Lists from the Tri

I love lists...and I know some of you out there do too! So here are my lists from my first triathlon...

Traumatic Events on race day
1. Running over a huge worm during the bike. I felt so bad and prayed for it for the next mile or so. I still feel guilty when I think about it.
2. My car almost spinning out on my way to Kelly's before the triathlon due to water from the insane amount of rain that fell overnight.
3. Feeling the rain start as soon as I got on my bike.

Funny things I saw/heard at the race
1. Bald guy with his number written directly on his head since he didn't need a swim cap.
2. Maureen needing help putting her bike helmet on in the transition area because she didn't know the front from the back - resulted in 8 minute transition time and pictures with the guy that was nice of enough to help her.
3. MU student cheering for Kelly (who was wearing a Thanksgiving day race shirt) during the run yelling "I love mashed potatoes". That's my kind of girl!

Awkward Moments
1. Not being sure where to dismount the bike. There was a clear point to mount...not so clear where to dismount.
2. Trying to pass someone a little larger than myself during the swim but feeling like I wasn't going forward at all after every one of their pulls.
3. The announcer saying over the speaker that the last person to finish was making them stay out in the not-so-lovely weather for so long.

Awesome Moments
1. Crossing the finish line - anti-climatic, yes, still awesome though.
2. Not crashing on the bike despite the rain, wet roads and extremely hilly course.

3. Remembering to take my helmet off before starting the run.

Only 11 more days until the Derby Marathon. It doesn't feel like it is so close. I already have the itch to start training again for another race. It must be the result of the combination of tapering and a new addiction to triathlons!

The Results Are In!

So, I didn't come in first...but I also didn't come in last!


I have to admit, I didn't feel super accomplished until I saw actual results this morning. I was stalking the results page all day yesterday in anxious anticipation.


I am pretty proud of my 5K time! Not so bad after swimming and biking first!

By the way, they do age as of 12/31/2011. Not sure why, but it's kind of weird seeing me a year older!

I didn't realize the formatting was so messed up, so here is a rundown of the stats below:
8th in my age group, 348th overall (out of 650ish), bib # 550, 11th in my age group in the swim, swim time 12:43, Transition 1 time 4:02, 8th in the bike in my age group, bike time 57:08, Transition 2 time 3:36, 4th in the run in my age group (runners 1, 2 & 3 came in those respective places overall in my age group), run time 24:52, total time 1:42:23.'

8

348

Bethany Crosby

550

32

11

12:43

04:02

8

57:08

03:36

4

24:52

1:42:23

Woo-hoo!

Surprisingly, I slept fairly well last night. I climbed in bed at 10 and read for a little while, then didn't wake up again until 2:30. I looked at the time, then listened...no rain. Ok, go back to sleep. It's going to be fine.

When my alarm went off at 3:40, it was pouring buckets and buckets and buckets of rain. Ok, we're heading west, the rain is getting out of the way now. The race doesn't start until 7, I wont get in the pool until closer to 8. It's going to be fine.

I head over to Kelly's at 4:25, a few minutes later than hoped. On the way I hit some standing water on the road and my car almost spins out. Wow, that woke me up!

Kelly had the bikes already loaded on the bike rack when I arrived. I threw my bag(s) in the car and we were off! Wow, looks like we are really doing this. Really?

There is hardly anyone on campus when we arrive. We unload our bikes and head over to the transition area. We make (what turns out to be) the very smart decision to leave our clothes and shoes in the plastic bags we brought. The rain has stopped and the race officials are saying there is a window of time with no rain and hopefully we should get the race in during that window. We put our dry clothes in a locker - one of the benefits of the pool swim - and go wait in the bleachers. This is awkward waiting around in your bathing suit time. We found our friends and met some new ones so that helped to pass the time, they also gave us some last minute tips and assurances.

