Triathlon triumph!

The race is over! It was awesome. I loved it and I want to do more next summer! I exceeded every single one of my goals - my swim time, bike time, run time, and the total time. The official results are posted, here's how I finished:

Swim: 5 minutes, 59.2 seconds. For the swim, I ranked #234 out of 353, so still slower on that compared to everyone else. Since I trained myself with no other help or coaching, I'm darn proud of my time : )

Bike: 26 minutes, 2.6 seconds. For the bike, I ranked #169 out of 353.

Run: 19 minutes, 32.5 seconds. Very excited that I kept my normal running pace even after swimming and biking! For the run, I ranked #121 out of 353, so did very well here compared to other participants. I'm sure a lot of people were worn out by the end.

FINAL TIME: 51 minutes. 34.4 seconds! My goal was to finish in an hour, and I made it! I placed #151 out of 353 participants.

So now that I already gave away the info you wanted, if you'd like to read my experience of how it all went, here you go : )

On Saturday, we were emailed our swim start times - the fastest swimmers went first and everyone's BIB number was ranked y time. The race was scheduled to start at 7 AM, and my swim time was 8:12 AM. I was freaking out a little - I had to wait over an hour to start the race?! Although I had moved up to the faster 7 minutes and under pool, I was the slower of the fast swimmers, so I was towards the end. I was mostly worried that my excitement (and breakfast) would wear off by the time I'd get in the pool. The email also said that due to construction, we would not be able to bike in the street, so we'd be on the bike path I practice on. The bike path isn't very wide. I was also concerned that the path would be packed and it would be difficult to get a good time.

The night before the race, I was feeling very, very nervous. It took me well over a half hour to fall asleep. I woke up around 1 AM and couldn't fall back asleep for over an hour. My alarm clock went off at 5:20 AM. Now, a lot of times during the week I set my alarm for this time with the intention of going to the gym...and usually, I just hit "snooze" and save my workout for the evening. This was one workout I couldn't skip, though.

I got dressed - sports bra, swimsuit, tank top with my number pinned on, shorts & shoes. I made myself some scrambled eggs out of Egg Beaters with some cheese mixed in, and my Thomas' 100% Whole Wheat Bagel Thins with Philly whipped cream cheese and peanut butter. I don't know where the time went, but before I knew it, it was 6:05 and race instructions were at 6:30. I put the bagel in a baggie and threw that in my bag with my goggles, ear plugs, and flip flops. Since I leave 3 minutes away from the pool where the race was held, I rode my bike.

As I turned onto the main road and saw all the race set up and people, I started panicking a little. "What am I doing?!" I thought. No turning back now, though. I checked into the race and got in line to be marked up -they write your race number on your arms and the back of your legs.

The bike racks were split up according to your BIB number, so I hung my bike on the rack (you just had to lift it a little bit and the front of the seat hung across a metal bar) and set up the rest of my stuff - untied my shoes, laid out my socks and clothes. After race announcements (which were pretty much pointless, it was all of the information from the emails), there was nothing to do but wait.

My parents, brother, Nels, best friend Lisa and my aunt Debbie arrived around 7:30. I talked to them for awhile, then went to line up at about 7:55. As each swimmer went into the pool and I got one person closer, I couldn't believe this race was really happening and that I was participating in it!!! I don't know how to dive well, so I sat on the edge of the pool and dropped myself in when it was my turn.



"5...4...3...2...GO." I pushed off and could feel that my whole body was very nervous, but I focused on the laps. The pool was roped off into 5 lanes, and on the odd numbers (they were labeled clearly on construction cones as well as cement slabs at the bottom of the pool) you had to swim under the rope and then down and back up the next lane. The swimming felt a bit more difficult than practicing in the pool at my gym because of the waves from all the other swimmers. When I'd bring my head to the side for air, I often got a mouthful of water. By lap 5, I was feeling rather fatigued but kept pushing the best I could.











After the swim, you run out to the bike area and get the rest of your gear on. I honestly don't even remember running to the bike area, putting my clothes and shoes on, or getting on the bike haha. It's all a blur. The biking felt a bit more difficult than I expected, too. My nerves were still going crazy and I was feeling hungry/weaker than I was expecting to. To my surprise, the bike route was not crowded at all. I was pretty much alone the whole time. I did pass 3 bikers along the way back, when I was really pushing myself.

It didn't take me long to put my bike back on the rack and start running. The first mile of the 2.1 mile run felt like the longest mile of my life.

Water grab:


Alright, so the story about my finish is pretty hilarious. There was a woman ahead of me who I wanted to pass, so I started sprinting.



I succeeded and passed her...



I saw the construction cones, and my family, and I figured this was the finish line, YAY, so I stopped.

Almost the end, but not quite. I was supposed to run through this little roped off lane. You can see everyone pointing and you can also see the woman I passed grabbing my shoulder and pushing me out of the way.



Oh well, I know I totally had her. My mom has the whole thing on video, it's really funny.

So proud of myself that I finished with a great time for a beginner. Using an online training plan, I completely coached myself. I want to do more races next summer, maybe even some longer ones! It's a little scary to think about doing even further distances, but then again, this race seemed scary at the start too.

I'll be running an 8K on September 26th for PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) Chicago, the largest No Kill Humane & Adoption Organization. Training for that is next!