Fearless Triathlon - I Did It!

Gratefulness

First off, I want to say this blog isn’t to brag, its to share my appreciation for all of the good things that have happened to me recently. In life I’ve had successes and failures, and when it comes to racing, I feel like the scales have been tipped to the negative for me lately.

  
 

In the past two weeks, I’ve had three incredible things happen to me.

1. I was named a running ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon
2. I won a $200 gift certificate to XTERRA wetsuits in a raffle that bought me a sleeveless wetsuit, a wetsuit bag, and a triathlon transition bag.
3. I did much better than expected I my first triathlon, and I feel good about my athletic ability for the first time in ages

As most of you know, I’ve been running marathons for 5 years, and have improved my progress moderately over the years. My long-term goal was to qualify and run in Boston, but prior to that, I wanted to break 4 hours. Well, 12 marathons and 5 years later I’ve yet to do that. I’ve come really close (4 hours and 32 seconds – argh!), but still haven’t officially done it. To many people those 32 seconds don’t count and I have done it. But to me, I haven’t. I had a really bad race for my last full marathon which really just broke my spirit. I felt terrible for days after that race, sad for weeks, and now months after I feel a dull pain that I’ve chosen to ignore. Because of that last terrible performance (attempt #12), I’m scared to try for another full marathon. To fail for a 13th time might hurt me more than the 12th, and I can’t even imagine that. (For more details on my 12th race, check out "Dealing with Disappointment")

 

Enter triathlons. I’ve been asked in the past if I thought I’d do a triathlon ‘next’. I’ve always thought the person was crazy for asking and said no. I have a million reasons why triathlons aren’t for me. But, due to circumstance, timing, and relationships, in the past few months I started considering them. When I went to visit my mom in Paris in July I couldn’t run during that week, so I swam laps for the first time in 10-15 years. I was amazed to find out that I felt strong in the water, so when I came home I kept swimming. As soon as I realized I had the potential to be a strong swimmer, the idea of a triathlon suddenly came into my periphery. At this same time, a friend of mine started training for his first triathlon, making the concept of this race more real.

 

Inspiration 

My friend Todd started training for his first triathlon (an Olympic distance) not too far after running the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in San Diego. Since we’re friends on dailymile.com, I’d see each of his swim, bike, and run workouts posted as he did them. From seeing his posts and his accomplishments, thoughts, challenges, and improvements, I started to think wow, is this something I could do? I was still doubtful of my ability but really enjoyed watching his progress. He trained for several months diligently, raced in October, and beat his goal. Totally amazing! (For more on this topic check out "Watching a Tri")

Todd at the San Diego Classic Triathlon

 

Motivation

When I was at the San Diego Classic Triathlon watching Todd, I wandered over to the expo booths during some of the wait time while Todd was running. I came across a booth for the Fearless Races and recognized them as a beginner triathlon that my friend Robin had told me about. From the little research I had done, this looked like one of the shortest triathlons out there, and it was totally beginner friendly. The race had 3 free clinics included in registration to help acquaint newbies to the sport of triathlon.

 

I stopped at the booth and talked to a guy there (turned out to be the founder of the races) and he handed me a coupon for $10 off registration. Score! But wait, it expired the next night. When I came home that night I decided to suck it up and register. I did it! OH no… A few days after registering I met up with Robin for lunch and she gave me a pep talk and advice and encouragement for the race. Her experience and calmness about the port gave me a little bit more confidence.

 
 

Preparation

I lucked out and was able to borrow a wetsuit and borrow a road bike from fellow GOTR friends. Whew! Those were the bare minimums that I’d need. To try to get over my biggest fear of the water, I planned on meeting a couple friends for an open water swim in La Jolla Cove. That didn’t go great. For more details on that check out "Giving it a Tri".

My First Open Water Swim

I think that one of the best thing about the Fearless Triathlon is that it included three free clinics. I missed the second clinic because I was running the Long Beach Half Marathon (more on my blog here), but made the first and third clinic which were totally helpful.

 

In the first clinic we did swim drills in the water for an hour, went over the first transition (from swim to bike), and then biked about a mile. In the third clinic we also spent about an hour doing swim drill in the water, did a practice swim and then transition to run, and then everyone but me went back into the water for a second swim. (For the race you could either do one loop (mini sprint) of swim/bike/urn or two loops swim//bike/runs/swim/bike/run. Since I was only doing the mini sprint I had no motivation to go back into the water a second time – without a wetsuit!

