Tri for the Y
So last weekend I did the Tri for the Y in Freeport. Ok, first of all: I know, I know… Triathlons. Running sucks, swimming is hard, aero bars
are super dorky. I always thought of
triathlons as something people who weren’t any good at bike racing did. But last year after seeing my then fiancé
(now wife) Tricia compete in a triathlon, do really well, and have a great time
I figured I’d give it a shot. And
surprisingly enough I found a fun, challenging sport with lots of cool people!
I had done one triathlon last summer, so I had a little bit
of an idea of what to expect. Still,
when Tricia and I were walking over to the start area I couldn’t help but look
around and think about how pro everyone
looked. It seemed like every other
person was on a carbon time trial bike, it was pretty intimidating! After ogling all of the other races Tricia
and I set up our stuff in the transition area and checked in to get our start
times. The swim starts were in waves of
16, grouped by predicted time. Tricia is
a super fast swimmer and started in one of the first waves. Swimming is by far my weakest event, so I had
almost an hour after Tricia’s start to wait around and fight off the pre-race
nerves. After watching Tricia crush the
swim I stretched, warmed up and got in line for a good lane position. Soon enough it was time to jump in the water!
As soon as the whistle blew to start the swim I tried to
focus on staying smooth. I’m a pretty
slow swimmer but I managed to stay consistent and get out with a time slightly
faster than I was expecting despite standing up in the shallow end of the pool
when I turned around, which according to Tricia is a serious faux pas. Relieved to be done, I jogged outside and threw
on my bike stuff as fast as I could and ran my bike to the start line.
As soon as I clipped into my pedals I felt an immediate
boost- this was my leg of the race and I was going to take full advantage of
it! Because of a poorly timed sewer line
break the bike course was changed at the last minute eliminating most of the
hills and probably taking away some of the time I could have made up. Still, I felt good and quickly settled into a
rhythm and steadily overtook riders. In
what felt like only a few minutes I was running my bike back into the
transition area and hurriedly putting on my running shoes.
My second transition went a little slower as I tried to
breathe and get my heart rate down while racking my bike, taking off my helmet,
and tying my shoes, all while Tricia (who had already finished) yelled
encouragement. Once I got everything
switch over for the run I grabbed a quick gulp of water and jogged back out
onto the course.
From having done a triathlon before I knew to expect my legs
to feel heavy, but for the first half of the course I could hardly maintain a
run. I had no spring, my legs just
couldn’t generate any power. I was
slowly passing people but was still running well below my target time. Finally I started to shake off the heaviness
in my legs and picked up my pace, going faster and faster as I neared the
finish. As I crossed the line a little
girl who was volunteering offered up a high five, which of course I took! I ended up finishing in a total time of
1:05:04 for 12th place out of 128 overall and 1st in my
age group. Not bad! I even managed 4th overall on the
bike leg, despite all of the intimidating time trial bikes I saw before the
start. Tricia also won her age group,
buoyed by her blazing fast swim time. If
you want to hear her side of the race check it out at: http://tricia-rose.com/race-report-tri-for-the-y/
.
Overall, the Tri for the Y was a ton of fun! I would encourage anyone thinking of trying
out a triathlon to go for it! The
atmosphere was very easygoing and inviting, and the triathlon format doesn’t
put a lot of pressure on you to keep up with a pack like bike racing does. I still feel like a biker at heart and I
don’t know if I’ll ever be able to overcome my abysmal swimming ability, but
triathlons are a fun way to mix things up.
I’m going to try to do one or two more this summer but in the mean time
I’m going to get reacquainted with my mountain bike!
