New England Season Opener - TriathlonSprint

Race was suppose to start a 8:00 am ... needless to say, the quiet lake we swam in yesterday, turned into more of an ocean ... yes ocean, waves and all .... the buoys were were suppose to swim around looked like they were a mile apart ... no, not 400 yards but a mile ... needles to say, I was a bit scared! I finally took my dip, and swam out and back a little bit about 10 minutes prior to race start, only to find out the swim start was going to be delayed 30 minutes ... can I say, I was a bit chilly? Yes, frozen to the bone, my feet, toes, ankles completely frozen ... from 30 min to 45 to an hour, 9:15 or so, here we finally go ... of course while we were waiting I get really hungry and Jean came to the rescue with a cliff bar ... thank you Jean!

The yellow wave went, and the pinks (me) were ready to go ... nobody told me this was a deep water start either! So we were treading water for a few mintues, and then we finally took off and since the course has been shortened ( I am really not sure how long it was but I wasn't complaining), we were all bunched up together. I must have gotten pushed, punched, and kicked at least a 100 times, but no major collisions ... once we got around the buoy (which I did swim breaststroke around), I finally got some space and made it back to shore ...

I took the top part of my wetsuit off, which wasn't easy, but it was way easier then taking the bottom part off ... LOL .. damn timing chip was in the way!

I finally got out of the wetsuit, put my shoes on, headband, helmet, sunglasses, hammer gel, and off I go ...

Get my damn suit off way faster! Now, this was my first time EVER, but damn .. the thing was stuck on my timing chip!

I have to say I felt pretty tired even after the first swim ... tired, but not tired, I think the wetsuit is so damn tight and we were in it for so damn long, that my legs and arms were sort of jelly? Idk, I can't explain it but it was weird .. I finally ran out (yes finally - I need to work on my transition), got on my bike and off I went. I passed a lot of people on the first couple of hills, and then more as I kept going ... I didn't get passed by any girls, so I knew I was doing good .. at least on the bike ... the only way any chick was ahead of me would be is she beat me on the swim, which is perfectly possible, since I am not the strongest swimmer of all ... around mile 8, I got a bit hungry so yay - I have my gel ... I open it, and then somehow need to brake, don't ask .. I squeeze the gel by accident while braking and it went all over my hands, handle bars, aerobars .. freaking everywhere .. wholly sticky! Ugh ... what a pain in the butt .. thankfully I still had enough gel for my belly ... I am nearing the transition are, so I started spinning little fast on my way into it ...

Take my sunglasses off before I rip my helmet off! I couldn't find them after and since I love my sunglasses I wasn't gonna lose them, or have someone step on them .. found them few seconds later ...

I can't feel my feet, but what I can feel are my calves ... tight, tight, tight! I finally make it uphill, to the water stop, keep going downhill so I am trying to push a bit but not all out since I can't feel my damn toes or feet as a matter of fact ... get to the parking lot, and they sent us around ... some people now keep going uphill to the levy, while I go about half way up and then back down back through the parking lot, up a damn HILL again .. that was a killer through the woods and onto the levy ... now the course was NOT marked very well in that area and there was nobody watching either ... it was probably a good a 1/3 of a mile if not more that bunch of peeps I am sure cut off by accident ... once on the levy, the wind almost blew me over .. I am not kidding ... I had issues running straight ... then on to the beach and to the finish line .. I picked it up a little in the end, but definitely didn't go all out .. I just had enough of the wind ...

Hung out with my fellow dreamfar athletes .. ate a banana, orange, protein shake, granola bar ... yes, I was hungry ... and on my way home we stopped at Red Robin .. Red robin .. YUM! the best burgers of all time! Oh and unlimited fried! Can't go wrong with that ... it was sooooooooo good!


Here it is, I completed my first tri race of the season (400 years (maybe 250 yards after adjustments), 15 mile bike ride, 3.2 mile run in 1:19: 43 and I had a blast! I also won my age group division, which WOW, I was suprised. I knew that I woudl be competitive, at least I was gonna try no matter what, but I for sure didn't think I was going to win ... overall though it was a great first race and I am looking forward to the next one .. Mooseman here I come