itri
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I did it! I finished my first Olympic distance (1.5k swim, 42k bike, 10k run) triathlon yesterday! It was long, it was hard, it was fun, and it was HOT.
My weekend in Boulder started out with the expo and packet pick-up on Saturday. I bought the CUTEST t-shirt for DS at the expo. I hung around for the race meeting where I didn't learn anything new really, except that it was going to be BLAZING hot! I got my first glimpse of one of the sport of triathlon's truly amazing people: Sister Madonna Buder, 78 years old, and veteran of 32 (yes, that's right, 32!) Ironmans! After the expo, I headed over to Lilabear's house, where I would be spending the night. Lilabear (Sarah) very generously opened her home to me, and she was a fabulous hostess. It was SO nice not to have to drive back to Denver after packet pick-up, and not to have to get up quite so early for the race! We had a fun day hanging out. Sarah is also responsible for all the photos that I have of the race. Thank you, Sarah, you rock!
My swim went really well, I thought. I was pretty nervous about doing a mile long open-water swim, but my strategy was just to take it slow and steady. I made sure I started in the back so that I wouldn't be in the middle of all the craziness (arms and legs flailing everywhere) at the start. I kept drifting to the right on the first leg of the swim. I knew it, and kept trying to correct, but every time I came up to sight, I was still to the right. At one point, a kayak told me to keep left. Oops. After I rounded the first turn, I stopped drifting so much. I did learn that it's a bad idea to try and use another swimmer as a guide...they might be going the wrong direction, too! I felt pretty strong and comfortable in the swim, so that was great! I came up out of the water and headed up the beach. There were some friends, cheering for me! Awesome. A little further up the beach, another friend was there cheering. I headed into transition, where I saw Sarah for the first time. SO cool to have so many friendly faces. I had a slight issue in transition with putting one of my bike gloves on the wrong hand at first
. I knew I should have skipped the gloves! Oh well...got the rest of my gear around, and off I went on the bike.
The bike went pretty well, I guess pretty much as I expected. About 5 miles in, we started up Olde Stage. If you read my post about this in the Share your Rides thread, you know that this is one big hill. 600 feet of elevation gain in about 2/3 of a mile. I was very pleasantly surprised with myself that I actually passed several people on the hill. I was sure that I wasn't going to pass anybody on the bike, so that was cool! Before I knew it, I was at the top (that was it?
) and heading down the 5 miles of downhill, my favorite part of the course. This part goes through a beautiful canyon and along a river. Of course, this is also where a triathlete hit a bear in this very race two years ago! 
The race directors put up a Bear Crossing sign at the spot...which would be funnier if another cyclist hadn't done the same thing in pretty much the same spot about a month ago. Once is a freak accident, twice is a trend, kwim? Luckily no bears were sighted yesterday! 
Once out of the canyon, we hit my least favorite part of the bike course. The second half of the course is pretty boring, with little to no shade, and rolling hills that are really tough on my bad knee. About three miles from the reservoir, I hit something with my front tire, and panicked that I was going to have a flat. I spent the next mile and a half staring at my tire to see if it was losing pressure, but I guess I was lucky!
Second transition...putting on my running shoes. I'm on the left.
Heading out on the run
After a kind of slow transition (I had a really hard time getting one of my running shoes on, for some reason), I headed out for the run. I felt pretty good coming off the bike, and actually was surprised at the pace I was running. I think my first mile was around 9:30 pace, not bad. Um, did I mention that it was HOT yesterday? By the time that I got out on the run course, the temperature was hovering right around 100. Blazing hot. And there is absolutely not a single bit of shade anywhere on the run. Nada. Phew. My second mile was a little slower, and the third one was a little slower than that. I just kept getting slower and slower until mile 5 when I was able to pick it up a little bit. There were aid stations every mile, and at each one I slowed to a walk and grabbed two cups of water. Pour some on my head, drink a little. Pour, drink, pour, drink. Walk, walk, walk (do I really have to run again? oh all right...). I did learn the downside of pouring water on your head...squishy shoes and socks. Yuck. I actually got a bit of a blister from the squishiness, but it was necessary! At the final aid station, I started seeing the pro racers. They started about an hour and a half after I did, and I fully expected them to be finishing at the same time or before me. Guess what, I was right! I finished just about the same time as the second or third place woman, I think. It was pretty cool to be on the same course as them, and to see them flying by me! I was really able to pick up my pace the last third to quarter mile, and I felt super strong as I headed into the finish. I saw my friends cheering for me and then I was crossing the finish line. I did it!
My final time was 3:32:46 (just for reference, the winners finished in right around 2 hours...I'm SLOW). I'm pretty happy with it. I know I could have done better, but for my first olympic distance race, I think it was pretty good. I had a good swim, a decent bike, and a tough run. I don't know that I could have done any better on the run in yesterday's conditions, though. And I know that I have a lot of room for improvement for next time! This was a really, really difficult race, and not only did I complete it, but I actually did a lot better than I thought I might. I will say though, that it could have been an absolutely miserable race without all the friendly faces that were out there on the course.
You can see more pictures (courtesy of Lilabear) from the race here.
