Showtime!

Finally it was time for my first outdoor sprint tri - BRATS Salute to the Military tri in Warrenton VA. It was time to see what I could do.  I knew I would be able to go the distance, but wasn't sure how fluid it would be - would I finish with a time I was proud of?  Would I disappoint myself or my coach, Dave? Deep down I knew I wasn't going to disappoint Dave or anyone for that matter, but I was still worried! All along I was saying I had no expectations & was going to treat it as a training race (whatever that means!)  My goal was to finish under 1:45 & if I could be at 1:30 I would be shocked.

Saturday night I went to bed early & thankfully got sleep. I woke up earlier than anticipated (2 instead of 4) but I did manage close to 6 hours.  I had packed my bag for transition & all I had to do when I woke up was get dressed & have a light breakfast and wait to leave. Dave & I were riding out together which helped calm my nerves & I almost forgot we were heading to a race. We set up our transition area when we got there & headed over to get our timing chips then we headed out for a quick warm-up ride.  After that, it was time to head to the pool to start the race. Don't know if it was Dave's plan to keep me preoccupied so I wouldn't get nervous, but it worked!

The swim portion was a 300 meter pool swim. I knew I would be able to complete the distance & just wanted it to be over. It was a delayed start - every 7 seconds, another person would start.  I was #105 so I had about 12 minutes to wait.  I was able to watch Dave swim his laps & head off to transition.  That was the last I saw of him until I was closing in on the end of my race. I got in the water & pushed off.  The first lap was a challenge. For some reason (nerves?), I wasn't exhaling in the water. It took me until the start of the second lap to calm down & start breathing properly. The swim was challenging mainly because you had so many people who were either faster or slower than their estimated times. I ended up taking a bit longer for my swim than I anticipated, but I was happy to climb out of the pool & ran to T1. Swapped my goggles & swim cap for my bike helmet, sunglasses, socks & shoes.  Then I ran out with my bike & hopped on to tackle the 12.4 miles. Heading out, I was happy that I had ridden the course a few weeks earlier with one of my friends.  I knew what was ahead of me & I knew where I could speed up or should slow down. The bike is still a little bit of a mystery to me since I haven't ridden much because of my shoulder injury earlier this spring.  I found that I need more time out on the bike - if only to figure out how to drink & return the bottle to its cage! All in all, I was really relaxed on the bike.  Soon I was heading back to transition & with about 1/4 mile left, I said to myself - I have to go run now?  What was I thinking?!?!  T2 was pretty simple - rack the bike, take off the helmet, add a visor & head out for the last leg - 3.1 mile run. Running is what I have been doing longest (a whole year & a half!) & I knew as long as I made it there, I would be about 30 minutes from the finish line.  The run went about as expected.  I started out with close to a 9 minute mile (too fast) and then I slowed it down to around 10.  I walked a little, but kept on moving.  As I neared the end of the race, I hear someone yelling my name & look up to see Dave at the top of the final "hill" taking video.  Good thing I was running again at that point!  The last thing I hear from him is I am 4 minutes from the finish line & I pick up the pace.  As I go around the final turn, I said a little prayer of thanks for making it this far. Just ahead was the finish line. I put a smile on my face & kept on moving.  As I crossed the finish line, I stopped my watch and checked the time - 1:32:56. Turns out it was pretty close to my chip time - 1:32:52. After a little water & food, I headed to get a massage. I have always seen them at races but the lines are usually so long, I don't wait.  Today, there were only 2 people in front of me, so I decided to wait & it was worth it!  Once that was done, we went to see if my results were posted.  Dave had finished 8th overall & 2nd in his age group.  All I was hoping for was that my watch was close to my actual time. We finally find my name & notice that it says 3rd in my age group.  What the what?  How is that possible?  We looked again, Dave took a picture & I was in shock. I wasn't going to believe it until they gave out the awards. Turns out it was correct! And yes, there were more than 3 people in my age group - that was one of the first things I checked when I got home!  So proud of myself today & very thankful for my coach, Dave  I couldn't ask for a better coach & friend.  Now I need to decide when my next tri will be!

Things I learned:

• Remember to breathe in the water - it will be fine, but you need to breathe!
• Need more mileage on my bike & work on shifting. 
• If I do another tri before I transition to the clipless pedals, I need to bring another pair of shoes to wear on the bike or I need to not wear socks.  The socks I put on after the swim got soaked & in turn my running shoes were pretty wet too.  
• Having friends at the race is AWESOME!  For as much as I told Dave to stop, it was great to have him there cheering me on & getting some video as I finished up the run.