My First Triathlon

5:40 – The alarm on my phone sings to me. I hit snooze knowing that means I will have to go a few miles per hour faster on the freeway to make the 7:00 check in time up at Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center (KOPFC) and Olympic Oval. Back to sleep for ten more.

5:50 – One more time hitting snooze. I typically drive fast anyway. 😉

6:00 – The same song plays in my bleary head as I scramble around for my phone. I hit “dismiss” and jump (term used liberally here) out of bed. I had set my clothes out last night so I just needed to put them on (in the dark without waking Nicole up). I search around for some other things especially the “Ball of Pain” to rub out my rumpus before the event. Oh shoot, it is already in my bag. There goes 15 minutes. Finally,  success. Everything is packed in my sweet orange eLearning Brothers duffle bag. I grab it and quietly run downstairs to the car. Back in the house. I forgot my pre-race protein shake. I grab the Premier Protein Strawberries and Cream concoction and run back out to the car.

6:38 – Huh-oh. That took a lot longer than I thought it would. Lesson learned for next Triathlon. Pack everything the night before. EVERYTHING! I now have 22 minutes to make it about 36 miles. This is going to be fun. I speed out of the driveway and get onto I-15 without much traffic. I-15 is a little heavier traffic but still not bad. My Google Maps sends me onto I-215. I scratch my head a little and hope for the best because last time it took a totally different route – up Bangerter Highway. The stress level heightens a little because of the registration snafu. I am only an alternate for this race if someone doesn’t show up then I can race. This means I need to be there in the first group right at 7:00 a.m. in order to hopefully get a spot.

7:03 Google Maps and a lead foot gets me to the KOPFC and Olympic Oval just a few minutes late. I run inside and luckily the registration line is still pretty long so I didn’t miss it. I talk to the race organizer Jennifer and so far no one has canceled. I let her know that I’m going to use the restroom and I’ll be back soon. I walk back through the hallway connecting buildings and find the locker room.

7:20 I walk around the corner and Jennifer is anxious to see me. She says, “We just had someone cancel. Do you want to jump in the first wave?” I reply, “Yes. Great.” She then spits out as fast as she can, “Quick – sign this release.” I sign the paper in light speed and then says, “Ok, hurry the race starts in 10 minutes. The briefing just finished. Run over there and get briefed and then jump in the open lane. We’ll take care of the rest of the paperwork, payment, and all the goody bag later.”

7:23 Run I do. first over to the briefing. I’m so excited and anxious that I really don’t hear what the lady is saying. Something about touching each wall and half laps don’t count.” I then leave her and run over to the bleachers, grab my bag, throw it in the staging area and run to the only open lane. Holy cow it is on the other side of the pool. Music is playing and the announcer is counting down from :30 seconds as I run across the concrete edge of the pool. The race starts in :30 seconds and I am sprinting across this huge pool trying to pull my dry swim cap over my mop of hair.
10-9-8-7 I’m to my lane now and I sit down with my feet in the water
6-5-4 I am pulling my goggles over my head
3-2 I jump in the pool with my hand on the side
1 I kick off the edge glide through the water and start swimming.

7:30 I have 15 minutes to swim as many laps as possible. I focus on my stroke, my legs, my breathing. Lap goes without a hitch. I feel strong my strokes are long and smooth. I’m finding a nice rhythm. I hit the wall, turn and push off with a powerful kick. Laps 2-5 are in tempo with the rhythm of lap one and I am felling great. Breathing on both side long strokes focused mind….and then water up the nose after I turn. Panic, panic. No, I’m ok. I have to keep telling myself, “I’m ok. I’m not drowning.” I need to keep going. I finish lap six on the side I started and notice that the flip counter only says “5”. I grab the wall and instead of turning to kick again I ask the guy that is counting for me, “Isn’t that supposed to say ‘6’?” The guy peeks at the numbers and with a startled look flips the counter to “6”. Must be early.