I'm already thinking about doing another one in about a month...
My weekend in Boulder started out with the expo and packet pick-up on Saturday. I bought the CUTEST t-shirt for DS at the expo. I hung around for the race meeting where I didn't learn anything new really, except that it was going to be BLAZING hot! I got my first glimpse of one of the sport of triathlon's truly amazing people: Sister Madonna Buder, 78 years old, and veteran of 32 (yes, that's right, 32!) Ironmans! After the expo, I headed over to Lilabear's house, where I would be spending the night. Lilabear (Sarah) very generously opened her home to me, and she was a fabulous hostess. It was SO nice not to have to drive back to Denver after packet pick-up, and not to have to get up quite so early for the race! We had a fun day hanging out. Sarah is also responsible for all the photos that I have of the race. Thank you, Sarah, you rock!
My swim went really well, I thought. I was pretty nervous about doing a mile long open-water swim, but my strategy was just to take it slow and steady. I made sure I started in the back so that I wouldn't be in the middle of all the craziness (arms and legs flailing everywhere) at the start. I kept drifting to the right on the first leg of the swim. I knew it, and kept trying to correct, but every time I came up to sight, I was still to the right. At one point, a kayak told me to keep left. Oops. After I rounded the first turn, I stopped drifting so much. I did learn that it's a bad idea to try and use another swimmer as a guide...they might be going the wrong direction, too! I felt pretty strong and comfortable in the swim, so that was great! I came up out of the water and headed up the beach. There were some friends, cheering for me! Awesome. A little further up the beach, another friend was there cheering. I headed into transition, where I saw Sarah for the first time. SO cool to have so many friendly faces. I had a slight issue in transition with putting one of my bike gloves on the wrong hand at first
. I knew I should have skipped the gloves! Oh well...got the rest of my gear around, and off I went on the bike.
The bike went pretty well, I guess pretty much as I expected. About 5 miles in, we started up Olde Stage. If you read my post about this in the Share your Rides thread, you know that this is one big hill. 600 feet of elevation gain in about 2/3 of a mile. I was very pleasantly surprised with myself that I actually passed several people on the hill. I was sure that I wasn't going to pass anybody on the bike, so that was cool! Before I knew it, I was at the top (that was it?
) and heading down the 5 miles of downhill, my favorite part of the course. This part goes through a beautiful canyon and along a river. Of course, this is also where a triathlete hit a bear in this very race two years ago! The race directors put up a Bear Crossing sign at the spot...which would be funnier if another cyclist hadn't done the same thing in pretty much the same spot about a month ago. Once is a freak accident, twice is a trend, kwim? Luckily no bears were sighted yesterday! Once out of the canyon, we hit my least favorite part of the bike course. The second half of the course is pretty boring, with little to no shade, and rolling hills that are really tough on my bad knee. About three miles from the reservoir, I hit something with my front tire, and panicked that I was going to have a flat. I spent the next mile and a half staring at my tire to see if it was losing pressure, but I guess I was lucky!Second transition...putting on my running shoes. I'm on the left.
Heading out on the run
After a kind of slow transition (I had a really hard time getting one of my running shoes on, for some reason), I headed out for the run. I felt pretty good coming off the bike, and actually was surprised at the pace I was running. I think my first mile was around 9:30 pace, not bad. Um, did I mention that it was HOT yesterday? By the time that I got out on the run course, the temperature was hovering right around 100. Blazing hot. And there is absolutely not a single bit of shade anywhere on the run. Nada. Phew. My second mile was a little slower, and the third one was a little slower than that. I just kept getting slower and slower until mile 5 when I was able to pick it up a little bit. There were aid stations every mile, and at each one I slowed to a walk and grabbed two cups of water. Pour some on my head, drink a little. Pour, drink, pour, drink. Walk, walk, walk (do I really have to run again? oh all right...). I did learn the downside of pouring water on your head...squishy shoes and socks. Yuck. I actually got a bit of a blister from the squishiness, but it was necessary! At the final aid station, I started seeing the pro racers. They started about an hour and a half after I did, and I fully expected them to be finishing at the same time or before me. Guess what, I was right! I finished just about the same time as the second or third place woman, I think. It was pretty cool to be on the same course as them, and to see them flying by me! I was really able to pick up my pace the last third to quarter mile, and I felt super strong as I headed into the finish. I saw my friends cheering for me and then I was crossing the finish line. I did it!
My final time was 3:32:46 (just for reference, the winners finished in right around 2 hours...I'm SLOW
). I'm pretty happy with it. I know I could have done better, but for my first olympic distance race, I think it was pretty good. I had a good swim, a decent bike, and a tough run. I don't know that I could have done any better on the run in yesterday's conditions, though. And I know that I have a lot of room for improvement for next time! This was a really, really difficult race, and not only did I complete it, but I actually did a lot better than I thought I might. I will say though, that it could have been an absolutely miserable race without all the friendly faces that were out there on the course. You can see more pictures (courtesy of Lilabear) from the race here.
I'm already thinking about doing another one in about a month...
Well, why not, I mean you've already trained the distance, right? 
