Triathlon: We did it!

Well, the tri was Saturday and I finished. But there were SO many twists and turns that day that it will take me some time to recap it all. If you're only interested in the race recap, scroll down to find that section.

3:30am
Michael and I both wake up to a big thunderstorm. Lots of thunder, lightning, and rain. We both said, "It will pass" and went back to sleep.

5:00am
Our alarm goes off and it's still raining, perhaps harder now than it was at 3:30. We eat breakfast, take quick showers, put on our temporary tattoos (with our race numbers), and finished packing. As I looked at the clock and realized it was nearly 6, I told Michael we should hurry. We went to the garage and again, still pouring. We left and drove to the race site, Lake Nokomis. There were sheets of rain falling. And it was dark. Michael said, "There is no way this race is starting in an hour."

6:15am
We parked five blocks from the race site, and noticed lots of bike rakes with the bikes still on them. Everyone is sitting in their cars. We talked to someone who said the transition area was closed and race officials were asking everyone to wait in their vehicles. They said to check Facebook for updates. 10 minutes later, they posted the transition area was open. As we walked our bikes to the transition area, it was still pouring and the amount of water on the ground was insane. We were walking in ankle-deep puddles. Michael and my transition areas were not close to one another so we split up to set up our stuff. And by set up, I mean store in a giant 50 gallon ziploc bag we were given the day before (thank goodness we took those!). I went back to Michael, we got out our umbrella and we waited for announcements about the race plan.

6:45am
The first announcement was made: we obviously were not starting on time. Race officials were looking at radar maps to gauge the storm and also looking at the course to see what the plan will be. At this time, they announced that the international course (the long course) bike route was impassable in multiple spots and it would not be happening that day. More updates soon.

M and I tried to walk around and stay warm. We tried to get our legs marked, but the permanent markers were not working because everyone was so wet. We were soaked, cold, and stressed. We had trained so hard - please do not cancel the whole thing!

7:15am
Another announcement: the storm would pass in an hour (no one could be in the water for the swim if there was any lightning in the area). Start time for the pros would be 9am, and everyone would follow quickly after that. The waves (think heats if you're a track athlete or swimmer) would move fast and athletes would be released 2 at a time instead of 1 at a time. The last part of the announcement was the shocker: there would be no international course run that day. All athletes, including the pros, would compete in the sprint course. M and I signed up for the sprint race so it didn't affect us but I felt so badly for everyone who had put in the time to train for the long course.

Check out this water!

9am
Everyone hit the beach to watch the pros do the swim. It was pretty windy. Since there was race money on the line, the pros actually did the sprint swim course twice. Though the pros made the swim look easy, you could tell the wind was really affecting them, especially on the swim in. No one was staying on the outside of the buoys, as the wind and current was blowing them hard to the middle. Michael and I met up with his family and watched most of the international heats go, and then we went over the start area for the sprint waves.

Pre-race - isn't my arm tattoo awesome?!

10:00am
Michael started his race.

10:40am
I started my race.

11:38am
Michael finished his race.

12:35pm
I finished my race.

MY RACE RECAP

Swim - .25 miles
The made us line up in number order. I was third to last. Luckily, since your numbers are on your arms, I made friends with the women around me after Michael left. We all chatted and complained about the crappy conditions: windy day, late start, the fact that the pros were already done and we hadn't even started yet, etc. I was the only first-timer in our group of 8. Everyone was really nice, which was great. We all wanted the best for our group and no one was a crazy competitor.

As we walked the beach to do the swim, I didn't even have time to be nervous. It literally was 10 seconds from when I started walking until I was running into the water. Ed, Patty, and Amy (Michael's parents and sister) were right there to cheer me on (have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my in-laws?), which was awesome. The girl I was running into the water with and I gave each other hugs, said good luck, and then we were off.

Thank you to Amy for the pics!

There I go!

I'm on the right running into the water

I felt great for the first 3 minutes. I was swimming calmly, my breathing was good, and I was mostly going straight. And then, I was suddenly overtaken by kids. That darn Jr. Invitational group started just 30 seconds after I hit the water and these kids had no decorom. They were swimming on top of us! Someone the women in my wave were screaming at them, but I just tried to ignore them and keep going. It was SO windy and choppy, and I took in two breathes full of water. I decided to breaststroke to the buoy. Once I reached the buoy, it was madness. None of us could swim in a straight line. The lifeguards kept yelling, "Keep the buoys on your right." I was yelling, "I'm trying!" It was so hard. My googles filled with water about 100 feet from shore so I had to stop and adjust them. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I stopped swimming and started running. I felt like my body was 1000 pounds when I was out of the water and running to the transition area. I was also so thankful the swim was over.

Swim time: 12:20.58. I was hoping to be around 10-11 minutes but since it was so windy, I was not surprised by my time at all.

Transition 1: Swim to Bike
The good part was my bike was right next to the swim in, a mere 10 steps. The bad part was my bike was a good 500 feet from the bike start. I had to put on my helmet, sunglasses and watch, rinse the sand off my feet, put on socks and my shoes (luckily I got bungee cord laces, which saved me at least a minute), and then run my bike the 500 feet to the bike start. I hated every second of running with my bike. Once I finally reached the bike mount, I took off.

Transition time: 3:47.67. I was hoping for a 3:30 transition. It did not feel like it took me nearly four minutes on that part, but I had to run really far with my bike, which is not easy.

Bike - 15 miles
It was hot and sunny the whole ride. I saw a ton of people on my way out, as there were many athletes on their way back in (I was so jealous). But overall, I saw very few people on my route. I was passed by about 5 people (all stupid Jrs) and I passed about 20 people. Otherwise, it was a quiet and lonely ride. I settled into my areo bars (so glad I got those!) and found a good rhythm. By the time I rode, the roads were dry, which was great. I never worried about crashing, which was also great. The only snaffu came when I took some water and poured it on my head because I was hot - it ended up on my sunglasses, which was really annoying. I tried to finish the bike strong but I was tired and took in just two sips of water the whole bike. Not good to gear up for the run.

