North Park Sprint Tri

So I just finished my first full length sprint triathlon.  I feel pretty accomplished, a little worse for wear, but overall happy with myself.   I had a few obstacles to overcome, and a few blunders that I'm still kicking myself for but such is life. 

I started out my morning pretty refreshed.  No matter how little sleep I get the night before a race I always wake up in a happy mood.  I can assure you that isn't the case any other time I wake up with minimal sleep.  It's probaby just the adrenaline from race day.  I don't get jitters, more like small flutters.  I figure I've done everything I can up to that point, so there's no use in getting nervous over something I cannot control.  I just want to go out there, race the best race I can, and push myself to the best of my ability.  If I can say that at the end of the day, I'm happy with the race. 

So, I started my day off by listening to a BUNCH of music.  I just put on Spotify on my phone and danced around my house, made a blueberry bagel, and put on my tri kit.  I left my house at 5:45 because I knew that the race started at 7:30 and I didn't want to be locked out of transition.  Usually at races they shut down the transition area about 10 minutes before race time, and no one can enter until they are actively transitioning.  Well, good to know for next year:  transition doesn't shut down.  Since they did the start times in heats, transition was never closed.  My wave didn't start until 9:10 so it would have been nice to get the extra our or two of sleep.  But, live and learn right? 

Swim and bike transition 20:08   My swim was pretty good!  I have really worked on my technique and streamlining myself in the water, and noticed it when I got out of the pool.  I was one of the first people out!  HOLY COW!  As I rounded the corner I shouted to a fellow PTC member "I'm NOT LAST!"  and felt instant regret for saying that.  I remember a time when I WAS the last one out of the water.  Way to go Chels.  Way to be a poor sport.  I felt so guilty for saying that, but I can't take it back.  I was just caught up in the emotion of the situation. 

It reminds me of another time I felt remorse during a sporting event. I was a ringer for my summer league softball team Gwynn Tire.  I always batted cleanup-- fourth in the order.  Every time I stepped up to the plate the opposing team's coach would wave the outfielders "back, back, back, keep going, keep going, keep going"  until they were nearly touching the fence.  Well, one particular game against Mannington-- I struck out.  For the first time ever, I struck out in summer league.  I felt my face get hot.  I stomped back to the dugout and flung my helmet off.  It went crashing to the ground and bounced up--nearly hitting my teammate in the face. I was very literally "Booed" by the other team, and I wanted the ground to swallow me up in that very moment.  I am NOT a hothead, but I let the emotions of the moment get the best of me.  The umpire came over to the dugout and my eyes were wide as saucers.  I could not believe what I had done.  He gave me a warning, and said that I would be thrown out of the game if I did one more thing like that.  Needless to say I  learned my lesson and vowed that I would not be the person who made her team look bad.  I would not be the player without poise and a humble nature.  I would not be "that" person. 

Bike:  52:01  Anyway, I run from the swim to transition and for the life of me I could NOT find my bike.  Didn't anyone tell my fellow triathletes that En Fuego is supposed to be the only baby blue bike on the rack?  Sheesh!  I kept going up and down and up and down the aisles looking for my bike, to the point where two guys had to help me find him.  But I did.  He was right where I left him.

Transition blunders aside, I felt awful about saying what I did after the swim, and couldn't help but think about it on the bike. There was also something else that had happened right before my swim that had me completely rattled.  Between those two events,  I'd find myself a mile down the road with no recollection of how I got there.  I was zoning out, and had to get my head back into the race.  So I made it a point to concentrate on my speed and cadence, or else lose sight of the race at hand. 

The bike course was 4 and 3/4 loops around North Park.  There was one climb, but otherwise it was a series of small inclines with small declines, yet not necessarily a "rolling" course.  I didn't have any trouble getting up the hill except for the third climb.  For some reason my legs started cramping up and just did NOT want to pedal me up the hill.  That time was particularly painful, but the funny thing is-- the last time up the hill my legs worked again.  I took a half a banana about halfway into the second lap so perhaps the banana did its job?  Bananas are magical.  Just ask anyone. 

After the bike I felt pretty good.  So I decided to do something completely stupid, of course.  I tried to take my feet out of my shoes on the dismount instead of dismounting in my shoes.  Let me start by saying that I've never done this successfully in training, yet for some reason I thought I could do it successfully in a race.  Well, long story short, my shoe ended up about 200 yards away from my bike in a scuffed up chewed mess that I had to retrieve at the end of the race.  What was I thinking??!?!!?!  Lesson number two of the day and Karma for the "not last" comment?  CHECK!

Run 44:42  You know the saying "nothing new on race day".  Yeah, well... what about a first-time trail run on race day?  This was by FAR my worst run split ever. But I'm not mad about it.  There's nothing I could do about it.  I've never run on trails before, ever.  And the shoes that I wore were minimalist race shoes so I felt. every. single. stinkin. rock that I ran over.  I also ran down a hill where it was clearly marked "run on this arrow"  but for whatever reason, I chose to run in the rocky ditch?  (It's not mountain biking Chelsea.... it's not more fun to run over the rocks)  Well, one false move and my ankle went *pop*!  I did some weird Matrix maneuver, so I wouldn't go down, and kept on running.  ouch!  I didn't realize that I actually hurt myself until about an hour ago.  I'm sitting here icing both ankles as I type this.  It's crazy how the one ankle that I didn't twist (and used to catch myself with) hurts just as bad as the one I did twist! 

I think that after this race I definitely want to get into doing more trail running.  Being out there in nature and seeing the color of the soil change from clay to loam was actually really fascinating.  I used to go outside and identify plants with my plant systematics course in college.  It was by far my favorite course. It's funny how a surprise like this leads to new endeavors, huh?  Looks like I'll be doing some trail races this fall!! :)