpour.

So finally, the swim. The water was pleasantly warm. I saw that some people already in the pool were weaker swimmers - resting, or doing the breastroke, or uhm, doggie paddle - okay not doggie paddle but that weird thing where you don't put your face in the water - so that gave me some confidence. I was seeded appropriately, although I did pass two people - yeah! The first lap I did, I sort panicked because I felt tired already. But then I remembered that this is my M.O. - I start out slow, but get better and faster as I go along. I focused on form and tried to plow throught the water - it worked! I swam in just under 8 minutes! I have been doing about 9 minutes while training.

They never tell you that you are dizzy when you get out of swimming! So after a few drunken-looking steps, I ran to the transition area. It was still raining quite hard. Transition was really hard!  Although it was the funnest part of the tri b/c it seemed so comical. I had the hardest time putting on my cycling shoes b/c of WET VELCRO! Also, standing on wobbly legs trying to put one foot into a shoe - that was hard. Thank god I decided to forego socks and gloves - otherwise my T1 would have been 10 minutes. My brother was there, soaking wet, but cheering!

Cycling - it actually stopped raining halfway on the bike route. Cycling is best event, so I was in my element. I passed lots of people! I averaged about 18 mph. I think I could have gone faster, but I wanted to save my legs for the run. On the halfway mark, there was a headwind - gee, thanks alot , but it wasn't too bad. I remember the worst bike ride I did was the Tour de Cypress, where it got colder as the morning went along, it dropped below 50 degrees, there was heavy freezing rain and heavy wind and I still did 50 miles, so this was a piece of cake. My cycling time was the 3rd best in my group!

Came into T2. It was still raining there. The rack collapsed when I tried to put my bike on it (not my fault - really crappy old racks) so the volunteers held up my bike and rack while they fixed it. I brought socks and a hat, but everything was soaking wet and I don't know how I would have put on socks anyway, so decided to forego those. Off to the run.

It was not a direct route onto the road. There was this very circumferential - run through this mud, then passed the swingset, around that building, through some more mud and onto the road - route. The rain actually helped b/c it cooled things down. The best part of this was that other athletes were very supportive - "good job, almost done!" whenever I would pass or they would pass me. At the first rest stop, they were all dressed in hula outfits, but wouldn't dance for me!! I never knew ice cold water could taste so good. Run, run, run. Another jaunt through tons of mud. I never trained to run in mud - I thought my shoes would get sucked down.

Aw - they psyched us out. There was a timing mat that we crossed over and I though that was the end and thought "wow, that didn't feel like 3 miles" and it wasn't. There was still 2 miles to go around the lake. Run, run. I decided to push myself some. Oddly enough, what I kept saying was "1,2,3,4 I love Marine Corps." Uhm, very weird. (no, I was never in the Marines, although I kinda sorta dated one once who was a complete asshole, but that's another story...)  When the volunteers said "one mile left" that felt really good  - I can do one more mile!

As you get closer to the finish line, I heard lots of people cheering. My brother was there taking photos. The volunteers were shouting "you're gonna be a triathlete!"  Then more mud and the finish line. I couldn't stop running for a few feet and the volunteers had to catch me. Nifty Jeff and Brede's towel. Some Accelerade. Oh yeah, the announcer dude saying "this is her first triathlon!"

I DID IT!  And it wasn't bad at all. It was actually FUN, really fun. I didn't feel dead or completely worn out. Oh, yeah and my run time was 32:48 - that means just under 11 minute miles - a record for me. WOO-HOO!  The mental component is really a big part of this. There was not a time where I felt like quitting, but at times I thought - this is harder than I thought, or I could stop right now maybe. Or thoughts such as comparing myself to other people, even though that's really not the point of it (for me anyway.) I really knew I could do this before I even did it, so I think that was really half the battle.

Okay - so goal of doing one without breaking anything was accomplished. And my times were better than I anticipated! Especially the run - I just wanted to be around 36 minutes.

My new goals are to: 1. work on decreasing transition times. 2. hammer during the cycling b/c I could have gone faster. 3. Keep working on swimming and running, although I am VERY happy with my progress to date. 4. Practice running without socks, esp for these short distances.

So...when's the next one? I have actually already signed up for one in August - Ironbabe, all women, although I may try to do one before then.

YAY!

Comments

[Andra Sue]

Congratulations!!! Glad you had such a great race. And those times are awesome. :-)

[Phoenix]

You GO, Jane!! Awesome job. Geez, you are fast on the bike!!! And in the rain to boot - I would have been cryin' on my bike going 8 miles and hour and crashing every ten minutes. Can't wait to see the photos!

[N. Kang DEE and Leopold]

Jane is Insane in the membrane
That is pretty incredible
Choose a half marathon and I will start training.

[IM Able]

Yeah! Way to go!!

Great race -- you should be proud!

[Greyhound]

Good for you! You took on the challenge of something very new and you did it!

[Paulette]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are totally my hero. for real.

[JohnnyTri]

YEah way to go!! Welcome to the addiction!!

You did great!

rockon`

[Phil Sabin]

Congratulations on a great tri!!!

[TxSkatemom]

Congrats!! I want that bike time/ranking! You did a great job and you had FUN!

[william]

impressive. most impressive.