The typical thank you speech, pre race meeting and national anthem have now taken place. It's time to get started!
They call the athletes down to the pool deck in waves of 50 and a new athlete enters the water every 3 seconds or so. Everyone cheers when the first guy enters the water, and then again as he exits. I'm getting excited, but nervous. All of the athletes so far have been very fast swimmers! As we keep watching all of the athletes, I finally start seeing some people who are slower, struggling, doing breast stroke, and back stroke. I feel better, it's going to be ok.

We are called down and the line seems to move very quickly. All of the sudden we are up! I jump in the water and go! I freak out a little bit at the depth of the pool. The swim is serpentine, so up one lane, under the lane line, then back down the next lane. The lanes are nice and wide which makes passing fairly easy. The water felt very smooth. But it's so deep. After the first lane I switch to breast stroke for the second, then decide to alternate strokes with every lane. This works well for a while, then I switch to half freestyle half breast stroke on what should be my freestyle lanes. The next thing I know, I only have one more lane left! Wow, that actually went fast.

Maureen and I get out of the pool next to each other and run outside to the transition area. Maureen shrieks at we get outside and the cold wind blows on our wet bathing suited bodies. I was laughing and running as fast as I could barefoot on the asphalt to my bike.  Kelly is at the transition area already, her bike is on the rack right behind me. My plastic bags and  towel are wet.  I throw my swim cap and goggles down, pull on my tri shorts, put on a shirt and jacket, wipe my feet real quick, put on my socks and cycling shoes, put on my helmet, unrack my bike and take off running towards the transition exit. When I get to the mount line, I jump on my bike and I'm off!

This is when it starts raining. And it doesn't stop.

The bike course was hilly and the wind was strong - I think 18-20 mph. Most of the passing I did on the bike course occurred on the up hills, which made me happy and increased my confidence. I tried to slow it down a little bit on the down hills since the roads were so wet and making me nervous. I finally got over that and just went for it. Wow, what a feeling! The course was well marked and the volunteers and cops were very nice. One of the hills was so hard I was afraid I was going to start going backwards. I pushed through it and made it to the top. My mantra was "dig deep" during the bike. Towards the end of the bike I felt very proud. I had faced a few of my big fears on the bike: rain, wet roads, and big hills.

I was so happy as I entered the transition area to start the run. This should be easy, right?  I quickly changed my shoes and put dry socks on, thankfully remembered to take my helmet off and put on my hat...and off I go! The run was through campus, an out and back course. It would had been pretty if it had been sunny and not raining! It took about a mile for my legs to feel somewhat normal. At first my stride was so short I felt like I was shuffling. I had to force myself to elongate my stride and just hope I wouldn't fall. I felt pretty good, although I was having trouble breathing at first. I passed several people. Ran in to Maureen, Kelly and Paul each at different points. It was nice to see friendly faces finally! I could finally see the inflatable finish line and ran as fast as I could. I crossed the finish. I had just completed my first triathlon!

I have to admit, the finish line was a little anti-climatic. There weren't many people around it and there was just a table with the medals on it, no one hanging one around your neck like they do after a marathon. I found Kelly and then we found Paul and Maureen and headed to the athlete's village for some refueling. It was so cold and wet out that we went right back to the locker room and put on warm dry clothes before heading out to pack up our transition stuff and load the bikes on the car.

I came home to a beautiful flower arrangement left at my door from my parents, sister and brother-in-law! What a nice surprise!

I took a nice long nap this afternoon and now it's time to go celebrate with some friends with some amazing pizza!

Prep Time!

Last night I started gathering all of my things for the tri tomorrow. It's been difficult with the ever-changing forecast to decide what type of clothes to bring. Thankfully the forecast has been changing for the better!

And then I gathered some more things...

Still not done...but that's the end of the pictures for now.

Tonight I went to packet pick-up for the race. It was good to see the transition area with the arrows all mapped out. It was not so good to see the absolutely ginormous pool. I took a picture of it, but it did not turn out so well. It looks like the ocean. 

