Greater Nashua Y Tri - TriathlonSprint

My first swim in a triathlon. This was hard. I felt SO out of breath the entire time. During my workouts I breathe every 3rd stroke to every 4th. During the race I just could not settle down and did mostly every other. It was clear to see how slow I was going as my entire wave shot off ahead of me and disappeared. I felt like my sighting was at least good - as I had my head up so often to breath. I was actually happy that I didn't do much breaststroke at all - I did freestyle the whole way. The other good part was that there was very little if any contact with other swimmers.

Oh God, I think everything. I need to find a way to warm up effectively so that I don't feel that overwhelming sense that I'm going to die. When I turned the final buoy with probably 30 yards to go - I finally felt as though I was starting to get in a rhythm. My breathing had calmed down and I was breathing every 3 strokes - I was smoother and more confident. A little too late.

I did jog up the hill after the swim - passed lots of folks who were walking up the hill. Actually felt good after my terrible swim - felt like I was back in control again.

Well, this was about as good as it'll get for me until I make a major change like clipping my shoes in before I get on my bike - and I don't think I'm ready for that. As I made the choice to skip the wetsuit, I'm sure that improved my time (this time).

I felt pretty good about my biking actually. I just tried to keep my cadence up and stay in the game. I definitely was passing more people than were passing me. I think the 3x per week workouts on the bike and the group rides with people who are better than me are paying off. I felt in control. I tried to push it - knowing the run was only 5k and the bike was only 16 miles - really wanted to race the whole time and just see how it went.

My cornering is weak. And I had no idea what to do when I was side by side going around the corners.

I felt fast during this transition. For me.

I don't know... I'm sure it can get faster but I thought I did pretty well. I didn't miss anything and I rushed through it.

This one started out funny. I tried to take a drink at the station just outside transition. I simply cannot drink as I move. I wound up choking. Ok, nevermind - so I take my hat off and dump it over my head. Missed my head. Tripped over my own feet. Startling realization that I was just trying to move WAY too fast. Whoa Nellie - slow DOWN. Okay... that got me out onto the road probably about 100 yards... now I had to recover. That took FOREVER. My original plan was just to run my little heart out. Well my body had other plans and my heart was going to leap out of my chest. So I just had to slow down. That's when my legs started feeling like foreign objects. My mantra became - just turn them over, just keep turning them over. Sing your favorite song and turn them over to the beat. That got me through just about the first mile when I finally felt I was human again and just started to run my pace and my gait. Whew. Took some water at 1.5 miles but had to stop to get it in. I know, embarrassing, but I thought I could really push it for the last 15 minutes if I had a good drink. The last 1.5 felt good. At 2 miles in I reminded myself this was only a sprint - and to leave it ALL on the course from that point out. So I tried. I high five'd a little girl and it felt like electricity coursed through my body - amazing feeling to get her energy like that. At that point I dug it out through the finish.

Learn how to drink while running. It's like my throat closes or something, can't figure it out. And somehow control myself from coming out too fast.

I walked around really fast for a minute - headed into the transition area, got my camera, found a couple friends and stood and waited for Mike. Downed a bottle of water and a couple orange slices. Felt really good immediately following actually.


Um, everything?


I have to keep reminding myself this is officially my first triathlon. I've been doing lots of prep and I think seeing the 120th place overall in the swim hurt my feelings. But overall, I am very happy with the time of 1:32:32 - I had what I considered to be a reach goal of 1:30, so I got darned close to that. And I am happy with top 10 in my age group. Granted - I think I was lucky to be competing in the field I was competing in and do not expect the same top 10 at the larger races. So I'm going to try and take it as a confidence boost, good first race, and move on. I also need to learn how to warm up properly before a race. I'm so worked up about getting my stuff all organized and then I don't want to mess it all up by using my stuff to warm up. And at this race, I wasn't allowed to warm up swimming - which I think is where I need it most. I really need to learn how to swim fast from the start - not 800 yards in.