Medal Monday… Sylvania Triathlon!

I did it!!  Wooooooohooo!  Ok, if I seem a little excited about this, it’s because I really am!

I completed my first triathlon on Sunday.  I did the Sprint distance, which was swim 1/4 mile, bike 13 miles, and run 5K.  I was very nervous about the swim.  I have included swimming into my training over the past 3 weeks or so, but I never did an open water swim.  So here are the worries I had about the swim…

• Cold water
• Getting a big mouth full of water
• People kicking me when I swim, goggles getting knocked off!
• What if I can’t swim the whole distance?
• Gross lake water
• Dark, green yucky water

I am happy to report that NONE of these things were an issue.  Worrying for nothing 😉

One thing I needed to learn about completing a triathlon was setting up my transition area.  I needed to get everything ready for my bike ride and my run in the area.  I did a really good job about making sure I was set.  I didn’t forget anything!

Then I went down to the beach and waited for my wave to start.  I signed up for waive 5 which was Open Women 40 yrs +.  I didn’t even realize there was a beginner wave!  Oops.  Oh well, I decided I was just going to hang to the back of the group.  At 7:42am my wave started.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the water felt warm.  It felt warmer than my pool, although it was actually 80 degrees, and my pool is 84.  The water was decently clear, and calm.  We all kept our distance and I didn’t get kicked in the face.

When I saw the first buoy, which was our turn, I thought it didn’t seem that far away.

OH NO, I was wrong.  I was freaking out of breath within just a few feet of me swimming.  This was not starting well!  I quickly switched from doing freestyle stroke, to breast stroke.  Yep, just swimming around like a frog.  This kept me afloat, and I made it all the way around.  Good enough!!  I did get passed by a few people in the wave behind me.  Oh well.  Swim time: 14:51

When the swim was done I headed out on the beach and over to the transition.  That was a weird thing to be running on pavement in bare feet!  I toweled off, switched my shirt, put on my shoes  & socks, and got ready to ride!

The bike ride was actually pretty dang awesome.  I loved this part of the race.  When I train, I don’t ride on roads.  I ride on a bike trail which has some sort of crosswalk usually every mile.  So I have to slow down quite a bit.  I was just free and flying for this race.  LOVED it.

Then around mile 12 I thought “oh crap, now I have to go run”.  Yep, multi sport events have spoiled my love of running (at least, during the races).  Running off the bike is soooo hard!  By now the temperature was around 80 degrees, with the sun shining.  Phew!  It felt like a million degrees!  Bike time:  45:58

I was thankful that at mile 2 they had a kid with a hose spraying everyone off.  Yes please!!  I even had to walk 3 times in the last mile because it was sweltering.  Finish time for the 5K: 27:40

I was so excited to be done.  Triathlon complete!!  Overall time: 1:33:01

I checked my time, and found out I had placed in my age group.  In fact, I got 1st in my age group.  Shocked the heck out of me!  I got a cool award.

And a high five from the race director.

I’m especially thankful that Alan and Sydney were there supporting me (Zach went to a sleepover!).  Love my crew 🙂

So now I can call my self a triathlete too.  I never thought I would!