Why I Tri

The last Triathlon of the season is over and it's time to take a break before I start thinking about the races I want to tackle next year. This season marked some personal bests and some cool firsts. I kicked off the season in May with the White Lake Sprint on Mother's Day. Of course it was really cool to spend my mother's day with my kids cheering me on. From there I moved to the Buckner Mission Man Sprint in July. That was one of the hottest days this summer with the heat index in triple digits. My sister-in-law, Kelly, and niece, Morgan, were able to come out to that one and it was cool having extra cowbell clangers in the crowd. One of the biggest races this summer was not mine, but Tyler's first race. It was awesome to see her really want to participate in an event that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Of course you know how awesome she did if you've followed this blog. If you haven't seen her video check it out here. After four years of racing the sprint distance (750m swim, 15mile bike, 3.1m run), I figured it was time to push myself a little more. My final race of the season was fittingly at the first location I raced this season, White Lake. The White Lake International would be my test to see if I could push my limits and aspire to become a long distance triathlete. For those who don't know much about the specifics of a triathlon I've written up my race report with lots of details. For those that don't care, sorry, go look at the chicken profiles, they're short...

White Lake International 

(1.5k swim, 45k bike, 10k run)

Transition Area

Most races start at 8:00 in the morning which means to get there early enough to sign in and get set up I am usually waking up about 3:30 or 4:00. Luckily Jeremy was great and found a state park within 10 minutes of the race site and reserved a campsite for us the night before. My parents were in town for the race and they opted to drive up Saturday morning with the kids since they could leave a little later. I was able to pick up my packet that night and just kick back and relax by the fire.

I used my time to practice my mount and dismount on my bike at the campsite. Why is this important? Well transitions (the time between events where you get your gear on for the next event) are like free time. If it takes me 3 minutes to get out of the water and on my bike, but only takes my competition 2 minutes, they have a one minute advantage on me already and didn't even have to break a sweat. By practicing enough to execute the flying mount and dismount (google "cyclocross" to really see this technique in action) I was hoping to save time in my transitions. (see the video below to get an idea, I haven't perfected it yet though)

Saturday morning my alarm went off at 5:30 (which is a pleasant change from 3:30), we packed up our tent along with a few other racers in the campground and headed to the event. Luckily we got there early enough to still park inside the fence area which makes it easier for Jeremy and the fam to hang out while I'm out on the course. It's hard to explain the atmosphere when you pull in for these races. It's early in the morning and you know that the only people up in town are the breakfast crew at McDonald's and these triathletes. There's almost a magical feeling as you pull into the parking area and start getting your equipment prepped. Everyone is focused on what they need to do, but they are eyeing each other to see where the competition will be.

Before I get my area set up, I have to go get my timing chip which will record the times for each leg of the race as well as my transitions. After that it's off to body marking. The volunteers at these events are great and work very quickly. Soon I was properly marked all over with my race number and age group.





The next step is to set up my gear in the transition area. In order for a transition to go smoothly you have to set everything up just right. I've picked up a few tips over the years like rolling my socks so I can just slide them on, putting my race number belt in my hat so I can grab both and go at the same time, as well as attaching my sunglasses to my bike so I can put them on during the ride instead of while I'm standing at my station.

Once I was happy with the setup, I had some time to relax with the kids who had arrived with my parents.

Good luck kisses

Trying to stay warm before the horn

With almost 600 participants, the swim start is done as a wave start. This means they start you by your category to minimize the number of people starting at once and stagger each group by about 3-5 minutes. It may seem daunting to race against so many people, but you really aren't racing against everyone. There is the obvious women/men division, but it breaks down even more than that. The top athletes compete in an elite division and the beginners compete in the novice division. In between those, there are the age groupers (AG) who are broken down into about 4 year chunks. My group is the 30-34yr olds for example. Even past the AG's there are divisions for men over 200lbs, Clydesdale, and women over a 150lbs, Athena's. So even though there were almost 600 people on the course at one time, I was really only competing against the 34 women between 30 and 34 years of age.

