Race: Title 9 Women’s Only Triathlon, put on by Max Performance
Location: Hopkinton State Park, Hopkinton, MA
Weather: 68-70, misty / light rain all day
Total Time: 1:42:08 (111th in my age group – 426 overall)

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this triathlon since I signed up last February! So it’s been a long time coming! When I was 11 I did my first triathlon relay with my parents – I swam, my dad biked, my mom ran. We did that same relay for maybe 4 summers, so I’ve always had some interest in tris, but honestly, I never thought I’d do an entire one on my own! Now that it’s over, I’m so glad I did.

I just want to give a shout out to Max Performance for the really organized, safe race they put on! The process of signing up, getting our packets, and day-of numbering and tracking was really organized. The volunteers were super nice and never made me feel like a newbie (even though they could probably totally tell ;)). There were multiple kayaks and boats in the water watching out for us, and at every turn of the bike and run, there were either two volunteers or a volunteer and a police officer telling us where to go. Also, we all got a pretty fun swag bag!

OK, let’s RECAP!

Nate and I woke up at 5:30 and I immediately ate a half a banana. We left the house around 6:00 (I ate a Lara bar on the way) and got to the race location at 6:30. That was an hour and a half early, because I was really nervous and just wanted to be there and be all set up with plenty of time to spare. My parents came too, like 15 minutes before the start, so I got to say hi (and Mom took 100 pictures). (It was also her birthday!)

I was in the 6th wave of swimmers – the “Newbies Under 35″ wave. I wore a sports bra hybrid with a sport bikini bottom. It worked well! The water felt SO warm compared to the misty fall air. I was so cold during the 25 minute wait for my wave!

Anyways, I pushed my way up to the front of the line because I’m a seasoned swimmer and didn’t want to be stuck between not-as-seasoned swimmers. I just knew that if I was at the front I would push myself harder. And push myself I did! It was only 1/4 mile swim, but apparently I was going a 2:15 pace as I found out later (which isn’t my sprint pace, but fast for that distance). I did a combo of freestyle and breaststroke. I did free when I knew I was going in the right direction, haha! And I switched to breaststroke when I felt like I needed to see where I was going. Plus breaststroke helped me catch my breath a little. The water was wavy, but not too bad. My total swim time was 9:10.

I was pretty winded when I got out of the water and the walk to the transition area was probably 400 yards (felt so long!). So I walked the first half and then picked up the pace to my bike. I dried off with the two small towels I brought. Getting my running leggings on was a feat in itself, and of course my mother was there taking photos the whole time! My first transition was 4:32! Ah! I think most of that was because I mostly walked instead of ran from the swim finish.

The start of the 10 mile bike was a big hill, not cool guys! My strategy for the bike was low gears on the uphill, don’t pedal on the downhills, and crank it out on the flat parts. There were three average hills and one large hill. (Apparently this hill is part of the Boston Marathon route? Cool!) I passed a couple people, but we were never in a big crowd, so that was nice. I kind of took the bike easy, not like EASY, because it was definitely challenging (really glad I had a water bottle with me), but I maybe could have worked a little harder on the hills. I just kept thinking about the run and how I still needed to have some sort of leg muscles! ha! The bike took me 49 minutes and, I’ll be honest, I was really glad when it was over.

My second transition was less than a minute. BAM! Put the bike back, throw off the helmet, take a swig of water, grab my phone, off we go. The 5k run started off the same direction as the bike, UP that big hill! UGH. As soon as I knew I was out of sight from my cheer squad, I started walking up the hill. I took quite a few walk breaks the first mile because as hard as I tried, I just could not catch my breath! I also had to stop and crack my back twice!! You can bet I was so glad to see a water stop. From about mile 1.5 to 2.5 I only took 2 walk breaks and then I told myself I couldn’t walk until I was DONE! Thankfully the run was pretty. We went over the levy and from there you could see the finish line so it really pushed me along! The run took me 37 minutes, which is not my best, but all things considered, I was pretty happy with it!

Overall I’m really happy and I’m already thinking that I might do another one. I didn’t train as well/much as I should/could have (I only went on 5 bike rides, and never did any bricks). Knowing that I did decently this time with only maybe half the training I should have done makes me wonder how well I’d do if I properly trained! Maybe I’ll do the same one again next year! Thanks to my cheer/photo squad (Nate, Mom and Dad) for getting up early with me and keeping me going!

Also, I should mention that I ate ice cream when I got home. And then took a two hour nap 🙂 🙂