In previous posts I mentioned that my wife would be accompanying me on this historic day. Not only to provide moral support, but to also take pictures (she is a great photographer). Well... Plans changed. Here's a brief rundown on how it went (in terms of who is going to the race):
Bryce, his wife, their daughter. Me, my wife, and my girls.
Bryce, his wife, their daughter, his parents. Me, my wife, and my girls.
Bryce, his wife, their daughter, his parents. Me. I didn't feel it was fair to Aimee to keep tabs on both of the girls while I raced.
Bryce, his wife, their daughter, his parents. Me, my wife, and my girls. She decided she really wanted to be there and it wouldn't be as bad with Bryce's wife, Debbie, and his daughter.
Then the forecast came out:
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| Of course the race is Saturday. |
Bryce, his Dad. Me, my wife, and my girls. At this point the Costello's are still standing firm on coming to the race.
Bryce. Me. And then there were two...
So. Because of the actions that transpired above there are zero pictures from the race. Sorry...
Friday night I packed up all my stuff and double checked I had everything. I'm not the most thorough of people when it comes to planning, but this was a different scenario all together. I checked, and double checked, all my equipment. I brought multiple pairs of clothing and both of my pairs of swimming goggles. Nothing was going to get in my way of having a good race. In past posts I talked about working on mental strength this year, and this race would prove to be a success of both mental and physical training.
With our race being an hour away I woke up at 5 am. Sounds brutal, but compared to all the mornings of going to the pool and running this was actually sleeping in. Having packed everything the night before I didn't have much to do.
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| Locked, loaded, and ready to go |
I got dressed, patted down my hair, and waited. Bryce was actually on time, and after a quick stop to adjust the bikes on the bike rack, we were on our way. Most of the bigger races I've done have been at least an hour away. I don't know what it is about the distance, but adding a road trip feeling makes the race a little more special to me. Almost like I'm investing more into it so I'll appreciate it more. This race was for a good cause. It was going towards mission trips for a Christian ministry on campus. Plus it also happened to be one of the earliest races on the schedule (I'm a tad bit impatient).
After a bass bumping hour of listening to the new Andy Mineo album we arrived at the beautiful Ashland University campus. I say that without an ounce of sarcasm. It's a great campus. Nestled in a historic neighborhood of old beautiful homes. We parked the toaster and made our way to the registration table.. kinda. We had no idea where we were going. We made our way into the rec center pool area where we asked a lifeguard where the registration table was located. He pointed us in the right direction, kinda, and we made our way to the table. During this journey, someone else, and someone else's son, had tagged along with us in our quest. We were one hobbit away from a LOTR trilogy. At last we had our ankle bracelet timers, wrist bands, and SWAG. Unfortunately they did not have race bibs for this one. I say unfortunately because I have accumulated quite the collection of race bibs (as you can tell from the top of my blog page). Now all we had to do was wait on direction for what to do next.
Because of the cold temperatures they allowed us to have our towels and clothes inside the rec center. With the wind it was in the low 30s. The only bad thing about this is it would effect our final swim time. There were mats strategically set up at the beginning of the race before jumping in the pool, and book ending the transition area outside. All the time spent inside changing would add to the swim. This fact did not bother me since I wasn't banking on having a great swim time regardless of where I could change. It did wonders for my T1 time though!
The way the swim worked was they had 8, 25 meter lanes. The faster swimmers upfront and the slowest in the back. Every quarter pool length, of the first lane, another swimmer would enter. We had to swim up and down a lane and then go under the floating barrier to the next lane and do it again. This would be repeated 8 times. I was ok with this method. I started one or two people from the back. Not necessarily because I'm the slowest, but so I didn't feel pressured or get surrounded. Bryce started directly in front of me. While we waited for our races to start I struck up conversation with some fellow first timers. I could smell their fear. Not of me, of course, but of the race. I wasn't nervous or afraid. When asked by a co-worker how I felt about the race I told her I was ready to go. Confident. Ready to push myself.
The race started when I jumped in the pool. The Canton Nat is deep but this plunge into the pool was ridiculous. It was set up for diving depth. A few seconds in I still wasn't at the bottom. Feeling a little panicked I pushed off the wall and started my swim halfway down the pool. All I thought on the first lap was "Holy crap I'm doing a triathlon!" I did not pass anyone in the pool. I was passed once by someone who came to the race late. The only negative about my swim was a lone wolf deciding to backstroke down the middle of the lanes. My strategy of starting in the back to alleviate pressure didn't necessarily work, but it ended up helping me. I didn't want to be the last one out of the pool so I kept a close eye on the person behind me, and kept a nice steady pace. I noticed I was also keeping the same pace as people who started a couple lanes before me.
I got out of the pool and headed to my clothes. Because of the cold temps I had to put on long legged running tights, a new pair of shorts, compression top, running shirt, and a running jacket. I got everything on but the running jacket and made my way to the bike, while putting on my jacket. I was the second or third to last person to leave the pool. When I made my way to the bikes I got some motivation from the people working the race. I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy but the motivation felt more like "aww.. look at you trying to race!". Whatevs. It's biking time.
Helmet on. Gloves on. Swig of Gatorade. Let's do this!
Hopping on my bike I felt good. The worst part of the race was over and I feel like the bike is my strongest leg of the race. Within the first quarter mile I passed a couple people. I was able to get my bearing pretty quick. My strategy for the bike was simple: Reel 'em in! I cast my line out to whatever cyclist was in front of me and starting pulling them closer. At one point I came up next to one of the guys I talked to in the swimming line, a fellow newbie.
Me: "How're you feeling?"
Him: "Horrible!"
Me: "You've got this!"
Off I went.
The course was a 12 mile out and back. It was down some hilly rural roads (try saying rural roads ten times fast). I don't know what it was but I was being extra friendly. I was warning people I was about to pass. Thanking police officers and volunteers. Even talking to the people I was passing. No one seemed to eager to strike up a conversation though. While I don't have an exact total, I would say I was able to pass 12-15 people on the bike portion. It gave me a big morale boost going into my first tri run.
T2 has nothing big to report. I took off my helmet, stretched for a minute, and started running. This is a luxury since I do not have clip in pedals/shoes.
Within the first quarter mile I felt my calf muscles twitching. My first instinct was to stop, but I fought it. It was a tough fight. Leading up to race day this was my sole fear (get it?). My two bike/run brick days were met with cramping muscles. By a half mile in my legs worked out the kinks and the twitching went away. I was able to pass a couple people here and there, and be passed myself in the last mile. I didn't see the guy coming up till the turn around in the middle of the campus. I fought it off as long as I could but it was inevitable. When he passed I said to him "aw man, you caught up!". He ignored me and kept going. As I came to the last turn Bryce was there waiting for me. I was met with him yelling at me to push it through the finish. I responded, like normal, "I hate you", and proceeded to sprint to/through the finish.
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| They even gave out medals! Nice way to remember my first tri. |
While the race only had 73 people entered, it still had a big race feel. Big inflatable finish line. Great timing system. I also say this because the announcer said my name as I crossed. After the race Bryce would inform me that the announcer would follow my name up with "representing the Chicago marathon!". I was wearing my CHI running jacket. Knowing that he said this made me feel like a turd.
That in a nutshell is my first triathlon. Overall I give the day an A. First race in a new sport went off without any major hitch. It was a little cold but I ran my race, my way. I met a lot of cool people and was able to spend some good quality time with the ole training partner. Next tri will hopefully be May 25th, with an open swim. For now I will now focus on next month's Cleveland half marathon!
Sorry there were no pictures. I'm really breaking the basic blogging rules by not giving people stuff to look at. Reading is too difficult!
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