Meow! Hi friends! (yes, I constantly use the word meow in everyday life…it started after a slight obsession with Super Troopers the movie, and meow now it has become my way of saying “HEY” or “YO”).
ANYWHO. A few months ago, I was possessed by some evil forces inspired to register for an event…a very special event…
MY FIRST TRIATHLON!!!
Sponsored by the Grand Traverse Resort, the event is named for the official lifestyle magazine BAREFOOT, which reflects the active lifestyle of living and playing in northern Michigan.
Swim. Athletes will gather at our private beach on East Grand Traverse Bay and swim in the crystal clear and shallow waters of the the bay.
Bike. The road course will take cyclists through the dense woods of the Deepwater Point residential area, across US-31 and into the rolling, orchard-filled countryside north of the Resort.
Run. Athletes will cover the perimeter of the Resort property by foot, with the Olympic distance competitors also venturing into the nearby countryside.
There are two race categories to choose from:
*Olympic: 1.5-kilometer swim ~ 26-mile bike ~ 6.2-mile run.
*Sprint: 500-meter swim ~ 16.7-mile bike ~ 3.1-mile run.
I registered for the sprint distance. The entire week leading up to the tri, I spent my free time googling “My first tri/triathlon horror stories/triathlon experiences” & I had been having nightmares about getting lost on the course, getting trampled during the swim, not being able to finish, crashing my bike, forgetting something important like my shoes, etc etc. Sunday morning, I sprung out of bed at 4:30am. I surprisingly slept really really well considering I had NO idea what to expect, knew NO ONE else doing the tri, and was just anxious/nervous in general.
One thing I had read over and over was to eat the same thing the morning of the race as you normally did training. Ok, so what if you train after work and the last thing you ate was a salad at lunch & a peach as an afternoon snack? I debated a few things, and ended up making a smoothie out of chocolate-pb protein powder, unsweetened vanilla almond breeze & ice. Simple, easy to drink & digest. I was bringing a couple of Hammer Gel packets to down on the bike, so I kept breakfast around 250 cal.
Once I arrived at the resort, I picked up my chip and set up my stuff in T2 (transition 2- where you leave your bike and take off for the run). The swim started on a beach about 1.3 miles from T2 so I rode my bike down there and got my stuff set up in T1 (transition 1- changing from swim to bike).
Yes, I do realize that everything you see is PINK- Bike, water bottle, helmet, shoes&socks, swim cap, tank with bib pinned on it, bike shorts, and long sleeve zip up. On a lonely black towel.
T1 setups were first come, first serve- as you can see, I was clearly one of the VERY first in the area. I set up at a rack closer to the exit of the transition area, so I would have to jog further to get to my bike, but then only have to run pushing my bike for a little bit. Eventually, the place filled up and my nerves started getting to me more and more.
We headed down to the beach for the swim start. EVERYONE had a wetsuit! I could count on one hand the number of us without suits. I don’t own a wet suit, and have never trained in a wet suit so I decided to just go in a sports bra & bathing suit bottoms. The air at 8am was 44degrees. YEAH. It was FREAKIN COLD!
Can you spot me?? 
I am the naked one!!
Oh, and here is the first on my list of things I forgot- my goggles. Ooops.
Water temps ranged between 66degrees at the shore to 76 degrees at the deepest buoys. My wave finally was called to the start around 8:30am. The course was a modified square with an in water start. Basically- we swam straight out to the yellow cones, turned right, swam parallel to the shore, turned right again and came in to the finish.
Everyone I talked to/everything I read said the swim would be TOUGH. Between the crowding, the splashing, the churned up water, the kicking—it lends itself to panic and stress. However, I had a VERY different experience.
I positioned myself in the middle & front of the pack- I knew for ME, the best motivation would be having others pushing me forward. I had planned on swimming freestyle/breast stroke, but without goggles, I just stuck to freestyle. Once I was swimming parallel to the short, I just shut my eyes and SWAM. It was seriously AWESOME. I know I pushed myself hard in the swim, and my time reflected it. I brushed into other swimmers a couple times, but that didnt bother me at all. I think it also helped that I knew I could stop & stand if I ever needed to- the water was between 4-6ft deep the whole way.
Out of swim, we ran down a METAL dock (very slippery & scary!) and up to the transition area. Our time for the swim stopped at the beginning of the dock, so my T1 time was pretty long.
500m swim- 8:58
T1- 4:42
I quickly got dressed but had another unexpected hang-up: when throwing on my tank, since my top half was still pretty wet, it got SO tangled around my arms/shoulders. I was sitting on the ground, arms in the air, shirt around my head, totally STUCK. I finally wrestled it down and took off.
The bike was…..TOUGHT. They were NOT joking around when they described this course as HILLY. Oh my GOLL.
just a little sampling of the hills we faced.
I had been averaging 15-18 mph while training, so I was anticipating the bike taking around an hour. The hills REALLY slowed me down, though. In retrospect, I could have pushed myself a little harder, but I was really unsure how my legs would hold up during the run. I had done a lot of brick workouts (biking followed immediately by running) but never the full distances and never on these many hills!
Also, around the 15k mark of the bike my chain fell off. And in the process of fixing it, I smeared black grease all over my cheek. You will see it when I finish. Haha!
Total time for the bike- 1hr 15min (12.7 mph/pace).
T2 time- 1:03
The run was the aspect I was dreading most. I am NOT a good runner, I do not particularly ENJOY running. I am SLOW. And I am totally okay with that. I ran my first 5k this summer in 28 minutes, so I was hoping to run this leg between 30-35 minutes.
A few things to add to my list of forgotten items- my Hammer Gels (really REALLY missed these during the run. I was definitely losing energy quickly) & headphones for my iPhone. I was hoping to chug some Gatorade at an aide station but when I reached the first one, I found out the shipment never came. RATS. No headphones wasn’t a HUGE deal, I just played my music on speakerphone. Haha.
So, I don’t think I could actually FEEL my legs until mile 2. I was on total autopilot the first mile, which was almost all off road/through the golf course/UPHILL. I felt like MOLASSES! Mile 1 took me about 13 minutes. Around mile 1.5/2 I started feeling better and picked up my speed a little. I took one quick walk/stretch break at the last aide station and booked it to the finish (which, by the way, was positioned on the top of yet ANOTHER hill. ahhhhhhhh!).
SO RELIEVED to finish!
Run time: 30:42 (9:53/pace)
For a GRAND TOTAL of: 2hrs 03minutes. YES!!!
My goal was 2 hours, so I am totally happy with my time. Next year (YES, there will DEF be a next time) I can’t wait to see how much I can improve.
Overall, I finished 6/9 in my age group (by the way, the top 3 females overall came out of my age group…the chick who won ran her 5k in TWENTY MINUTES. YEESH) & 40/55 women. I am happy because I was not dead last!!
(Niki, Ash, Brent, Shawn, TJ. THANK YOU FOR COMING!!!!!)
I enjoyed the experience, the challenge and everything about the tri. It was awesome, rewarding and FUN!! If you have any doubts/worries about competing in your own first triathlon, please let me know. I would encourage anyone & everyone to at least get out there and TRY a TRI 
