Valley Girl Triathlon

Several months ago (6 probably) - A friend asked me to do a race with her. It was a sprint triathlon, all girls! Only catch - you have to register at MIDNIGHT the day it opened to get a spot. Oh sure, fine, I'll do it.... So, I set my alarm for 11:50 & was registered in just a couple of minutes.

As the date got closer some of the girls were already trying to back out. No names here. THANK GOD they didn't, because without them there, I may have been a little more nervous about the absolutely disgusting water, FILLED with seaweed. If you know anything about me, you know I don't DO seaweed.

But, somehow, I totally sucked it up and got over my fear. Not without an unnecessary wetsuit, but that's not really the point. Race morning was kinda windy, but the lake was still very calm. So calm you could actually SEE the seaweed coming out on the surface of the lake. Double ewwwe. I told my self I HAD to get in and do a warmup, because when you haven't raced a short distance in a long time, chances are you won't even be warmed up until the even is over. So, I got in headed out for a minute - and that's when I saw how bad the seaweed was. The entire time, right under me, touching my hand at every stroke..

I have no idea how I did it, but I just somehow went all zen and made it through.

My wave was the second one 3 mins behind women 29 and under. I got out in front, and took off hard. With in 100 yards it was just myself & one other girl. I pulled in behind her & decided to follow her in. The effort was good, but nothing too hard. We passed everyone but 2 girs l in the wave ahead of us (that was COOL!). I came out of the water 10seconds after the girl in my AG. Somehow Shane actually captured this...... Here we are swimming out on our own (this must have been before we got the first wave of girls)

Swim time: 9:32 2/82 AG 8/492 overall (including relay) The distance was 1/3mile, so the speed doesn't seem that fast, but I'm still very happy!



I got out of the water & there were just a few girls in transition from the first wave. The girl in my AG - she was in and out like lightening. Me, Not.So.Much. Earlier in the week I'd been having problems swimming - low back pain. I don't think I had my wetsuit pulled up high enough, so I made sure I got it hiked up very high this time. Unfortunately, I pulled it up OVER my timing chip on my ankle & could not get the stupid thing off. I had a horribly long T-1, losing 2 minutes to the girl ahead of me.

The first part of the bike course was flat, maybe a slight descent. I sat on the very tip of my saddle and cruised along between 21-25mph. It felt FANTASTIC. I passed everyone in front of me until there were just 3 girls left. One girl in AG 25-29 and the one in my AG. I did however make up :40seconds out of the 2mins behind her I lost in transition. The second half of the bike was more of a slight incline, with a headwind. I pushed as hard as I could, but did slow quite a bit. The last downhill into transition I sat up so I could eat a gel before T-2, it worked out great.

Bike split 35:58 2/80AG, 11/492 overall

Heading out onto the run as the third girl was surreal. I've never in my life been in that position. I did actually catch myself doing shoulder glances a few times to see if anyone was catching up on me. I am not the fastest runner out there, so that fear of being passed was always there! I held my own running between an 8-8:30 pace.

The run was very nice and flat for the first mile or so, and I was able to see how far behind I was from the other 2 girls at about 1.5. I was down to only 1 min behind on the girl in my AG. She must have noticed too, because she did NOT give up her pace either. I did however see a few people coming behind me as well, so I tried my best not to slow down. I was passed very quickly by the overall winner - she was FLYING (and started 3 mins behind me!).

In the very last quarter mile I was passed by a girl in my AG. I really really tried to hold onto her, but she was moving. Later when I saw the results, she had run a minute per mile faster than me, so kudos to her - I'll take 3rd place to that. Even if it was only by :10seconds.

Run time 24:32 12/82 AG, 37/492 overall

Total time 1:13:49. 7th overall (not including 2 relay teams)

Looking back on this race I am VERY happy. I haven't raced a sprint race in over 5 years, and had no idea I could go hard like this. I was confident, and happy and most of all had SO much fun out there. I cheered on the people ahead of me, and even the 2 that passed me on the run. However, in retrospect it is a little hard to know that my transition time cost me an age group win (I was :10 seconds behind her on the swim, but :20 seconds faster on the bike and :30 seconds faster on the run). I was passed in the last quarter mile for 2nd place, and was beat by only 10seconds for 2nd place & 1min behind first place.

That said, I would STILL wear my wetsuit to avoid all that nasty seaweed!!

Krista, Molly & Joy. I haven't done anything athletic with these girls in over 10 years since we played volleyball together. The last 2 weekends, 2 races & I loved every minute of it. Congrats to them both for rocking their first ever triathlon. I had a blast!