It was a cool overcast morning with a good breeze coming off the lake. While I wasn't excited about the moderate chop on the lake, I've seen worse here as my very first race was here four years ago and it was so nasty that there were white caps on the lake. I did some laps around the start area to get warmed up and keep my focus. I was in the 5th wave and as I watched each wave in front of me go, I slowly moved up to the start. Each race starts different, some from the beach others in the water, and even some from a pier. This one we started in about chest high water at one dock and would finish at a dock a couple hundred meters over. The start is always crazy, you get kicked and pushed and shoved around as everyone battles for a position. It's not unusual to get a mouthful of water as you try to get a breath either. After a couple hundred meters people start to spread out and I can get into my rhythm. There is always a moment for me at the beginning of the swim where I wonder what the heck I got myself into, and this time was no different. Of course that's usually as I'm choking down lake water and getting kicked. Once I have more of my space though I'm ready to go. I found someone who was moving about the same pace as me and drafted her for awhile. This means I swam right beside and little behind her. Her movement in the water propels me a little and I can save some energy and still keep my pace. The race course is set up like a big mile long triangle. We all swim out to a buoy, turn, hit another buoy, then swim to the finish. Since this race was twice what I'm used to, those buoys seemed very far away! My goal was 40 minutes and I was out of the water and across the timing mat at 39:42.

From there my first transition went great. I threw my helmet on and grabbed my bike. My 1st transition time was 1:21 which was the best in my age group. The flying mount wasn't outstanding, but it worked and I even got a "that's what I'm talking about" from one of the volunteers on the course.

The bike portion went really well for me. My goal was to maintain an average pace of 17-18mph. I ended up averaging 19mph. I won't lie, it is a lot of fun picking people off on the bike course :) I spent most of my time in the aero position. There are two small bars extended in the front of the bike with elbow pads and this lets me stay more aero dynamic and get more power from my legs. I just got a new hydration system that fits between these bars and lets me drink water and Gatorade through two straws that sit right at my mouth level. It's pretty sweet! I had estimated it would take me about 1hr 50 min on the bike so when my dad was waiting for me to come around to take pictures and I'm waving at him at 1:27:09 it caught him off guard. He did a good job reacting though and got a few right before I dismounted.

Out of the transition area

My second transition was 1:20 which was just 2 seconds behind the fastest time in my age group. This was helped a lot by the super cool elastic laces on my running shoes so I don't have to tie them!

My run is always my weakest point in the race. By this time my legs are noodles and I've been racing for over two hours. I kept a pretty steady pace but not the pace I had wanted to keep. Remember that hydration system? Well I might have hydrated a little too much as my stomach was a little sloshy. I was doing alright though and while my goal was 1 hour, I still finished the 6.2 mile course in 1:05:14. The best part about that finish though was that I got to sprint it out at the end against another lady in my age group. I passed her and another one of my age groupers at the last corner. As I was about 200 meters out from the finish line I felt one of them sprinting up on my side. It doesn't matter how long I've run, I always have a little left for a kick at the end. I kicked into high gear and beat her out by a second right at the finish line. The announcer called the play by play down the final stretch even. See, that transition practice played off, another minute mounting my bike from a stopped position would have put me two places behind in my age group! :) My overall goals were to finish in under 3:30:00, I made it in 3:14:45; and to be in the top half of my age group, I was 14th of 34, 105th of 240 women overall. I was definitely happy with these times and can't wait till next year to build on them!

The big finish

The best part about the end of a race is the recovery food! I love the free beans and rice and various sweet and salty snacks that get your carbs and sodium levels back to normal. After relaxing for a bit to get feeling back in my legs we headed home to hang out with the chickens and relax. After all, I had an Army PT test the next morning :o

Well that pretty much sums it up, hopefully you have a little more of an understanding how cool triathlons are and are inspired to try one yourselves! (If you click any of the pictures you can make them larger. )