Fearless Tri - Clinic #1

Photos courtesy of Fearless Races

 

Raceday 

Raceday finally arrived and it was time to put my training to the test! David and I arrived at the race start at 6:40am. I was super stressed because the transition area was supposed to close at 6:45am. We had to park sooo far way, and by the time I got to the bike racks it seemed that there was literally only one spot left for a bike - which I took. As I racked my bike and fumbled around in the dark with my transition bag, I sadly remembered that in the clinic they recommended bringing a flashlight. Shoot. I set up my transition area and started to put on my wetsuit.

Body Marked and Ready!

Waiting to Start the Swim

 

The Swim

The first wave of racers started at 7:00am, but my wave (the mini-sprinters) didn’t start until 7:30am. I was nervous before the first wave started, felt calmed a bit by watching them start and then the subsequent wave start … but then I was just restless waiting for my own wave to start. Prior to the min-sprinters starting there was a nice pop-talk from a emcee. I assume most of us were doing a triathlon for the first time. I was appreciative for the talk and welcomed any and all comforting words!

Todd Braves the Water sans Wetsuit

 Midget Momo and David

Finally, after about a 10-minute wait, we were off! A friend of a friend from the Tri Club had asked earlier if I wanted a swim buddy. YES! I’ll take any help I can get! My own dedicated help? Heck yeah! When the start was announced my swim buddy and I ran into the water, jumped in, and started swimming. I was nervous and anxious and swam the best I could out to the first buoy, around it, and to the second. At some point near the second buoy though I started to freak out. I already knew the water was cloudy and murky, I wasn’t totally fazed by the kicking feet and flailing arms around me, but suddenly I was uncomfortable and just wanted out of the water. (Inner voice – ACK! We aren’t done yet??) As I rounded the 2nd buoy all I could think about was NOOOO!! Why aren’t we done yet>!? The saltiness and cloudiness of the water, the feeling of people all around me, the weird sensation of dipping my face in a muddy pool while trying to not get kicked and propel myself forward was really just freaking me out. I stopped for a second and treaded, and then breaststroked. My swimming buddy Toni yelled out words of encouragement so I kept going in.

Mini-Sprint Orange Cap Wave Goes!

Don’t laugh. We only swam 250 meters which is nothing. But for me, it was just above my comfort level. If I hadn’t been stroking and breathing and kicking for my life to get out of the water, I probably would’ve cried. Seriously. But suddenly, it was over! HALLELUJAH!

Swim Course

The Bike 

I felt like I was in shock running out of the water; I was sooooo happy to be out. I felt funny running, felt gross running in the mud, and oh yeah wait – I hadn’t mentioned that before the first wave started swimming it had started raining. I ran up the hill to the bike transition area while unzipping my wetsuit and pulling it down to my waist. As soon as I got to my bike I rinsed off my feet with some water, put on my socks (over my wet and mildly muddy feet), stuffed on my shoes and put on my helmet , and I was off!

Running up to Transition (In Purple)

By now it was seriously raining. This race was my second time ever on a road bike. The felling of being pitched forward over the handlebars felt a bit more natural than the first time, but I was still scared to be biking in the rain and was afraid of blowing a tire on the numerous little pebbles on the path. The bike route consisted of two loops that I tried to finish as quickly as possible.

Biking By in the Rain

 

Oddly, I was riding alone for most of the bike leg. Where was everyone? In front of me? Behind me? I wasn’t sure how fast to pedal. As fast as I could go until it hurt? As fast as anyone that tried to pass me? In the end I pedaled as fast as I could without my legs burning, and for the most part I felt that I was cruising along at a really strong pace. Until … I’d occasionally hear a strange sound breaking the silence. I was biking for 19 minutes total. About every 3 minutes I’d be biking alone and then I’d hear this weird sound like a plastic/metal sheet being bent back and forth. Wonk .. wonk .. wonk. And then a guy on a bike with disc wheels and a crazy Spy vs Spy helmet would FLY past me. Wow…

The Run 

Throughout the whole bike portion of the race I was afraid of hitting a rock, popping a tire ,and flying over the handlebars. I was SO relieved when I was done with the bike and could go run! I racked my bike and stared off running. But wait – I felt funny! My feet felt weird and my projection felt weird. Luckily I had my Garmin and I could monitor my pace. I was thrown off though by the disconnect in the speed I felt I was running and the pace my watch said I was running. I felt like I was slogging along at first and was alarmed to see that I was running a sub 7:00 mile. I know I can’t hold that pace for 2 miles so I slowed down a bit. I got to about a 8:00 pace but still felt funny. My feet felt numb in parts and my body felt weird. I tried speeding up a bit and that made me “feel” my feet more of that made any sense. It was as if my body was numb at a normal pace, but by pushing harder, I could feel things.

 

I puzzled over these things in the race and pushed and held back and pushed and held back over the two mile course. Based upon the paces I saw as I glanced at my watch now and then, I estimated a 8-8:30 overall pace on the run.

