JCC Sprint Triathlon - Race Recap

Last Saturday I had my first triathlon where I wasn’t pregnant.  This means it was my first triathlon where I could really compete and not just strive to complete it.  I was freaked out but also confident I could do it because the distances were all short, shorter than I normally do in a regular workout.
This was an indoor sprint triathlon, so the swim was in a pool, the biking was on spin bikes, and the running was on treadmills. Totally flat miles.

Ultimately I had 5 goals going in to this race.  1)Swim under 10 min  2)Bike in 19 min 3)Run a 7 min mile (17:30 min) 4)place in the top 3 in my age group and 5) place in the top 10 women over-all.

Swim: 400 meters

My time was 8:49.  This is the one I felt I probably wouldn’t hit and I nailed it!  I did so much better than I thought I would do.  I did 50m as a warm-up.  Then I stayed in the water, moving around a bit, for probably 10 min.  When the heat started I was relaxed and I went out at a decent pace. I didn’t want to go too slow but I wanted to stay at an easy pace where I wouldn’t tire out and be gasping for breath.  I tried to keep track of how many laps I did because my plan had been to take the first 200m easy, then push it the next 150, then sprint the final 50.  I lost track early on. I am horrible at counting laps. So I kept a pace that I felt was good and wouldn’t leave me gasping.  Then when I was notified I was on my final lap I kicked it in to gear and gave it all I had left.  I ended up being first out of the water for my heat, which felt awesome.

Bike: 8 miles

My goal had been 19 or under. I finished it at 19:24.  Sure, not too far off my goal, but still off.  Trying to go as fast as I could for 8 miles on a spin bike is a bit weird.  You want enough resistance on the bike so you don’t lose control, but not too much that you make it harder than it needs to be.  Throughout the 8 miles I would mess with it and make it less resistance, then more if it was feeling weird, etc. 

Run: 2.5 miles

My goal had been 7 min miles.  I finished in 19:58, 8 min miles.  Here’s the thing. I’m still having some health issues. Nothing to be worried about, but stuff that I am working with professionals on.  So while I don’t know if that was what caused me to have issues or something else, I did have some issues.  I got off the bike and I was dizzy.  I got to the treadmill and just felt like crap. I fought the urge to throw up the whole time.  I started out slow and increased the speed slowly till I was doing 7:30 min/miles.  I stayed like that but was feeling more and more like throwing up, so I knew I had to slow it down. I slowed way down until I started to feel a tad better.  Then slowly started to increase pace again.  I finished out close to a 7 min mile, but it wasn’t enough to hit my goal.   It might seem like a 7 min mile is a high goal, it’s way faster than normal for me.  However, at such a short distance it was possible. I had practiced running on the treadmill at the gym at a 7 min pace for a mile after spin class to see if it was possible.

As far as how I did in placing.  Well, I was 4th in my age group (out of 8). I wasn’t even close to the third place person.   I tied for 18th for over-all female (out of 43).  Not even close to 10.
The results for this race were very hard for me to take. I was very upset about it the day off and I’m still not happy with it.  This is by far the easiest race I have this year.  So for me to not do as well as I had hoped on my easiest race, well, it freaks me out for what’s to come this year. 

I know that my training on the bike hadn’t been what I needed it to be, that’s what happens with life.  Due to the weather I have to train at the gym on stationary bikes.  With the flue going around we didn’t want R in the gym daycare.  That meant I couldn’t go after work.  Swimming is by far my weakest of the three sports, so on Saturdays I would go to the gym to swim before coming home and watching R so Husband could get to the gym for spin class.  I’m not upset about this, but it did mean I didn’t get in as much time on a bike as I had wanted/needed.

While I am still disappointed in how I did, I’ve come to terms with it. I know that I did the best I could and I can only get better from here.  As one of my friends said, a good friend who is helping me with my training. this gives us a starting point.  It’s true!  Now I know what I can do, what my body is capable of. I now have a way to compare my times in training and to measure improvement.

I also have to remind myself that while this was NOT my first sprint tri, it was the first sprint tri where I didn’t have to watch my HR and slow myself down. That does make a huge difference.

So for now, I’ll keep moving forward.  I’m happy to have this done. I’m looking forward to what’s in store for me this year and seeing what I can accomplish.