My concentration and focus is shot now. I’m breathing on my left side twice as much as the right. My form has just crumbled. Lap after lap I work through the each of the key areas mentally – Glide, full extension, hand enters the water quietly, Barbie legs, Kick from the hips, fingers together, etc, etc, etc only to find that by the time I come full cycle of on the mental cues the first items are back in shambles. Bent legs, dipping shoulder, no glide, etc, etc, etc. By now I’m solely breathing on my left side and I am doing it every stroke. I am just in survival mode.  I have to break out of this panicked thinking and get back to proper form and find my calm state again. As I approach the original side to complete another lap I look up at the clock. 5 minutes left. This is it. There is no more time to mess around pretending to be a six year old in the kiddie pool. I pull myself back into form and force all other thoughts out of my head. Here we go. Things pull back together mentally. This is just the kickstart I need. I swim a few more laps and then the guy at the end says 1:12 seconds right as I am turning for another lap. 1:12? Ok, Power-boost. Time to get in the zone and push hard for at least two more laps. I’m really stretching, I’m really pulling I’m gliding across the top of the water. My shoulders ache. My triceps ache. I don’t care. I’m pulling as hard as I can. 23 Laps down I flip and turn fast and push off the wall hard. My right arm is extended and before I lose momentum I pull hard and keep the same pace I had coming off the wall. I can only think of one thing at this point and it is to get to the other side as fast as possible. My movements become subconscious as I reach as far as I can with each stroke.  The “T” of the lane line at the bottom of the pool is now visible. I pull a couple of more times and I am at the wall. The guy counting says :19 more seconds. You want to go for one more. I know that was my last lap. There is not enough time to pull off one more. He sees me shake my head and flips the #24 over. “Alright, time for the bike.” Jokingly I retort, “I thought nap time came next.”

7:45 We have a 10 minute transition time period to get ready for the bike. I walk over grab my shorts, underwear, and cool new Elevate Fitness tri-tank. I run to the bathroom and change only to find that the underwear I thought I was holding is actually my extra pair of socks. Not enough time to go back and forth again. This may get a little uncomfortable by the end. I come back out with three minutes to go before the bike event starts. Just enough time to put on my biking shoes, adjust my seat post up to #7 and the position to #3 and then I clip in.

7:55 The announcer starts the countdown for this event. When he says go we are all supposed to hit the start button on our bike computer and then pedal like mad. I know the cadence I need to hit from my practice run last weekend. If I want to stay competitive I must get 12.5 total miles. It is 130. We all start pedaling up to speed as the announcer says 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The buzzer sounds and 16 of us in the first wave hit our “Start” buttons. Right off the bat I’m at 140 cadence. It feels good. It feels natural. I look around and see most other triathletes going at a slower cadence. If 130 will get me 12.5 miles what will 140-150 get me? I decide to find out. My legs cycle around and around slightly bouncing me on the Greg LeMond trainer. I feel fine. This pace is not to terribly difficult. I think I can maintain it for the full 25 minutes. I’m surprised to see sweat drip off of my face within the first minute of cycling. Then it strikes me I was swimming hard just now. Really hard. I was probably sweating in the water. Six minutes pass and I ask one of the race officials if they can take my picture. See below. I realize if I have enough fuel to ask for a picture I can sustain this pace for sure. I look around again and see only two people spinning as fast as I am – the guy right next to me and a girl a row ahead and three bikes down. I can match her pace but the guy next to me is spinning at insane speeds. I’m quite certain he is going to win this portion of the tri. Sweat is no cascading down my face. Previously it was dripping now it is a constant flow. I look at the floor and wonder if  I need to be careful of slipping when I get off. Ten minutes left and the buzzer sounds for wave two to exit the pool. They have been swimming while we have been biking. I notice in lane six the number 42 on the flip board. Holy Smokes I think to myself. He almost doubled my swim. Then this young Adonis lifts himself from the pool wearing a BYU Triathlon Tri-kit. He walks past the bikes and I compliment him on his amazing achievement and he humbly dismisses it saying he was hoping for better. I keep spinning. Five minutes left and I am very happy to see that my pace is not only going to get me past 12.5 miles but I’m thinking I can hit 13+. I keep spinning and I pick up the pace. I’m now spinning at a constant 150-160. Two minutes and 13 is in sight. Under one minute left and I have hit 13 and keep spinning. 13.1 then 13.2 I am trying so hard to hit 13.3 so it can match my race number of 133 but I fall shy by only a few seconds.

