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Triathlete Wearing Official Tee |
All went well on Sunday, August 8 when I completed my first official triathlon. I can now say I am an experienced triathlete. My overall time of 1 hour and 11 minutes was a new personal record shaving 2 minutes and 20 seconds off my previous best. I felt good throughout the race and really appreciated the training I had done. Other participants were experiencing the difficulty of combining sports for the first time. I won a medal for best in my age group (women over 65). As you may recall from previous posts, Joe defined age ranges so that everyone was an age group winner. Still it's the first medal I've ever won for a sports event.
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Finishers and Hazel |
The whole experience was a huge success. Nine triathletes and one relay team completed the race. Everyone felt proud of themselves and did well. The only person among the 12 who had ever done a triathlon before was Joe. We had several out-of-towners. My nephew Evan and his fiance Erika came from Lansing, MI. They were part of the relay team "Beauty and the Beasts". The other beast was my brother-in-law Ken, Ev's father. Joe's brother Bob came from Chicago to help stage the event. His son Tom from Illinois competed.
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Official Starting Pistol |
In addition to Bob, my nephew Jody and sister Sherry were volunteers. Sher was timekeeper and got to start us of with the official starting "pistol" sent by my son Mike. She also had charge of granddaughter Hazel as both parents were competitors. Ken and Erika helped out when it wasn't their leg of the relay. Ken and Bob were out on the lake in boats marking the turnaround points and monitoring safety. Jody directed traffic at the end of our driveway so that everyone could safely enter and exit to 33rd Street. After her swim, Erika drove to the bike turnaround point to make sure everyone knew where to turn and to verify that everyone made it past that point.
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Orientation on the Dock |
It was an "in water" start so after hearing the orientation talk from Joe we all got into the lake and got ourselves wet. I hesitated about a second after the "pistol" was fired so that I didn't get caught up in the thrashing. There were only 10 people swimming so it wasn't bad. As I suspected, by hanging behind I never had to worry about bumping into other people. The only challenge I had with the back stroke was making sure I didn't bump into the boats. I ended up alternating between breast and back stroke more frequently than in my training so that I could monitor my position better. Also, I got a foot cramp just after I started so switched to back stroke to work that out. I felt a bit frustrated about being in the water twice as long as most of the others. I am considering working on my freestyle if I do it again.
As I exited the water I asked Sherry what my time had been and she told me 13 minutes. That was good news as it was a minute faster than any of my multi-sport training sessions. I guess the adrenaline compensated for the additional time to keep track of where I was in the water. It seemed like the distance was a bit longer than my practice swims as Joe decided to do a triangle around the 2 boats rather than just out and back. That did help with the flow of traffic even if it made it a bit longer. The boat positions also got us farther from shore than I had been swimming which helped avoid some of the worst weed beds.
When I got out of the water, Randy was still in the lake transition area so we had a brief chat. My transition took just about 5 minutes so that was on target. Unfortunately, I forgot to zero out my bike trip odometer so I didn't have as much feedback about speed and time during the bike portion as I have been used to. According to the timing sheet, I finished the bike portion 43 minutes and 7 seconds from the start. That means that my bike segment took me about 25 minutes which is comparable to my training sessions. During the biking I really enjoyed seeing other participants as they passed me going the other way. We all exchanged encouraging words. I even got the thrill of passing Randy on the return of the bike leg.
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This Way to the Finish Line |
The bike to walk transition seemed easier than it has been in the past. My legs didn't feel as wobbley. So I was able to speed up my walking pace sooner. Being so far behind most everyone else inspired me to up my pace even more than usual. Randy was able to pass me about half way through the walk as she was alternating walk and jog. Being the last one over the finish line meant that I had a large cheering section. People were grouped along the last stretch of 33rd and in the driveway.
We held the awards ceremony and many donned their new t-shirts including Hazel in her onesie with the same design. After a break during which folks took showers, Joe got the charcoal going for a bbq lunch. This gave us a chance to compare our experiences and enjoy each others company. Tom brought his wife Nancy and 3 kids back for the lunch after he showered at their hotel. The kids really enjoyed the lake and even convinced Great Uncle Joe to take them for a paddle boat ride.
There is much talk about what we'd do the same and different next time. We'll have to decide if this is going to be an annual event. My thoughts are percolating about how to up my time if I do it again. Meanwhile, I'm motivating myself to keep up my exercise regime by planning for some longer bike rides with Joe.
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Over the Finish Line |