3rd time's a ???

This one's for Jenna since she amazingly seems to have more of an interest in my newbie triathlon excursion than I do!! :)

I participated in my third triathlon this past weekend. It was an all-women's sprint distance triathlon in Philadelphia. It was almost ideal weather conditions for the Tri - sunny, relatively low humidity, and in the 70s. The water temperature was 80 degrees, which felt even warmer than that to me. It was like bath water. So I opted not to wear the wetsuit this time around so as not to overheat while swimming the 800 meters.

I was pretty calm this morning - not many nerves running through me. I caught up with a few people I knew in the transition area and walked to the swim start for a quick warm-up swim. The same moment I jumped into the water, so did another women in my age group that I had met at the last women's Tri I did a month ago. So we caught up chatting a bit. It's cool that i'm starting to recognize and get to know the same faces in this new community i'm becoming a part of.

I was in the 5th swim wave and with it only being an 800 meter swim, the lead elites were already on their bikes before I even got in the water. They rode by the swim start so I got to cheer some of them on. I was so tuned into their race that I almost missed the announcement that brought my swim wave into the water! So I was one of the last to jump into the water and I decided to hang in the back of the wave this time.

The last two Tris I had my freakout moment in the swim which cost me quite a bit of time. This time, I was determined to stick to freestyle the entire time and calmly get into my zone and finish the 800 meters. So they blew the horn, I waited a few moments for the swimmers ahead of me to get going, then I eased into my stroke. It worked! About a hundred meters in, I started passing people left and right. However, I had a difficult time steering myself in the right direction. Every 4 strokes or so I would lift my head up to sight and make sure I was heading towards the buoy. But every time I lift my head to see my form gets out of alignment and I lose momentum. My technique was shotty and I wasn't as efficient as I could have been. I hadn't realized how much swimming with a wetsuit is an advantage with your time. But all in all, I learned what I need to work on AND I felt comfortable during the entire swim. I still ranked in the top 35% for the swim, so at least that's something.

Another goal was to cut down my time in transition. I hustled a bit more this time, but still ended up wasting a total of 6 minutes in both transitions. I should be able to cut the total time down to 4 minutes. That's a goal for the next one.

The bike was only 15 miles which consisted of two loops, mostly flat with the exception of one climb. I didn't do so well on the bike - it is definately my weakest of the three sports. The climb was taxing but I could have pushed myself much more during the entire ride. I think when I began training for the marathon last year, I got into this mode of conserving energy for the end of the race. Because of this habit, I don't push myself to the edge or even over the edge and learn to deal with the pain and keep going. So I stay in a comfortable zone. I really need to start pushing myself more becaues it will make a huge difference in the outcome of the race for me.

A few people had recommended newton running shoes to me - they're incredibly lightweight. It almost feels like you're running barefoot - and that's the point. When you run barefoot, you run with a forefront strike - not the typical heel-strike strides that are typical of most people. My heel striking leads to my ankle injuries. So switching to these shoes that have an irregular sole that aides in fore-front striking not only makes you run more efficiently, but also helps me battle my overpronation problem. So I wore these shoes on the run. I'm capable of putting in a much faster performance than what I did during this tri, but at the same time, it's a huge improvement over where i've been during recovery.

So when all was said and done, I finished in 1:50. It was a clean performance for me, and despite the fact I felt I could have put more effort behind it, I was still happy after the finish. Not only that - I was recruited by someone in my swim class to join a Tri Club in Philly. I met a bunch of the members afterwards - they were all very nice - and also incredible athletes. 4 of them, all amateurs, finished in the top 25! That's out of 724 participants! I finished 292. I still have work to do to get anywhere closer to them, but still, at least i'm in the top 50%!!