So this was bad, really bad. For one, I was still in freak out mode. When it was my turn to go, my hr was at like 120. For the record, my hr is usually in the 70s when I'm just standing around and 120 is like light exercise. I was nervous.

Anyway so off I go. I couldn't get my breathing right and people were passing me. I kept swallowing water or needing to breathe, it was a mess. The entire first lap was terrible. Finally, somewhere on the way back during the 2nd lap, I got the calm, you can do it wave that washed over me. I kept trying to think that I was at home in my gym's pool, not racing. And reminding myself that it was shallow and there were two lifeguards. Those things helped and I remembered that I knew how to swim. Unfortunately, I was already 200m in. But I was fine the last 200m. I just swam up and back with no interruptions, no freakouts, and breathing was fine.

Find a way to calm down before the start more. I let the first tri nerves get to me way too much. I'm already a slow swimmer and spending 200m freaking out did not help me at all. Just need more time in the pool and more lessons and all that good stuff. I'll get better with practice.

I was so happy to be done swimming at this point, lol. Body glided the feet, into socks/shoes and helmet and off I went.

Nothing.

So it's bike time. I didn't really know what to expect on the bike. I hadn't spent as much time on my bike as I should have and I rode a lot in the neighborhood, which is fairly flat. Also, I wasn't really familiar with the gearing on the bike b/c I never messed with it much. All the laps were pretty much the same. I paid dearly for all of those things during this ride. The start was great. Even the turn which everyone kept saying was really sharp wasn't bad at all. But the hill right before Reston Pkway kicked my butt. I had to walk it. Each time around, I got a little further up, but at some point, I had to stop. Not because I wanted to, but because I came to a stop and dang near fell off the bike. I tried to get back on each time, but starting on that hill wasn't happening either. It didn't seem like a big hill, but it got me. Other than that one spot, it was fine. I kept hearing people yelling for my number to hammer it on the 3rd leg and I tried. I gave it all I had.

Ride more hills, more time on my bike and learn the gears. Clearly, I didn't spend enough time on the bike aspect of this as I should. It's frustrating b/c I think that if I could have gotten the hill, I could have very easily gone under 1 hour. But stopping, trying to get back on, and then eventually walking up that hill wasted a lot of time each loop. And I wasted so much energy there that it definitely slowed down the rest of the ride. Also, I just switched from clipless to toe cages the week right before the race. Great for confidence on the bike, but I could tell that it was a different power level than I had with my clipless pedals. I noticed it on the first little bumps on wiele. I've ridden terrain like that and it was way easier with the clipless.

Easy b/c I had toe cages. So just had to take off the helmet and rack the bike. Grabbed a swig of gatorade and out I went.

Nothing.

So the run started bad. I had the post bike jelly legs, which I knew to expect. What I didn't expect was the lower back pain. I know my seat is too low, but when it's higher, I have trouble getting on the bike. So I need to find a happy medium I guess. Anyway, got going and tried to walk a little to get the good happy feeling in my legs. Decided to go with the walk/run method until I felt good. So I'd walk for 2 or 3 minutes and then try to run for 2 or 3 minutes. Ran into Jamie from the Tri Rats who I had seen a few times on the course. She said she would wait for me at the finish. Yes, 1 mile marker. Finally. At some point on the lollypop, a volunteer brought me water. THANK YOU. Because the aid stations were not there when I was running, so I was ever grateful. Kept with the walk/run until I felt the blister forming on my foot. I guess I missed a spot with body glide, dang! Tried to run more b/c I was ready to get off my feet. So I would run for a few minutes and walk if I really felt soreness from my foot then run more. Finally done with the lollypop head and on the way back. Another nice person, this time a guy who was racing and who I remember cheering for me during the bike brought me an ice cold deer park. YES again thank you thank you. I needed that. Kept it up and knew that I was going to do it. It wasn't until that point that I really believed that I was going to finish this race. Some people who had already finished were about to cross a corner and they cheered that there were about 300m left. 300m! That's nothing, I can do this. Tried to find all the energy left in my body and pushed the running more. No more walking, you are almost done! My wonderful bike escort (see you get these things when you are the last finisher...personal escorts) told me that the last turn was coming. Last turn! Wow, I am about to finish a triathlon. I tried to push another gear. I can hear the announcer now..I'm so close. Hear people cheering and I see the finish line. Crossed it and tried to look pretty for my photo. I did it! I completed my first sprint tri!

Nothing directly related to the run. The problems I had (sore lower back and blister) were results of earlier things and I think I did what I had to do to deal with the problems when they came up. The only thing to improve here is just getting overall stronger so I could have ran more.

I don't even like onion bagels but it tasted like the best food ever at that point, because I was so famished. Walked around and said thanks to some people that congratulated me. I think the announcer must have said it was my first tri (or people must have assumed from my time, lol) but a lot of people said congrats on my first tri. Wandered over to the pool to get my jacket and flip flops then back to transition to get my bike and stuff. Talked to some folks as I left and got my butt to my car. Loaded it up and headed home.


Lots of things
1. Fear of the unknown - I let myself get so freaked out and nervous. This should be better as I do more races.
2. Weight - I need to lose more weight. Carrying all this over all those miles ain't easy.
3. Swimming - I'm not a strong swimmer and still a relatively new swimmer. I just have to keep swimming and keep taking lessons and spend more time in the pool.
4. Biking - More time on the bike will help here and riding hillier courses. Also maybe getting a more optimal seat position so my back doesn't hurt when I get off. And my neck hurt a lot later in the day, something else I think was from the bike setup.
5. Run - I am really proud of my running. After spraining my knee last February, I didn't start running again until this January. So after almost a year off, I am happy that I can run or run/walk these races. I take my running very slow, probably slower than most because of prior injury and weight. So I know that this will be an area where I will improve over time. Just want to keep taking things slow because I don't want to be hurt again.


I think the race course was okay. The organization left something to be desired. I was really frustrated that the aid stations on the run were not there. The race didn't have a time cut off, so I would expect that even the last runners would be supported. There was no aid station on the out or the back, so I think maybe the last 10 or so finishers (cause I passed about 10 people at least that were coming back as I was going out) didn't have aid stations on the run. That's pretty sucky on a sunny day. Especially if like me, you were expecting water on the run so you were planning on using that for hydration and didn't bring anything with you.