This was my first Triathlon race ever!!! :) Woke up thinking...ugh...I always do that waking up early tho..5:15a.m. not my favorite hour! Showered, made coffee, and ate breakfast first thing. Then went and pulled everything together..there is a lot to take to a TRI..I mean I took a bike pump with me, due to not having time to check tire pressure...best get my bike in a good transition spot, then check tires there. So yeah..Big bike pump..haha. Arrived at 7:15a.m. to get a good spot for my bike. Parked it right next to David Warden (Owner of Powertri). He assured me it was ok to park in a prime spot with the elite baddies since I HAD gotten there early. We went together to the pool and placed our towels by the exit door...my towel touched his towel!!! Haha..it was his idea..he said that he would swim faster, so put my towel under his..He was really nice. The best compliment of my entire life came at the Transition area...David was introducing me to the fellas around and One guy said...hey you look like that girl at Kona...Chrissie Wellington..I was like...HOLY!!! Sweet. :) I like looking like The Ironman World Champion! 8:35 I ate an Oatmean Raisin Walnut ClifBar..ooh lala..There is an indoor track at the American Fork Rec Center so I ran about 5 minutes warmup with 3 20 sec accelerations. Went to the pool at about 8:50 and lined up..We are "seeded" based on what we estimated our swim time at registration. I put 5:40 as my time...many others probably did as well...so my race number ended up being 554. So I went and cozied up with the peeps at around 550. Every 10 seconds they let a swimmer enter..I was watching the fast guys swim...one fella I met a few days before the race James Lawrence..what a ham...he was running in the pool for a bunch of it..keeping up with the swimmers..haha. Swim..My time came..I jumped in like 4 ft out and started swimming... I passed a few swimmers, and had only one guy pass me. The walls were crowded..people stopped there being too polite wondering who would go under the lane line first...so I just found an empty spot on the wall and pushed hard off it angling in to the next lane..The swim is done serpentine fashion if you can guess how that works..I felt my effort may have been 80% max..wasn't sure how hard to push..Time 5:46 for 300meters. T1..well quite the NUB mess...My coach texted me a bit ago... "And what the crap is this eardrop n lipsav in T1?" ..."Ya remember sprint n Olympic is all about transition if u mess it up or take too long you're done." I got out of the pool and grabbed my towel in slow motion....the locker key fell to the ground that I Had stuffed in there...Ran to my bike drying off with the towel. Well and put in the eardrops to dry out any water still in my ears..and chapstick so I wouldn't get windburn on my lips on the ride..grabbed a sweatshirt, put my gloves in my pocket and zipped it up, noticed grass on my feet and tried to wipe that off...Oh boy..all in all..my transition time was 2:31...This is VERY bad....haha...eek. I decided against the Flying mount I had been working on in transition practice and adopted David Wardens style..He with all his experience just puts his cycling shoes on in transtion and runs to the mount line in them. I did that..Glad I did.. The Cycling...was fun..It wasn't hard at all..I probably only put in 70% effort if that. I was too busy trying to figure out my gear shifts...I have only had the bike for a few weeks..and only been out on it 1 hour outside total..well only 1 hour outside riding at all total in my whole bike career..haha.... I was slow to start my feet took time to get clamped in..Jitters..then every curve I got all grannie..and slowed too much..the downhill tho..I was very aggressive, passed a lot of people..The dismount was very bad tho..Tried to take my shoes off on the ride...my fingers were so frozen, I had no dexterity..I managed my left shoe..but I couldn't get my right shoe off..took 5 tries to undo the velcro while I was completely stopped at the bike finish..Bike time 37:41 for 11.8miles T2 Ran my bike in barefooted. Got my running shoes on very quick..I had speedlaces attached to my shoes..my bike helm tho..easy to get off right? Wrong! It took me 7 or 8 tries to get it off..my fingers were too numb to feel...Tried to force it off while still clipped on but it was too snug. Finally I got it open..Put on my baseball cap and ran. T1 time 1:03 Run: Toes were entirely numb...Wondered if I could be running with my toes folded under...Felt that weird. First mile has a 135ft ascent. I ran it strong but not hard. Second mile was flat mostly, then for the 135ft descent I kicked it in. Started getting the beginnings of side stitches so I exaggerated the exhale hard for quite some time..even tho I wasn't tired...Kept those stitches at bay...Sprinted at the finish.. Did a cartwheel and a girly cheerleader Jump with my arms up at the finish line..Cut my finger bad on something on the grass...haha. This run again wasn't full effort, I felt my pacing was conservative, I could have sped this part up at least 30 seconds in retrospect (if not more)..But it DID feel great to end strong. Time Run 20:59 (3 miles) Total time 1:08:02.84 (4th overall, 1st in division)...12 seconds behind 3rd place, 40seconds behind 2nd place..Could have shaved at least 1 minute Easy off T1..haha...Oh well...Coach is right...my dallying around in Transition really cost me. I learned a lot today tho..Many mistakes I wont ever make again. :D Not bad for a first TRI tho. Ooooh! And I met Toby!!! :D I was all goofy at the end of the race..gave her a big hug...and was practically drooling like a madman my mouth was so frozen I couldn't talk right...haha. I don't take to cold well...I went to my truck and grabbed my ski Jacket and some sweats and put those on..The lady at the food table said..."You need more bodyfat!" Another volunteer said the same thing 15 minutes later..I must have looked like I was dying..I know my lips were blue..the are always blue/purple when I am cold..haha... I waited forever until the awards..I got a pretty blue medal..I will take a pix of me in it tomorrow maybe. :)
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