Shoreman 70.3 triathlon (part 1)

Finish with a smile on my face, have fun on the day, and come in under 7 hours.  Those were my goals for this half-iron distance race -- one I didn't ever think I'd actually attempt.  I fake the tri thing -- I couldn't even imagine swimming 1.2 miles, then riding 56, then running 13.1.  Too much! 

But last fall, when my calf was jacked up, and I was swimming and biking more and more, I figured if I'm ever going to attempt one of these things, this is the year to do it.  I didn't really tell anyone or advertise the fact that I was training for this race -- I was doing it for me, and when people know, they ask how you're feeling and how your training is going and all that stuff.  That makes me nervous.  I do tri's for fun -- no pressure -- and wanted to keep it that way.  This was MY challenge, and one that I didn't even really admit to committing to until the beginning of August.  (It was a local event, and it was the inaugural one -- 2 reasons to do this 70.3!) I made up my own training plan based on some I found online, and I had no idea if it was going to be adequate.  I enlisted Maggs' help a little (thank you SO much!), and I started to feel like maybe I could actually do this. Fast forward to race day:

My mom decided she was going to go to the race with me, and though I told her she didn't have to do that, it was great to have her there.  We arrived at the race site by 5:30am and I got my transition spot set up in the dark. It was quiet and peaceful, but I was a little unsettled until it got light out.  My friend M found me in transition and set her spot next to mine, and another friend, R, was nearby.  It was calming to have friends around me.  Soon enough we were getting wetsuits on and heading to the water. 

M and I talked about our swim strategy, and after a few delayed minutes, we were the 3rd and final wave to start -- all the women together.  I'll admit to nerves as we stood on that beach.  I refused to look at how long the swim was, and I just kept telling myself, "This is just 4 loops of the lagoon."  I knew I could cover the distance -- I've done LOTS of open water swimming this summer -- and so I just needed to stay calm around all those swimmers.  I positioned myself in the front, but off to the right.

(Tough to see, but I'm the 2nd white cap from the left at the top of the pic)

Within the first 100 yards -- a straight shot to our first left turn before we swam a long straight to the turn around -- I started to feel comfortable. I stayed a little wide, kept my breathing in control, and only had a few instances of people running into me. Halfway to the turn around, I was almost giggling in my head about how smooth I felt and strong I was swimming. Big victory. The swim has always been the weak link for me, but this summer I've turned that around. As I swam to the bridge, and around that bubble, I knew I'd come out of the swim feeling accomplished already. I had one blip of getting squeezed between two people around that buoy, and that was the only time in the whole swim that I had to break stroke for a second, move aside, and then continue on my way. As I got closer to the point to turn to the beach, I couldn't see the small buoys -- so I ended up swimming out of my way a little. Not much, and once I could see that turn, I was headed to the beach. I knew I passed a lot of people, but it wasn't until I was running up the beach and past my mom that I realized how strong my swim was.

"35 minutes!" she yelled. Cool!

(As an aside, why does ALL triathlon stuff make me look huge?  I look big in that wetsuit, the tri shorts make my legs look big, etc.  ugh!)

I headed to my transition spot, got out of my wetsuit and got my bike ready to go. With a yell to my mom, I set off for the 57+ mile ride. So far, so good!

The bike, though, would prove to be a challenge for me.  For some reason, I could not get comfortable.  My butt wasn't comfortable, it felt like my legs weren't strong, and I felt like I couldn't get my bike to go as fast as everyone else.  Frustrating.  I had killed the swim, and now I was getting crushed on the bike.  It was going to be a long few hours...