Seriously, it is twice as long and wide as the pool I am used to, so it was quite a shock. But I know I can do this. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

Since I've never done this before, as long as I don't DQ or DNF it is a PR for me. And there is no failure as long as I try.

My alarm is set for 3:45 a.m. - so that's all for now! Good night!

Panic!

Swimming did not go so smoothly last night. At least not for the first third to half of the practice.

I've been worked up all week about the weather, what to wear, what to pack, what if I get a flat tire. I think it all showed in my swimming last night. I wasn't breathing correctly - mainly not exhaling under water most of the time. That makes it pretty difficult. And very tiring. And of course it throws off your whole form. Sigh.

I kept asking myself why I thought I could do this. What made me think I could do a triathlon? I'm pretty sure that wasn't the best method to calm myself down. I was able to get my breathing under control during the drills. I did a few different ones than the rest of the team to work on this and Julie was very helpful - and more importantly patient. Towards the end of practice I was doing ok.

Then I get home and Marc is looking at me funny and he says "what's on your head?". Hmmm...no idea. A giant knot. Not a clue how I hit my head, but it seems to be a little smaller today at least! It's so frustrating to me that I can run 22 miles - 3 hours and 30 minutes - and not have any issues and actually feel pretty freaking good, but swimming for just an hour is SO hard for me. I just have to remember that just like in running, there will be good swimming days and bad swimming days. Without the bad ones, we can't fully appreciate the good ones.

My partner in crime found out last night that she broke her tail bone which will take 6-8 weeks to heal. The good news is the doctor didn't really give her any restrictions and said the more she does the quicker it might heal. Knowing her, she wouldn't have listened if he told her to do nothing for that long anyway!

My swimming coach is racing in NOLA this weekend. Unfortunately she tore scar tissue in her hamstring Tuesday night. I can't imagine the disappointment and frustration she must feel - to train so much and so hard for 70.3 miles and then not know if you'll be able to race. The good thing is her "A" race is in July in Muncie - enough time to heal and be strong if she needs to pull out of NOLA. My thoughts and prayers will definitely be with her (and all the other Ironmen and women) racing this weekend.

With a little help from my friends...

Sometimes out of the blue I am reminded just how amazing my friends are. 

Today was one of those days. 

JennyJ is my German friend who currently lives in Cambridge. She is amazing. Ridiculously intelligent, great sense of humor, gorgeous inside and out...the list could go on forever. I can't even remember the last time I saw her, but I know it's been years. Way too many years. 

But it feels like yesterday. 

A few weeks ago she sent me an email that was very timely. I was struggling with my training. Feeling like I wasn't doing enough of anything - swimming, biking, running, cleaning, cooking, yoga. She told me she was impressed with how much I do. It made me think that just maybe I was being too hard on myself. This wasn't the first pep talk she's given me over the years. I'll never forget another one - we were 21 at the time - that really changed how I look at and feel about myself.

And today she brought tears to my eyes with this.

Jen, you will rock that half marathon! And I'm pretty sure you'll look amazing too!

I have a lot of other amazing friends too. So thank you to everyone who has offered to come out on Saturday to cheer me on. I really appreciate it. It's early. It's far. It's going to be not-so-great weather. It really is the thought that counts and it means a lot to me that you asked about spectating. Hopefully there will be more that are more convenient or at least better weather!

Taper

The marathon taper has begun and this week I'm also "tapering" for the triathlon on Saturday.

I already feel a little restless. I haven't really planned my workouts like I normally do. My hardest work out this week will be my Master's practice - I need all the technique practice I can squeeze in before Saturday morning. My long run should be 14-16 miles this weekend. Mr. Mojo assured me no more than 10 on Sunday will suffice. I guess the tri counts for something!

I keep thinking a camel hump should be forming on my back with all the water I am drinking. I'm determined to figure out my foot cramping issue.

I already have celebration plans in the making for Saturday night with Marc and some friends, so let's hope there is something to celebrate!