Approaching the Finish

The Win

As I approached the last stretch of the race, I saw a challenged athlete in front of me with a prosthetic leg. I was on pace to pass him, but suddenly thought to myself “is it unclassy to pass a challenged athlete?” I didn’t want to blow past him so I slowly approached him and ran with him for a few strides before we smiled at each other and I joyously exclaimed “we’re almost done!” … and then I passed him and ran for the money to the finish. I finished strong and LOVED that they announced my name as I finished.

 

Finishing Strong!

Triathlon Complete!

After finishing I found David and Christine on the sidelines (soaking wet and cold - so sorry!). Moments later Todd finished the race and we cheered him on to the finish, and quickly high-tailed it out of there.  For a split second it crossed my mind that I had placed in the race since I had seen few people in the bike and run and had passed way more people than had passed me, but I dismissed it as craziness because there was no way this newbie could have done so good.

Well .. by the time I had gotten home I regretted that a bit. My friend Danielle (fellow GOTR coach) sent me a facebook message saying that I had placed in the race. “Wow” I thought! That’s great1 but what did that mean? Did I place in my age division of 30-34? How many others were in that division? What if I was the only one? Did I only place because I had no competition? I was excited to hear that I had won something bat wasn’t able to put it into perspective until a few days later.

A few days after the race the results were posted online and I was astonished to see that I finished first in the overall women’s division, AND I finished as the first woman in the swim and run. How was that possible in the swim?? I saw so many people in front of me! I guess they were all guys?


Official Results

Overall Time: 43:21:08
Swim: 7:05  (1st place female, 2nd overall)
T1: 2:18
Bike: 19:32  (6th place female)
T2: 1:35
Run: 12:50   (1st place female, 3rd overall)

 

When I looked over the results I also felt guilty because I don’t think the run was an actual 2 mile course. (I haven’t downloaded my watch data yet.) My run time was clocked at 12:50. There is no way I ran 2 miles at a 6:25 pace! Maybe close to 7:00 but not under 7:00. Hmm....  I felt bad for a bit until I realized that well, even if the course was shorter than 2 miles, we all ran the same course, so if I ran that part fastest, then I deserved to come in first!

Winners' Medals - Mine in the middle!

 

I looked at the races website and saw a list of school schwag for winning. Darnit, why didn’t I stick around?! I sent an email on Monday to the race organizer asking if I could still get prize. On Tuesday I sent another email. Crickets. Crickets. On Wednesday morning I was sad not to have heard back yet … and then finally I got a response! I’d still get my award! Yay! They won’t mail it for two weeks and I’m not sure if I’ll get just the trophy, or the trophy plus the other goodies (food and a tri outfit). I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Next Race 
I came into triathlons at the wrong time of year. The season is over! But not just yet. The San Diego Tri club (AWESOME) has a club race this coming Saturday that I’ve signed up for. I’m a bit nervous because its 2-3 times the distance of the race I just did. I feel like I barely made it through that race! Its hard to imagine going so much further. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. Gotta give it a TRI right ? :o)

 

Thankfulness

I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today if it weren’t for a number of friends. Thank you so much to everyone who helped me by lending me gear, giving me advice, and encouraging me to go for it.

 

Todd – thank you for the original motivation! I’m glad you shared your training progress and thoughts along the journey towards your first tri. Thanks also for going with me for that first swim in the cove, and for signing up for the Fearless Tri to keep me company and make the race seem like it was something I could do.

Carol - thank you for holding my hand as I walked into the water at La Jolla cove. Thank you also for your reassuring words up until the swim!
 

Robin - thank you for all of the advice and encouragement! Because of you I joined the Tri Club, went to a coached swim at the JCC, heard of the Fearless Race, and eventually signed up.
 

Megan – thank you for lending me your wetsuit! Without a wetsuit training for this race and competing wouldn’t even have been possible!

Kathryn – thank you for talking bikes with me and going to a few bike stores to look at my options and to start to kind of understand what road biking is all about.

Tara – thank you for lending me your road bike! Without your bike I would have had to use my dead weight Target mountain bike from college.

Christina – thank you for talking triathlons with me over the past few months. Even though we didn’t sign up for the races we’ve talked about lately, having another newbie friend who was willing to make the transition from marathons to triathlons made me feel more confident about the decision.

Lastly David – my number one fan, captain of my race support crew, fellow marathoner, and my favorite person. Thanks for always believing in me and encouraging me to go for it. You’ve believed in me so many times when I didn’t believe in myself. Thank you for that.

I’ll report back after my next race this weekend. Who knows, if this goes well I might have to change the title of my blog to Engineer, Marketer, Marathon Runner, TRIATHLETE, & Cheese Hater.