I'm on a plane, hey! and My first ever race recap!

Seriously, I'm on a plane, heading to DC for a week of fun, adventure, and relaxing with my man. And running a 1/2 marathon.  But mostly fun and adventure.

But now it's the moment I've been waiting for...I give you my very first ever race report!! I love reading these on other blogs, so I'm super excited to write my own!!  It will be long - my apologies - but since this is my first tri, I want to remember all of the little details.

Saturday was my first ever triathlon.  I couldn't wait for the moment that I actually got to say I was a triathlete, as opposed to just training for a triathlon.

April 20, 2013: Silicon Valley Sprint Triathlon, Morgan Hill, CA

Pre-Race

My wave of the race was slated to start at 7:57 am, but transition opened at 5.  I wanted to get to the race site as early as possible, but I was dragging along the BF, so didn't want to make him wake up too early, however i quickly found out he was a total beast and actually was so excited to watch my first triathlon that HE NEVER WENT TO SLEEP. I MEAN FOR WEEKS. It was crazy...and actually a little scary. I guess after significant amounts of sleep deprivation, your mind becomes a little fuzzy. So when I noted he was easting the towels in the laundry closet I became concerned. I am going to end this story now because although I am having an absolute blast, my girlfriend is getting extremely annoyed with me, which is really too bad because I only took up a few minutes of her time and in the end it was actually pretty fun for both of us.  (this is what happens when you type your race report while the BF is sitting next to you on the plane, bored out of his mind and steals your computer ;)

Now back to the race report: I decided on a 4am wake up call...which actually turned into a 2:39 wake up call.  Pretty typical for me on the night before a race.  I always wake up multiple times in the night because I'm freaked out I will oversleep.  Not a chance this morning.  I tossed and turned from 2:30-4, imagining all aspects of the race.  Once the clock struck 4, I was out of bed and in the shower.

For breakfast, I had my standard 2 whole wheat waffles with peanut butter and honey.  In the rush of the week leading up to the race, I forgot to buy a banana for race morning...whoops.  Definitely something I need to remember to have stocked in the house.  

We got out of the house around 5:15 and arrived at the race around 6...later than I hoped, but there was still a bunch of room in transition.  I claimed a spot near the transition exit, and sent BF on a mission to find my fellow FNS racers, Bo, Lisa, and Mario.  We chatted and mingled around the transition area, and I did my best to not get nervous.  I ran into another of my 'soon to be coach's' athletes (more on that later) who was doing the Aquabike race and gladly accepted some words of advice as we were getting marked up.

About 20 minutes before my wave, I ate one Mint Chocolate Gu.  Thank goodness it's no longer a "holiday special"...best flavor ever.

Swim: 750 meters, 18:25

The Long Course race started at 7 that morning, so as the race officials were moving the buoys for our swim distance, the FNSers and I made our way down to the water.  The swim was in a reservoir, around a island/peninsula thing.  It was a deep water start, which I wasn't expecting. I lost the FNS crew because everyone looked the same with wetsuits and swim caps! As I started to make my way out to the start buoys, I realized that my timing chip was coming loose, so had to swim back to where I could stand.  I fumbled with the chip, but managed to secure it and eased my way up to the buoys.

My wave was the first female wave, with 2 mens waves ahead of us.  It felt weird bobbing around before start. The water felt good, not too cold.  As soon as the timer went off, I put my head down, and just started to go.  I saw a bunch of girls to my right just taking off, so I tried to swim as fast as I could.  My shoulders started to get tired and I knew I couldn't keep up with them.  I took a breath and realized that I just needed to swim my own swim.  Once I came to that realization, I settled into my stroke.  I felt slow, but 1/2 way around island caught up with 2 waves before, so I felt a bit better.

My favorite part of the swim was looking up around the back half of the island and it looked like confetti in water with all of the different colored caps!  Very cool.  When I finally reached the exit, my feet hit the boat ramp and I tried to move my legs as fast as possible.  I was NOT expecting the jello legs I experienced getting out of water.  My feet felt cold and my legs felt wobbly, but BF was right at the exit and it was a huge boost to hear him cheering for me.

T1: 1:35

The transition felt fumbly, but I got my wetsuit off easier than expected.  When I started to put on my bike shoes, my feet were still full of gravel, so had to take extra time to wipe.  Next time I'll need to remember to leave room on my towel to wipe my feet off first.