8:20 We all hit stop on our bike computers as the buzzer sounds. I unclip from the pedals. I am feeling good about my distance. Plan7 at Elevate Fitness is really working. I’m feeling good. Really good. It is time to leave the building and walk over to the Olympic Oval for the run. I gather my stuff from the tranistion area and notice that most people didn’t wear clip-in shoes. Is that why I could go so fast? I don’t know but It is clear that I need to practice taking off my shoes. It takes to long. I throw on a bandaid to protect the blister I got from last week’s practice run. I’m the last one to leave the pool and walk across to the Olympic Oval. I get there just in time to hear the official announce, “One minute.” I hustle to the bleachers and put my bag down as he starts the countdown.

8:25 “Go” yells the ref. and we all take off. Chris Anderson, who I know from the Facebook running group Run 2B Strong takes an early lead. I’m right behind him. I follow fairly close for about 2 laps and then he starts to pull away. I can’t hear feet behind me and wonder where everyone is? I don’t look until after lap two. There really is noone. Just the girl with super fast cycling legs and myself…and Chris of course up ahead. After lap three the girl passed me and now I am in third in our wave. I keep checking my running app Nike+  but don’t trust it because the GPS signal is not making it through the ceiling very well. At one time it says that I am at a 10:00 min/mile pace and then a few seconds later it says I’m running at a 7:00 min/mile pace. I decide to stop looking and just use it for a countdown clock. I feel a burning on my pinky toe. The bandaid that is protecting one blister is causing another. I don’t care. I embrace the pain even though I know that it is starting to bleed. It won’t stop me until the final timer is sounded.

Each time around the official holds up fingers to indicate how many laps we have gone. I want to make sure I remember which lap I’m on so I rhyme with the number as I pass

#1 – Have fun
#2 – Right on through
#3 – Threesy is easy
#4 – Run some more
#5 – (I just gave him a high five on this one)
#6 – Pick up your kicks
#7 – This is Heaven

I made it 3/4 the way around the track in the final 1:20 seconds and the buzzer sounded. I grabbed my flag from the girl holding the marker and headed back to the official. He has his assistant right down 35 segments for me. Each lap is four segments. Each lap is also .28 miles instead of .25. So if we do the math I ran 8.75 laps around or… 2.45 miles or… about an 8:33 min/mile pace. I am happy with this especially after swimming and cycling. The endorphins are flowing big time. I just completed my first triathlon and I did pretty well.

As Chris and I are standing on the sideline we notice Olympian, Gold Medalist, and World Record Holder, Derek Para come in. I have to go talk to him. What could be better. A day overcoming challenges I never thought I would and doing much better than expected all in a venue where Olympian made history.

I am so glad that I am doing this crazy experiment with Elevate Utah. A huge thanks to Coach Marci who has kept me from drowning for the last three months and is teaching me to think like a champion.

Here are the official results:

Overall Rank – #24
40-44 Age Group – #3
Swim Overall – #24
Bike Overall – #5
Run Overall – #16

I feel very fortunate to have these as the results of my first triathlon. It is a great benchmark for the same indoor triathlon at KOPFC on March 19th. It will also be good for the rest of the season to see how far I need to go to stand atop the podium. This isn’t going to be easy but it is sure going to be worth it.

P.S. These are some of the winners. The swimming Adonis that I spoke of earlier is named Seth.

P.P.S. On the drive home decide to I rewarded myself with a 3×3 Animal Style Protein style burger from In-n-Out