This last Saturday I completed my first triathlon of the year. Long in coming. It was the St. Croix Valley Sprint Triathlon. The race is out of Hudson, WI and is a third of a mile swim (~590 yards), 10 mile bike, and 4 mile run. The field was about 502 people, with 65 in my age group (35-39).
Jackie came with and took some pictures and cheered me on. It is always nice to have someone out there cheering you on.
Got up a little early so I could shower, shave, and do my PT exercises. For breakfast I had the "usual", banana, oatmeal, and oj. Then stopped for coffee and a donut, and some bottled water to sip before starting.
Getting body marked and the transition setup was easy. Went for a short ride to warm-up, since I can't run. Jackie was freezing, so she went back to the car until a bit before the race started.
I wore my Fast Skin and no wetsuit. A third of a mile is to short for a wetsuit, it takes me too long to take it off and whatever advantage I had in the water is gone. It took me long enough in transition anyway.
To the swim, I started in the second wave and near the middle of the pack, maybe a little to the left and in the front. There was traffic in the beginning but I got out front pretty good. Swimming was pretty smooth most of the way. Only issue was turning back east into the sun and catching some of the people from the first wave. The sun made sighting in difficult, but not impossible and I made the swim finish line with no issue. There were a lot of beginners out there, I passed a number of people doing breaststroke and Jackie said she saw a lot of people swimming with their head out of the water. I felt I could have swam faster, but I have not raced a lot this year and I was concerned about blowing up. I now know at this distance I can go a lot harder.
I got to my bike no issue, had trouble with the shoes, went no socks. Encountered algae on the swim and brought some back with me on my timing chip strap.
Went out on the bike pretty slow. I spun and I took in some fluid. After about a mile plus I picked it up. Until I got to the hill from hell. The hill at about mile 4 was one of the longest and hardest I have ever had to climb. As I was pulling up the hill I passed a guy who came to stop and just stepped off his bike. As I turned around and came down I saw some people walking up the hill. Going down the hill was frightening. It was the first time I have ever smelled my brake pads. Not only was it a steep descent, but it had multiple curves. I have done 99% of my biking on a trainer this year and my bike handling skills are poor. To put it bluntly, this hill scared the shit out of me.
I was passed by a number of people on the bike, and I passed a few people, but I am still not in good biking shape. I have work to do still, that is for sure.
When I got in to transition I took my time. I was going to walk the run so there was no hurry. Got the shoes off, got the socks and running shoes on. Took a sip of water. Grabbed the race belt and put it on as I walked out. The long walk began.
The long walk was very interesting. I got to people watch. I got to watch people suffer and thrive, sometimes separately and some times at the same time. I had people cheer me on. Tell me not to give up and that I could make. I knew I could make it and I was not going to give up. I thought it was great that people were cheering me on and that people also asked if I was ok. People cheering and concern just shows how great the tri community is. I tried jogging some it, maybe a mile at most. I enjoyed the walk. If I were to run the course it would be pretty fast. It is pretty flat, there is one up and down portion, otherwise very flat.
I came in at a slow jog. Met up with Jackie, talked to some people I had not seen in awhile, got my delicious pork sandwich and rice at the Luau, and then headed out.
Went over to Jackie's after the race and laid down in bed, we both slept for about 3 hours in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. I have not done that, ever. Usually, after a race, I just fall asleep in front of the TV for an hour or so.
Below are my results
Total Time - 1:42:10 (418/512 overall, 63/67 AG)
Swim (~590 yards) - 9:13 (1:35/100 yards) - 24/512 overall, 6/67 AG
T1 - 1:56
Bike (10 miles) - 31:06 (19.3 MPH) - 70/512 overall, 18/67 AG
T2 - 2:05
Run (4 miles) - 57:52 (14:28 min/mi) - 508/512 overall, 67/67 AG
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