Crystal River RR--1st Tri

[katluvr]

Race Report--1st Tri
Crystal River Series

It was actually very anti-climatic. I'll explain later.
It was a very small tri, just a smidge over 200 people. In fact only 13 novices and only 5 were female.
It was the gulf, but more of a place where the estuaries feed in. It was protected so VERY smooth water. Consider my OW swims were in the gulf w/ waves, this looked/felt much better.

My SO (Michelle) has done many other tri's--sprint, oly and an HIM distance. She has not been doing much lately but signed up with me so she could do the swim w/ me. And she has been a great support and coach.

We got there early, plenty of time to set up and check out the swim. I did swim to the first buoy (1/2 way out). Got used to the darkness and the slimy see grass bottom. But essentially could touch. No waves (water wise) so it was nice.

M sacrificed 3 minutes on her time to wait back and swim w/ me. She was my "swim angel" and guide. But I DID IT. OK, I was very slow (can we say VERY)...but I swam it. I did stop, pop up, rest a bit. But overall did not get totally fatigued. I need to work on my sighting...like I said M was my guide. After almost 15 minutes (told you I was slow) I was out of the water. We didn't really discuss this plan-- so I ran out of the water a head of her and somehow even completed T1 ahead of her. So I kept waiting for her to pass me on the bike.
Swim: 14:55
T1: 2:20

So I was kinda doing this tri on my own. Being the last wave to start and being LAST out of the water (OK, a father and his YOUNG daughter were behind me...but that was all!)--I had some chasing to do. But first I had to spot someone. It was a 15 mile bike. Flat and only a tinge of wind. I did catch a few folks...a physically challenged man (1 hand and on a fat tire) another couple of folks on fat tires, and a relay gal (young!) on a road bike (YEAH!). But overall was happy w/ my bike. I really did not practice the other disciplines I was so concerned w/ the swim.
Bike: 56:12 (15 miles)
Avg. speed: 16 (not stellar, but I'll take it)
T2: 1:24 (pleased w/ that!)

So the run. Well it was a bit hot and humid. I donned my Garmin just so I could keep an eye on pace. I thought I would of done a bit better on the run. Again I did catch a few that were walking or taking walk breaks. I even took a walk at 1 mile. Whew! By 2 1/2 miles I had a side stitch. have not had that in ages. I know I have not really gotten my pace back up w/ the heat and just doing intermittent runs. Which I could of done a bit better, but hey, I finished.
Run: 33:28
Pace: 11:09

Total time: 1:48:09

So I finished. Like I said, I really felt I was just out there myself and not that much part of a race. Most of the race was done before I was!
Lessons learned: figure out how to swim faster than floating amoeba. (Even the coach that over sees the group training is puzzled by me extreme lack of forward movement considering my stroke all looks "Ok").
So I plan to do another tri (local) in April. Gives me this winter to figure out the swim. Plus, running should be up to speed since my marathon is in Feb. Only thing that I'll have to get my biking back up to speed. I'll be taking most of the winter off biking d/t marathon training. But I can manage.

So yes, I DID IT.
Yeah, swim was a challenge.
No I was not last place (197 out of 222)
I look forward to really "racing" next time.

Thanks for all the support.
Sorry no pics. No one there to snap any. We did get a couple before so I'll have to see about getting one of those uploaded.

[HillSlugger]

Congrats, you are a triathlete!

[Tri Girl]

Congrats TRIATHLETE!

Really impressive for your first time out! That was really sweet of M to swim with you and be your angel.
Sounds like you enjoyed the experience and learned a lot along the way.
After the first one is out of the way- it's all about beating yourself and having fun!
Congrats!

[Alex]

WOOHOO!!!!!!

Congratulations!!! You did it!!! We knew that you could!!!!

Alex

[roadie gal]

Congrats

You did it!

Yay!!

[kacie tri-ing]

Congrats!!!! Having someone (anyone!) to catch on the bike is exciting!

[txred9876]

Congrats! When is the next one???

[katluvr]

Congrats! When is the next one???

April...Escape from Fort Desoto (local beach here).
Only way to get better...and maybe swim w/ my age group!

[colby]

You did it!!! Awesome for you, congratulations. Good on you for getting comfortable in the water before you started, that sounds like it helped a lot, along with a swim angel (M's a keeper!!).

Woohoo!

[Iris616]

Congrats! Great job.

[sfa]

Good for you!! Congratulations!!!

With swimming, I'm kind of giving up on the idea of improving performance by improving my form. I probably could make lots of improvements there, but they won't counteract the fact that I'm built upside down. The really fast swimmers have broad shoulders and narrow hips and are long waisted with relatively short legs. I have narrow shoulders, wide hips, short waisted and long legged. So this fall I've decided to focus on brute strength. I might not get faster through tweaking my form, but having stronger shoulder and back and arm muscles should help, right?

Sarah

[tribogota]

If only we could all have a Michelle, I don't need one for the swim, but I would love one for the run!!!
Essentially triathlon is an alone sport. I am almost always last, there are only about 5 women in age groups (all of them) and then all the other women are elite...so well, I know how it isn't very "driving" to try to go faster. But I think of it as a nice long meditative ride and run.
Congrats, and if it was a 750 m swim, 20k bike, and 5 k run, your time is pretty OK!