First triathlon finished!

Last night around dinner time my stomach started feeling better and although I did not sleep well, my stomach was ok through the night. All week I have slept awful with this stomach bug, but didn't feel it last night. I woke up and was hungry! and ready to go. Just in time!  I ate a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and had a cup of coffee - half coffee, half almond milk.  Today was the first day in 5 days that I am eating normally!! Crazy. My sister lent me all of her cool race gear to wear so I looked like I knew what I was doing - but I didn't have a clue. It was pretty cold this morning, high 40s? and super windy!

Decked out in pants, a jacket and fleece, I got to the race spot - a local YMCA - and set up my bike and looked around at how everyone else was setting up the transition area.  I set up my area and it was a walk over to the heated 50m outdoor pool. I went to check it out and then set up my stuff in the indoor warmup pool. I warmed up with a 500yard easy swim and then wore my nice swim parka around - totally kept me warm. I kept that and my flip flops with me and headed to the pool area.

THE SWIM
It was soo cold and windy. There was a delayed start and it took a while - I think 30 min late. I was in the first wave. There was a "special" heat that went first then my heat. I have no IDEA what time I put in when I filled out my registration form but I was cracking up thinking about what time I could have possibly put in to be in the first heat. Ha! I was in an end lane and could not see much, I think most people were so far ahead of me and then there was one guy that I was close to. I noticed when I was swimming that my left hip was really hurting me. That was weird, I don't know why. I felt pretty strong, but felt like I should have been kicking more.

By the time I ran to transition and got my act together, everyone in my heat was long gone.   I took forever in that transition. I'm nervous to see my time. I was in no rush and a girl that I swim with was doing the bike for the relay part and took some pictures for me.

THE BIKE
I did not see any of them on the bike!  Eventually about 5 people passed me. I was so cold that I put pants on and they were getting stuck to the chain and bike. I had to roll them up. Rookie mistake. Oh my gosh.  It was not bad at the beginning but it was totally windy and this was a hilly challenging course and as soon as I started up a hill, I felt so slow. I don't even know bike etiquette and I could not ride out of saddle (I think that is what it's called). My quads were so sore for some reason so I just laughed, sat down and rode. What made me laugh the most was that if I was flying down a hill, I was not even pedaling just going along for the ride. I did alot of laughing at myself during this bike ride and since really no one was around, I felt like I was out for a Sunday joy ride. It was pretty humorous to me.   I had on the Garmin and found it SO helpful to know how many miles I had left, I love that thing!!! I think I started it late.

THE RUN
After the bike, I think I was a little faster going to the run, much less to think about and I was excited for the run. My legs were definitely tired.  It was a hilly course but I really didn't think it was that challenging. A lot of people were complaining about hills I didn't notice so I felt good after that! My average pace for the run was 7:40, I was pretty happy with that considering it was supposed to be a challenging 5k and my first one after a swim-bike.   I'll be interested to see what the results have.

It felt good to finish but honestly I felt like I could have gone further. I am glad that I signed up for the Olympic tri now (except for the bike, oh my!) because it will be a bit more of a challenge for me.  I did not feel even half as tired as finishing a half marathon.  I have no idea how I did time wise overall and was especially interested in my swim time but there were no clocks! (and I didn't realize it was 450 meters anyway. I thought it was 500 yards.  It was a good day.  My great aunt died this past week and my parents had a busy week, as my mom was her main caretaker. More on this in another post but I didn't want my parents to get up early to come out but once I was there, I totally wanted them to be there taking pictures and such. Also since it was so early I felt bad asking Bill to come and bring the kids, but it would have been nice if just Bill was there cheering. I felt kind of lonely and sad that I finished my first triathlon and no one was there :(