First Triathlon... completed!

Prairie Rose State Games Triathlon
July 11, 2009
Distances:
Swim - 1000M
Bike - 12.4 miles
Run - 3.1 miles

Background:

The Prairie Rose State Games is a multi-sport festival for amateur athletes in North Dakota. The games encourage participation for all ages and skill levels participating in 28 events. The games take place yearly and alternate between 4 locations; Bismarck, Fargo, Minot, and Grand Forks. This year, it was anticipated to have over 4000 athletes and their families participating in Grand Forks.

The mission of the Prairie Rose State Games is to foster amateur sports competition within the State of North Dakota by providing multi-sport educational programs to promote knowledge of physical fitness and sports, improve sportsman like competition and provide participation opportunity and recognition for amateur athletes and the general public.

The Day Before:

I wasn't doing this race on my own. Jill (a friend of mine whom I have been doing a lot of training with as well) and I, were doing this one together! Her BF was going to be our Tri Sherpa. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into!

We left Fargo early Friday afternoon, making the 1 hour trip north to Grand Forks. Most of the sports were taking place within Grand Forks, but our triathlon was taking place at the Larimore Park, just 30 miles or so west of Grand Forks. We wanted to get up there early enough to check out the location and mentally prepare ourselves for the race.

When we got to the park, nothing was set up and the person that was working at the time knew little about the race. We were able to look at a couple maps for the bike and run, but still were unsure exactly as to where the swim was going to start and how it was going to look. This caused a bit more anxiety... but not enough to ruin my appetite.

We headed back to Grand Forks and grabbed a bite to eat at one of my favorite pubs, Bonzers. The turkey sandwich and Bud Light Scooner with olives sure hit the spot. Being there brought back many fun college memories!


Afterwards, we headed back to my Aunt's house and ended up watching the replay of Stage 7 of the Tour de France.... climbing through The Pyrenees. Little did we know, watching this was going to be great motivation for the next morning.

I was showered and in bed by 10pm. Surprisingly, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep from the time my head hit the pillow. But, I did wake at 3am and tossed and turned until 445 when my alarm went off.


Pre-race:

Alarm went off at 445 and I felt pretty rested. Our plan was to leave the house by 530 and I felt like I was running in circles with getting things ready, not knowing exactly how to use my time wisely. I did choke down a piece of peanut butter toast and half a banana, barely. I drank a glass of water and proceeded to fill my water bottles. I had one bottle with water, and another with G2 watered down. I also took along my nalgene bottle filled to the top with ice and then some water. I didn't want to be short, and you never know what the race is going to provide. Bags were packed and we were ready to hit the road. Remember, it was a 30 minute drive to the location of the race. It was 49 degrees when we left.... brr.

We got there by 615 and were one of the first ones to show up. We checked in, got our body marking done, and I asked for a smiley face on my right calf... kind of a shout out to another great triathlete blogger, Steve!

From there we took the time to set up our transition, arranging and re-arranging.

There were about 50 others participating in this event. We actually got to talking to another lady that looked familiar, and it turned out she is on the swim team with us. Then, it was the waiting game. I was ready to get this show on the road! At 700, a half hour before the race started, I took my Triberry Gu and drank 8oz of water. At 725 they gathered us in and discussed some of the rules. Before we knew it, it's was go time! It had warmed up to about 55 degrees by this time.

The Swim:
1000M - out and back
31:00
3:06/100M

Prior to this race, I have been participating on the adult swim team for the past 5 weeks. I felt pretty strong in this area, having done drills twice as long as this distance at practice. At 730 exactly, they did a 10 second countdown we were off. The swim was out and back, with two buoys, one as a marker, and the second as the turn-around point. We were swimming directly into the rising sun. We found out later, that many of us started to drift too far to the right, which didn't surprise me at all.

The water temperature was decent. Not much warmer than the outdoor pool temp. But, It didn't take long before I started feeling overwhelmed with the swim; leading quickly into a full-on panic attack. I began to hyperventilate and before I knew it, I had to roll over onto my back. It took everything in me to concentrate on taking deep breaths and getting my breathing back to normal, or somewhat normal. When I did, I couldn't for the life of my swim with my head under the water. I couldn't see 2 inches in front of me, as the water was full of algae and weeds. It was horrible.

Only about 200M in and I was ready to call it quits. It was horrible. But, I had to keep reminding myself to calm down, and just do the swim, even if I had to roll over every so often to catch my breath. About 500M in, I started to feel like I was getting in a grove, but I was still struggling with putting my face completely under water.
My overall time in the water, 31 minutes, was a huge disappointment for me. It was almost 10 minutes longer than I was hoping for. But, quitting would have been a bigger disappointment. I still had the bike and run to do, so I had to focus on that.

(picture taken after triathlon)

T1:

(Approximately 2-3 minutes)

I felt that this transition went pretty smooth. Going with the one-piece trisuit was probably the best idea I had for this race. I attempted to use my shammy to dry off as much as possible, but a lot of water from the suit had dripped down my legs, causing my socks to get pretty wet.


The Bike:
12.4 miles
52:40
14.13mph
When I got on the bike, I was still pretty shook-up from the swim. I had a hard time getting my balance and getting on my bike. And it didn't help that we had to climb that nasty hill to get out of the park.

The first 10-15 minutes I was just trying to take in a lot of fluids and get my heart rate back down. I am pretty sure I was going only about 10-11mph during this time.

About 20 minutes in, I started to feel more comfortable and was ready to increase my speed. There were a few hills we had to climb, but coming back down them sure helped with my average speed. One hill I noticed I was going 34mph on the way down. Unfortunately, the last hill was super brutal, and it didn't help that this was the same hill we had to run down and back up again as part of the 5K.

However, going down a big hill, I lost my Gu that was taped to my bike. But, Jill was kind enough to share hers with me when we had about a mile left of the bike. It was at this point in the race that I was actually starting to feel hungry, like for real food.

I was pretty pleased with my overall bike time, but was hoping for a little bit faster. Next time!


T2:

(Approximately another 2-3 minutes)

The race director was yelling at me to get off my bike before passing a certain line, but that certain line was at the bottom of a very steep hill. Besides the fact that I had to dodge a big truck pulling a boat, I was thankful to be able to get off the bike in one piece. I didn't care what she was yelling. I kicked off my cycling shoes, grabbed my running shoes and visor and was on my way.


The Run:
3.1 miles
34:00 (approximately)
10:58/mile avg.

Once again we had to climb that hill to get out of the park. My legs felt pretty good transitioning from the bike to the run. I stayed with Jill, and we ran most of the way, only walking a couple times. Like I said, there were a couple nasty hills that we had to not only climb up, but go back down.

Our Sherpa, who did a wonderful job taking pictures actually ran the last 1/2 mile or so with us. What a great sport, huh?!

Surprisingly, this felt like my strongest area of the race. I don't know if it had to do with the fact that I was almost finished and ecstatic, or if I was just really ready for it. Best of all, there were no knee issues, what-so-ever!


After thoughts:

I was so happy to be finished when all was said in done. Good thing we packed a banana for after the race because there was no after race fuel to be found! We stuck around for awards. I know that there wasn't that many people participating, but I did end up taking 4th in my age division! Jill took 2nd in hers!

I feel like I did a pretty good job with nutrition before, during, and after the race. I wasn't very sore expect for some minor tightness in my left calf.

During our run, Jill and I decided to sign up for our next triathlon: The Detroit Lakes Sprint Triathlon, August 15, 2009! Only 5 weeks away! Time to get to business and do some better training in the next 5 weeks!