Bike time: 1:02:17.69. My goal was 1:00:00. I wore a watch so I could keep track of my time. At 5 miles, I was at 20 minutes, which was where I wanted to be. At 10 miles, I was at 39 minutes, one minute ahead of my goal. But the last five miles were brutal, and I couldn't rehydrate. Still, I was only 2 minutes off my goal so that is ok with me.

Transition 2: Bike to run
This was annoying. So many people were done with their race and were just milling around in the transition area. Get out of my way, people! I'm still racing! They also changed the bike in because of the rain so instead of being right next to my station, it was were the start was. So again, I had to run my bike 500 feet. I put my bike back, took of my helmet, grabbed my hat and race belt and was off. The run start was the same as the swim in so that made it easier for me. I also saw Michael (who was done), his family, and my friends Becky and JB at this point. I was in the zone and totally exhausted so I didn't even smile at them (I should have-bad Jenni!) and struggled to get my cap on when I started the run.

Transition 2 time: 2:20.70. That was a good and fast transition. I didn't have to switch shoes (we don't have cycling shoes-on my list for the future) so that made me one of the faster people in my age group to get through the transition. I was happy with that time.

Transition from bike to run - thank you Becky for this photo

Run - 3.1 miles
Oh my gosh, I was tired at this point! Michael ran with me for the first 100 meters to give me words of encouragement. I was so tired and just wanted it to be over. I kept telling myself  "Do not walk. Do NOT walk!" There were an aid station at 400 meters and they had Gatorade. Finally, some fuel! Yuck - it was yellow Gatorade! I hate yellow Gatorade! I spit it out and went with water. I poured two cups on my head, drank one, and spit one out. After what seemed like eternity, I reached the one mile sign. ONE MILE - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That was probably the slowest mile I've run in my entire life. My mind was battling with itself at this point, telling me that I couldn't do this and also telling me not to walk. At the one mile mark, there is also a run up a bridge. That was brutal! I wanted to kill the course designers at that point. But I just kept moving and tried to keep up with the people in front of me. At the two mile marker, I just kept telling myself "One more mile." About halfway into it, I found Michael waiting near the path to cheer me on. He actually ran with me the last half mile. I was defeated at this point and near tears. I SO wanted to be done. He just kept being positive and telling me how proud he was (I know, I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband!). Finally, we went over a small hill and Michael told me that the finish line was just around the corner. He ran off the path and let me finish on my own. What I love about races is that they announce your name as you come across the finish line. I was all by myself so the race announcer said "Here comes Jenni Beadle. Jenni, how are you feeling?" I gave him a thumbs up, lifted my arms over my head and crossed the finish line. Woo hoo - I made it!

Done!!!

Run time: 34:33.79. I was so disappointed in my time, though honestly, I'm not a strong runner and I knew that. I actually thought it was even slower than it was. I felt like I was hardly moving and I knew my pace was slower than it should have been. I was shooting for 30:00.

OVERALL TIME: 1:55:20.43. My goal was 1:45:00, so I was 10 minutes off my goal. As we waited in line to get our times, I was sure that I was over 2 hours, based on my run. I am glad I finished under 2 hours and even though I missed my goal, I feel good about my time.

I finished 36 out of 58 in my age group (30-34 women). This is about where I was hoping to fall - the middle tier - so I am happy with my place. Overall in sprint women, I was 162nd out of 301 and 483rd out of 709 in the sprint category overall.

MICHAEL'S RACE RECAP (not as detailed as my recap)
Michael killed the swim. He was 1st in his age group, 7th in sprint men, and 9th in sprint overall (men+women = 709 people). To put it in perspective, I was 501st :-) His time was 6:37.59, twice as fast as mine.

His transition from swim to bike was 3:17.37.

Michael was not happy with his bike time. Like me, he thought the last five miles were grueling. His time was 57:29.14. He had a good transition from bike to run though, at 2:05.52.

Michael's run was when I was biking: it was hot and sunny. Still, he ran a 28:54.08, so he was happy that he finished under 30 minutes.

Michael on the home stretch

Go Michael!

Finish line!

His overall time was 1:38:23.70. He finished 7th out of 20 in his age group (20-24 men); 174th out of 408 men and 225th out of 702 overall. Michael was not very happy with his time. Like me, he was hoping to be about 10 minutes faster than he was.

Still, we did it! And as early as yesterday, I was already thinking about doing another one. On Saturday afternoon, I was thinking "Never again. That sucked." And yesterday, I was looking up dates for future races. Michael and I both agree that now that we know what it is like to race, our training will look a lot different next time around, if there is a next time. He wants to improve his bike and run, and I can definitely shave minutes off of all of areas of competition.

So that's it - the total event recap. It certainly did not go as we thought it would, but it was memorable, fun, and exhilarating just the same. It was by far the hardest physical thing I've ever done, and I'm so glad we did it. We are triathletes now!

Here's a side by side comparison of before and after. I weighed 9 pounds less after the race...

Our celebration on Saturday was cut short when we got home. Remember how I said it was raining really hard that morning? Well, we got about 5 inches of rain over the course of 5 hours and we came home to a basement with standing water in it. So we spent 4 hours on Saturday moving everything out of the main room, using every towel we own to soak up the water, and ripping out the carpet. Yep, we lost all the carpet in the main room. We might lose the bedroom as well - not sure yet. We ripped off the wainscoting last night as well. It will take us a long time (and some cash-ola) to repair the damage. Boo to tainting the memory of our first tri!