Bike: 16 miles, 59:12

I actually felt pretty good on the bike.  This is definitely the sport I feel is my weakest, but I passed more people than passed me, mostly dudes which was awesome. I kept on the lookout for other women in my age group, but didn't see any pass me.  There were 2 women who passed with no numbers - and they were flying.  They looked like they could have been in my age group, but luckily they weren't!

4 miles into bike, I realized that my ankle felt empty.  I looked down, no chip!!! Well $h!t!  I knew I couldn't do anything about it until I got back to transition, so I kept riding as hard as I could.  I felt like I pushed my pace, and felt great after the turn around.  I was pretty stoked that I was able to stay in aero most of the ride, mainly except for the small hills.  The morning was hotter than I expected, and even though this was a short race, I definitely need to figure out my nutrition while on the bike.  When was comfy in aero, I didnt want to break it by drinking or eating, but when I was on the hoods (like my cool bike lingo? Thanks Dave Thompson!), I was either focused on trying to go faster or going up a hill, so didn't want to deal with food then. On the bike I had 2 pieces of Clif Block cran razz and only 1/2 bottle cherry limeade nuun.

I cruised by BF on the way out and back on the bike and got to hear him cheer me on :)

T2: 1:07

Time to deal with my missing chip!!! Once I got back to transition, I immediately started calling out that I lost my chip. The timing company was great.  They had someone right at the timing mat who manually checked me in.  The race official in the transition area told me to look in my wetsuit, and there it was!  Phew! I was bummed that I wasn't going to know my bike time or my T1 split, but luckily I'd get my run time! 

Anywho T2 was pretty easy, slipped on my chip, then shoes and socks.  I'm good riding without socks, but I'm still scared to try running without them. 

Run: 5k, 23:47

Almost done...I promise!  Once I started off on the run, it took a while for my legs to kick in. It felt like my calves were going to explode! Felt like I was moving ok, mostly passing people. For the first time in the race, I saw another person in my age group, a woman with 34 on her leg.  I knew that I could reel her in and I did, around mile 1. I didn't really see any other women.  Most of the other people around we're dudes, so i kept trucking along. My legs still didn't feel great, and it was definitely hotter than I expected by 9:30am!

Around mile 2, I caught up with my FNS teammate Bo, who had smoked me on the bike.  We were able to run together for a bit which was awesome. I was very cool running in a team kit and seeing everyone on the course...way better than a normal running race!  My cardio felt good and I could chat semi easily but my legs were definitely feeling the effort I put in on the bike.  I guess I should work on actual transition run practice!

When I finally made it to the finish shoot, I slowed down a little so I could have a decent finish photo.  Usually I go into an all out sprint and end up directly behind someone else for my photo. Thank goodness it didnt bite me in the butt because the girl I passed on the run was only 21 seconds behind!

I got a big hug and a kiss from my awesome and hungry BF. We got to cheer on the rest of the FNS crew and snag some yummy grub, burritos, muffins and fruit. 

Once I saw that the times were posted, I got the best news of the day...I won my age group!!! So stoked! I had no idea where I was in the age group and I'm just glad that I was able to reel in the other girl on the run.  

Female Overall 13/130

Age group 1/29

Overall 52/264

The race had a great awards ceremony, with a real podium and everything.  I got a bottle of wine and a pint glass.  The under 21 categories won boxes of clif bars - is it sad that I wanted the clif bars instead of wine?

Post race, BF and I got to celebrate by BBQing with one of my college roommates who was in town. Awesome way to relax with beers on a sunny afternoon.  Then I parked my butt on the couch in my Zoot recovery compression pants.  Next best thing to recovery boots!  I topped off the evening with my first trip to Yummi Yogurt...it definitely lives up to the hype, and I might become an addict.  

I absolutely loved my first race, timing hiccups and all.  I have LOTS of room for improvement, but that means I can only get better.  I cannot wait to start working with my tri coach and join a masters swim group after Wildflower!!  I'm excited to improve and get some personalized training!

Personal notes to remember:

Swim closer to shore

Get reflective goggles

Make sure timing chip is on before exiting transition!!!

Make sure to eat/drink on the bike!

This week we will be exploring DC, sneaking in some training, eating yummy food, and running the Nike Women's 1/2 marathon.  Updates to come!