I'm an Ironbabe Triathlete!

So I did it yesterday – my first triathlon! WHOOP! I’m actually really excited – it was so great! I’ll start with my time: 1:28:26! Before I start recapping, keep in mind that while this is respectable for a tri time, I’m obviously not even close to some of the REALLY hardcore women that were out there… The tri was the Ironbabe (all women’s) triathlon, and there were 400+ women competing, and to quote Kendyl, for most of them, “this was not their first rodeo,” and man is she right.

Some of the ladies out there were amazing, like this is what they live for… it was cool to just be a spectator to witness. So back to me – not anywhere close to this level, but after training for the past 4ish weeks and a couple practice triathlons, I thought I could improve a little from my last practice time of 1:44:30 to have a goal of 1 hour and 40 minutes. I told Curt what my goal would be, and he encouraged me to go for 1.5 hours and I was skeptical. So I said I’d still go for 1:40, and if it looked like I could get to 1:30 then I’d kick it into a higher gear for the run at the end.

So here’s how the morning went… we woke up in the 4’s (hate doing this) and while Curt was loading I made my famous scrambled egg whites and cheese… usually when I’m nervous it’s hard for me to eat (especially so early in the morning) but I forced them down and we made our way out to pick Kendyl up at 5:20 a.m. Then we headed over to the race site (Duessen Park off of Lake Houston) which was about 45 minutes away. We got there in good time, I went and got marked up, got my chip, and started to stretch, etc. and hydrate up to get ready… saw my boss and we chatted, then I got my swim cap on and we lined up.

By this time I was pretty nervous… a lot of people had prepped me for the mass swim experience but seeing all of those people (even if we were in timed waves) was intimidating. Kendyl gave me great advice and told me to just play it safe and not worry about any times (as my overall goal was just to finish and not stop) and stay alive and away from the group on the outside. Good advice, I say, so I tried to do just that. I let the really hardcore swimmers pass me by, and tried to do some freestyle strokes initially, which I quickly figured out weren’t going to work for me as I was just hitting way too many people and it was weirding me out. Literally the scene in Lord of the Rings came to mind where Frodo and Smeagle are crossing the marshes and there are all these dead people looking up at them through the water – with every stroke one of my limbs would hit someone else’s even if it looked as if you weren’t close enough to someone to hit them (hence the thought of all of these limbs all over the place in the water) – weird, I know but just sharing my creepy thought.

So I just ended up doggie paddling most of the way, with some backstroke once in awhile to rest… I rationalized that swimming strongly exactly where I needed to be going, just slower in pace, was better than me attempting to keep my head in the water to go faster and getting off course. At least doggie paddling when I hit people I could quickly steer out of the way and keep my breathing steady. There were many women that were having trouble though – I think something about the open water provokes a different kind of anxiety in a way. There was a noodle lane, lifeguards, and kayakers with one boat to monitor everyone, and there were quite a few people that needed one of the above services.

As I was rounding the last buoy and getting close to the last 40ish meters a girl yelled for help from one of the lifeguards behind me. The lifeguard was just in front of me and got to her quickly but made me thankful for the fact that even though I might not be fast, I’m a strong swimmer and did fine in the swim. When I could see Kendyl and Curt I started waving at them which made Kendyl laugh – she was like “swim!” LOL – I was having a good time… So I finished my swim in less than 10 minutes (practice time in the lap pool was usually about 8.5 minutes so I didn’t do too bad considering?) and ran out of the water into the transition area. As fast as I could I got into my socks and bike shoes, threw on my helmet and race number (Kendyl was telling me to slow down as I was getting tangled in my belt – LOL!), ate a Goo, unracked my bike and was off!

Kendyl and Curt were right there to cheer me on which was so fun… I got on my way on the bike, and the route was really great and enjoyable! I was keeping a great pace – my only goal was to keep her above 15 mph and I ended up averaging over 17 so I was really thrilled! I passed a lot of people that had passed me in the swim, so I definitely made up a lot of time in this leg! What was amazing to me was how many women I saw on both ends of the spectrum, bike-wise. There were some women out there with mountain-bike types that I would think would be so difficult to cycle on for this kind of purpose, and there were women with the funky race helmets, arm resters and special water bottles with the super aero-dynamic bikes… everyone was encouraging one another (which I loved about the all-women’s feel about it all day) even if they were super hardcore and really competing for a top spot.

So the bike was great – when I rounded the corner to come in saw Kendyl and Curt again (Curt was the photographer for the day with the new camera) and they clapped for me all the way into transition. I got out of my shoes, threw on my running shoes… out of my helmet and threw on my hat, ate another Goo, chugged some Gatorade, and ran out again. The run was enjoyable, too. The course ran right up against the buffalo pen, so there was a lot to look at, and just kept going… was feeling pretty good throughout, and was pretty excited when I got to Mile 1 marker (almost there)! At Mile 1 and 2 there was a water station (same place – just turning at 1.5 mile to come around again) so passing through Mile 1 I grabbed a cup of water to drink on. It was SO cold which was nice to drink, though drinking while running is very difficult and hilarious! LOL… so I had a couple of sips, took one last gulp, and threw the rest on my head. What’s funny about this is that I wasn’t particularly hot, but thought that since runners do this just to cool off an extra bit, hey, why not, except it backfired on me… I had taken that last gulp and thrown it on my head, but the water was SO cold that it made me gasp a lungful of water, thus making me choke and cough on what was in my mouth! I opened my mouth and all the water tumbled out and I just laughed at myself… that’s what you get, I guess! :-)

When I got back to Mile 2 I checked my watch to see how I was doing, and noticed that I was going to be close to the 1.5 mark! I kept up my pace, and as I got into the last ½ mile I was really thinking I could make it… I saw Kendyl from far off (she wore a bright green shirt which was brilliant on her part though unplanned) so I started waving at her again… as I got closer I saw that she was on one side, and Curt was taking photos on the other, and as I passed her she told me to pick it up, so I did and jogged it home hard – man it was a great feeling to cross the finish line and hear my name! I did it! They gave me a SWEET medal, a cold wet towel, and I went to go meet Curt and Kendyl. She told me I did my run in 35 minutes, so I knew I would be close to the 1.5 hour mark… I went up to the tent (feeling good, no problems at all!) and checked for my name and I saw I had made it in under an hour and a half – 1.28! I couldn’t have been more excited! So then we waited around and chatted, took some pics, enjoyed the moment, and then packed up to leave at around 9:30 a.m. It was so fun… I’ll be looking for another one to do, I think!

When we got home I felt good still, but we decided to take a nap as we had woken up so early… after we woke up I unpacked from Connecticut, did laundry, cleaned the house, and went to a movie with Kendyl (Vicky Cristina Barcelona – good overall though different). Then Curt and I got ready for a dinner with Carrie, Don, Courtney, Adam, Greg, and Greg’s friend Frankie. They came in and we went to dinner at Babin’s, and then headed over to Market Street for dessert. Was great to hang out with them! When we got home Curt and I got ready for bed and watched the Olympics and then hit the hay… what a day!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Love,
Tasha xx