I DID IT (race report for the Title 9 Olympic Triathlon)

And it was hard...

This past weekend my little family drove to Boston so that the adults could do some triathlons and the baby could run amok (more on that).  The drive to Boston on Friday took us a long time, but it ended with BBQ (a case of all's well that ends well).  We stayed with friends in Cambridge who were beyond gracious in hosting us, even as we took over their place with our bikes and all our tri stuff.

The Russian did the Massachusetts State Triathlon Saturday morning, which was nice for me because the Title 9 Triathlon on Sunday was the exact same course.  Basically, he checked it out and let me know what I was facing ahead of time.

The Russian did a great job on the course, but despite what the announcer said, I do not believe he was smiling while he was running up to the finish line.

Sunday morning was a wash and repeat of Saturday morning except for this time I was racing and the Russian was dealing with a tired, cranky naughty toddler (the Noggin spent various parts of Saturday drop kicking the sign I had made for him to cheer on his father, crying, running around like a madman with his stuffed monkey, touching EVERYTHING, and pushing his limits in a myriad of different ways).

I look so calm and relaxed before heading into the transition area to set up...

THE SWIM

I was able to get into my wetsuit (wasn't sure it was going to happen to be truthful) with the help of the Russian and took a pre-race dip.  The Russian made me do this silly pose and then somehow caught me with the camera.  I was still in a good mood at this point because the water was warm (a little too warm for a wetsuit, but I am a bad swimmer) and calm and my wetsuit fit.

When I got out of the water after a very long swim (I took the long way around the first few buoys), I was not quite smiling like that anymore.  In fact, I felt a little nauseous.  The Russian got a great picture of me gagging on some honey stinger gel thingees, which was all I ate for the entire bike section.

Because I didn't feel super great, I took my time with changing into my socks, bike shoes, helmet, and gloves and getting something to drink before heading out of transition.

THE BIKE

Since I was 75th out of 105 people out of the water and took my sweet time in transition, most people were out on the bike section already.  Once I got on the bike, things went fairly well, I passed a number of people during the ride and no one passed me.  Well, there weren't many people behind me so I wasn't expecting to get passed too much.

On a side note - I did not spend much time on the aero bars because I was uncomfortable passing people while riding like that and there was a fair amount of traffic during parts of the ride.

I was working pretty hard for most of the time and at mile 10 I thought, "I've only done 10 miles? WTF?".  Anyway, I made it to the end, feeling a lot better than I did after the swim.  My second transition was faster than the first (no wetsuit to remove), but slow enough that two people I passed on the bike ran out ahead of me.  Got to work on those transitions...


THE RUN

Running is my strength so I was excited to get to this part, but did I mention it was in the 90's by this time? Whatever the exact temperature, it was HOT and I was suffering.  During the run I remembered that the last time I did an Olympic distance triathlon (Lobsterman in 2008) I felt like it was the hardest thing I had ever done (this was post marathon, but pre-baby).  Right, running 6 miles at the end of swimming and biking is hard.  Forgot about that...

I slogged through the run, with the first 3 miles being kind of miserable.  I did pass a number of people, so I wasn't running backwards at least. After the turn around at the midway point my legs started feeling a little peppier and I knew I only had 3 miles to go - that was helpful.  The Russian and the Noggin were at mile 6.1, with a handmade sign to cheer me on.

When I finished the run, the volunteers let me put my feet in a pool of cold water (fantastic) and put a wet cold towel on my head (even more fantastic).  Did I mention that the volunteers were great?  They were really great and Max Performance put on a fun race.  Now, if it wasn't in the middle of July, which tends to be a tad warm, it would have been perfect.


I got this cool metal for my 2:51:47 of effort, which the Russian did not get (though he got a towel which was also nice).

THE SUMMARY

If I compare how I did in this race to the only other Olympic distance I have done, the breakdown would be:

1. My swim was a lot suckier (2012 vs. 2008)
2. My bike speed was a bit better
3. My run was somewhat worse (I already know I am a lot slower now than I was before baby)
4. My transitions are slightly faster than they were before

What I learned from this race that I need to apply before Pumpkinman:

1. I need to swim in open water more (this was the first time in four years and my shoulders felt the extra effort sighting took)
2. I need to bike more (56 miles is a lot more than 22 miles)
3. I should work on riding on the aero bars (to help with that speed thing)
4. I should work on descending (I got passed by someone I had passed because I was too cautious on the downhills, though I passed her no the next uphill)
5. I need to learn to eat on the bike (if it had been any longer I would have been in really bad shape on the run)
6. I should work on my transitions
7. I have a long way to go before September!