Jenn and I competed in our first Tri this past Saturday at the
Anderson Mill Community Center Pool. This Tri consisted of a 300 yd swim, 2 mile bike, 1 mile run. We only gave ourselves 1 week to train! A big THANK YOU to
Moni for showing us how to set up our equipment and walk us through how a Tri works. :) I even learned how to program my
Garmin for a Tri. Freakn' awesome!
My first time swimming laps was earlier in the week, I made it to the pool twice to make sure I wouldn't drown. It wasn't pretty, but I could do it. We only practiced the swim to bike transition once. Too bad we never tried the bike to run transition...that was the killer.
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| 7/14/2012. Uh yeah...I need a new sports bra, mine is not flattering in the least...especially when standing next to Mrs Boobalicious! |
The race started at 8am on Saturday. We got there early to set-up, check in and review the course. Moni showed up to cheer us on and took pictures. I wasn't too worried about biking or running...it was the swim I was most anxious about. We placed ourselves at the end as we weren't sure what to expect. We probably should have been up a little further in line (3min swimmers) as we ended up having to pass some of the swimmers in front of us.
The Swim
I started my swim 15 mins into the race, they let the swimmers go one at a time with a 10 second delay in between. Once I hit the water all my training (yeah all 2 times worth) went out the window. My head was mostly out of the water and there were a couple times I went to a side stroke. I swallowed more water than I'd like to admit. I also stood up at the end of each lap (in the shallow end) before beginning the next lap. Surprisingly enough I finished in under 8 mins (7:57)! Thanks Moni for timing us! Jenn was right behind me.
Onto our first transition and the bike portion!
The Bike
I made it to transition a few seconds before Jenn. However I took longer than her to get ready as I put on socks, my garmin and glasses. Jenn decided to forgo socks and her watch, so she was out the gate a few seconds before me.
The biking was not bad at all, it was supposed to be a 2 mile course but my watch measured it at 1.48 miles. I caught up to Jenn at the end of the street, only because she crashed into the curb on her u-turn. Jenn's OK, she didn't fall off the bike, she just hit an abrupt stop. We finished the biking portion at the same time.
Avg pace - 13.6 mph :)
Onto the next transition!!
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| Ridin' side by side ;) |
The Run
Dismounting the bike went well for me, however it looked like Jenn threw her bike down after jumping off. Not a good day for Jenn's bike. I didn't rack my bike as my handle bars were too tall to fit under the rack and I didn't want to mess with it. So I used the kickstand and left it next to my equipment. Bad Tina.
I threw off my helmet, grabbed my hat and Jenn & I hit the running path together.
OMG! The pain! My legs (and feet) were killing me. Everyone told us that the bike to run was the hardest part, your legs feel like lead. I honestly didn't think it would be that bad...I was wrong. Not to mention my heart rate was still up from the swim and bike so I felt really out of breath. Jenn's faster than me so she took off (yay Jenn!). I struggled a bit more but still managed to pass some runners and come in with a 9:18 pace. It was supposed to be a 1 mile run but ended up a bit shy at 0.88 miles.
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| Jenn coming in hot - I was about a minute behind her |
I completed the entire Tri in ~24:25, Jenn finished in ~23:25. There were no official chip timers, it was all done manually. Overall I enjoyed the mini Tri, but I'm not really interested in competing in the bigger/longer Tri's or investing the $$ in it (at least not at this time). I would need to buy a better road bike (mine's just a cruiser and heavy) and I would need to take adult swim lessons. Plus I'd have to buy the right outfits for a Tri, I skated by this time with just my running gear.
Anderson Mill will have another mini Tri in Sept, which I'm thinking about registering for as it's super close and super affordable (only $10!). I will definitely need to fit in more training and focus more on the bike/run transition. ;)
