Polar Bear Triathlon

Yesterday was spent at an all day swim meet with my high school team.  I pretty much stood from 9-4pm. Not a great "rest" day.  Didn't really do anything to warrant it, but my legs felt tired that night.  Luckily though the pool we were at was the exact same place I was going to be doing my triathlon today! So i was able to scout it out.

Saturday night after the meet, Jeremy and I went to Cattleman's Steakhouse.  I opted for smothered chicken and a baked potato.  No fries, no salad, yea me! That was followed with going to a movie (The Dilema) and getting some reese's pieces.  Not the best option. Since the best option would have been to NOT get any candy. But I ate maybe half the box and Jeremy did help some with that half.  We stayed at a hotel that night.  Jeremy was worried about the bike. I told him we would just take it to the room. I wasnt going to leave it in the truck even if it was chained up.  He made me push it in while he carried my purse and pink swim bag.  He was more embarrassed to push in the bike rather than carry that stuff.  Crazy guy. 

I laid out all my clothing the night before. I had that "feeling" since Friday that I was going to forget something!  We went to bed early and got about 8 hours of sleep.  I slept pretty well considering I had a race the next day.  I had previously decided I would run and bike in my swim suit so I could just strip down when I got to the pool.  This tri was in reverse order - run, bike, swim.  I guess bc it's so cold out, it would be stupid to do the swim first then go outside wet to run and bike). 

Wake up call came at 7am. Phone alarms went off at 7:05.  Rolled out of bed about 7:10. Got up dressed and we were out the door.  Jeremy pushed my bike this time after he realizd we didnt get any funny looks walking into the hotel with it.

Looked at last years results and there had been about 40-45 people total.  This year we got to the park and were floored by how many cars and bikes there were.  At least 100, jeremy estimated 200.  But he was a little off on that count. 

I wasn't sure how it would work with the number tattooing.  Usually the number goes on your arm and calf, but everyone was bundled up. It was 28 degrees outside!!  No problem though, I had to pull up my pant leg and pull off my top (I did have my bathing suit on under) to get my number tat.

We went into the pool area, listened to the directions for the swim, bike and run, then went out to the transition areas so we could see what we were supposed to do.  After that we walked to the start and were off. 

Run - The run is not my strength by any means.  I am a swimmer since birth and new found biker since this summer.  Running is ok, but I'm no where near how fast I would like to be.  The run was a 3k or 1.86 miles.  I think it was a little short but I was about 20 min for about 1.75ish. My best 3k from 2 years ago was 25 min.  So definite improvement even if it was a little short.  I gu'd at the end of the run, hoping that would give me some more energy on the bike.  My back was hurting during the run and I kept having to spit.  Felt very sorry for the woman that was speed walking behind me.  And yes, she did end up passing me before we came in to the transition area.  I was dead last going in to the bike.  :(  Although it was easier to get my bike down with no other ones around it.

Bike - The bike was 6 miles.  The first mile and a half to 2 miles were hilly.  The last 4 were flat.  I'm not sure which I liked more or least.  At least with the hilly you get momentum from the downhills.  On the flat, there are no hills to go up but you still have to pedal the whole time bc you dont have the downhills to coast from.  My quads were very tight the first 3 miles.  I kept having to coast for a minute with one leg up and one down to stretch it out.  About mile 3 it started feeling better and I was able to finish strong.  I did pass the speedwalker, who was now biking.  So I wasn't last anymore.  She did stay pretty close behind me though. But I knew if I got in the water I could stay in front of her.

Swim - Ahhh, the water! :)   I hopped off my bike and headed to the pool.  As soon as I got inside my glasses fogged up, off they went, along with my shoes, pants, shirts.  Cap went on, then goggles, and in I went.  It was an 8 lane pool so we had to go down and back in each lane for a total of 400 yards.  There were still others in the pool so I thought to myself, maybe just maybe I can catch a few others.  I started doing freestyle, but my arms felt very heavy.  Dont have a clue why since my legs had been doing the work for the past 50 minutes!  I decided to do backstroke on the way down to help me catch my breath and free on the way back.  After about 150 yards, I had caught up to 2 people.  Unfortunately one of them must not have liked that and she hit me in the mouth/front teeth.  Of course it wasn't on purpose, we were going opposite directions on the same side.  (for what it's worth, she was not circle swimming on the correct side!) Her had just happened to be in front doing side stroke and I apparently wasn't looking where I was going. So 2 people passed and about 100 more to go.  In the last lane there was one guy in the pool. I caught up to him and was able to pass him. 

I was telling Jeremy about the woman that hit me. The guy that I passed last was getting out and overheard us. It was his wife!  Whoops! 

I finished with a time of 1:03.21. I was 8th in the run, 2nd in T1, 8th on the bike, 5th in T2, and 1st in the swim for my age group.

After the race, we headed to Johnny Carino's in my Polar Bear Triathlon shirt!