login
 Swim
Comments: I've always been a strong swimmer, so I was least worried about this leg. It was definitely a little scary at the beginning and I got punched and kicked a bit, but I fell into a rhythm and just kept plugging away. The wetsuit around my next made me feel a little panicky, but I just pushed it away with thinking about how I'm a strong swimmer. I hadn't done any OW swims before so the murkiness really threw me off, and I was mostly following other people and not sighting. This was apparently a mistake, as one guy led a bunch of us pretty off-course and probably added at least 30 seconds to my time, which wouldn't have happened if I had practised this before. What would you do differently?: Practise sighting and do OW training swims.  Transition 1
Comments: I came out of the swim feeling totally surreal, and surprised my family and friends when I ran past. They were expecting me a lot later, and I had to shout and get their attention :) The run to T1 was horrible - it was up a huge hill and then across gravel and slippery mats. I was wheezing and my body felt like lead as I tried to wriggle my top half out of my wetsuit, and by the time I got to my bike I was exhausted and dropped to the ground like a rock to peel off the bottom. I put on helmet/glasses first, then threw on my socks and shoes and stuffed a gel in my pocket, and then managed to stand up and keep moving. Running to the bike start was bad. I didn't practise running in my bike shoes, and it was scary and slippery. I had to stop off to the side of the mount line and clip in and then get moving because I felt very unbalanced. On the bright side, I was sure that my transition was over 5 mins because I felt so dead, and I was shocked when I saw my time! What would you do differently?: Practise, practise, practise. I need to work on running in my bike shoes and mounting/dismounting.  Bike
Comments: Oh boy. Going into the bike leg I felt terrible - I was shaky and weak and I had no idea how I was going to last through the rest of the race. Going up the hills was hard, and I got passed uphill and downhill by a lot of people, btu I tried to stay positive and think "Damn, when I'm 55 I wanna kick a 21-year-old's ass on the bike too!". I only passed one girl on the whole course, haha. I really wanted to take my gel, but there never seemed to be a moment I could. Biking up the hills made me feel really nauseous, and by the time I felt good enough to take it, it was already time for another uphill. I was also SO thirsty, and I couldn't pace myself on my water and drank it in huge gulps which didn't help my GI issues and emptied my bottle quickly. By the end of the bike I still felt crappy, and I would've done anything for a water or Gatorade. What would you do differently?: Take the gel right away. I didn't eat enough before the race and knew I was hurting, and should've taken it before it got bad. Practise drinking water like a human being, not an animal. Definitely train more consistently, because the undertraining really hurt me on this leg. Transition 2
Comments: I had to slow to a complete stop to the side and unclip/dismount like that. Running to T2 was shaky, and as soon as I racked my bike I sucked back my gel and drank the last drops of water from my bottle. By the time I got my shoes on and was off I was feeling way better, and my mom even said she noticed a difference in my from going in and out of T2. What would you do differently?: Practise dismounting the bike more effectively, but other than that I think I did good this transition.  Run
Comments: I passed my friends/family and yelled "I'm gonna die!" half-jokingly, and managed to keep running through the tunnel of spectators, but slowed to a walk once there was no one around haha. The rest of the run was an alternating walk/run for me, which was partly to do with nausea but also to do with undertraining. I was absolutely parched and at the first water station I grabbed 2 waters and chugged them both - baaaaad idea. All the water sat really bad in my stomach, and I kept walking because of the nausea. After that I would still grab 2 cups at each station, one for me and one for my head. For most of the course I was going back and forth with a 40-year-old woman. Every time she got a ways ahead of me I would run to catch up, and then when I walked she would eventually run past me again. I was kind of glad I had something pushing me on the whole way. When I reached the final chute it was all downhill, so I picked up my pace and hauled ass to the finish line, and ended up blowing past the woman ;) I was so proud that I had finished! What would you do differently?: Train waaay more. Running has always been a really weak point for me, and I should have been getting in extra runs, not ditching my training plan near the end. I also would not chug a ton of water at the beginning. Post race
Warm down: After the race I drank some water, Gatorade, and chocolate milk a little bit later, but couldn't really stomach any food. What limited your ability to perform faster: Undertraining, for sure. I let school get in the way of my last month of training, and really suffered because of it. I didn't eat/hydrate enough before the race because I was so nervous and lost track of time, and then didn't take a gel soon enough and really felt the consequences. This was also my first tri, so I was just getting used to the experience and how everything works/feels. Event comments: For a first triathlon, I had a blast and was so glad I did it! Even though I definitely undertrained and didn't bust out any amazing times, I was getting used to the feeling of racing and just at the beginning of my learning curve, so there were bound to be some hiccups along the way. Plus I was just here for fun, and fun I had :) I was really proud of myself, and only have up to go from here. Can't wait until the next tri season! Last updated: 2011-10-28 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
Canada
Trisport Canada
Sunny
Overall Rank = 510/601
Age Group = F20-24
Age Group Rank = 20/23
Race didn't begin until the afternoon, so I woke up late-ish and had whole wheat sandwich thins with almond butter + banana and some water for breakfast. I was really nervous (this was my first tri) so I had to choke down the food, and then I quadruple-checked my race gear and paced around until it was time to leave. I tried to assure myself I was ready, but with a drop in training a month before the race due to school I wasn't sure.
Got to the race site early, and waited in line with some other friends who werre racing until they opened the transition area and got a good spot. I beat the rush to the porta-potties/body marking and had a lot of time to get ready, but wasted most of it being nervous and running to put forgotten things in the transition area. A woman a few bikes down from me in the handicapped section chatted with me for a bit and it turns out she's a tri coach, and she told me to just have fun which calmed me down a bit.
I realized I only had about 10-15 minutes before the race started so I squeezed into my wetsuit, ate half a Clif bar that I'd planned on eating earlier (oops) and ran down to the water.
I'd never been in the water in a wetsuit before (I borrowed this one from a friend and didn't have a chance to try it beforehand), so I waded and paddled around in the water for a bit and got used to the feeling. Loved the buoyancy, hated the neck restriction.
I found my other tri friends and we chatted nervously until it was time to line up. I thought I was going to pee myself.