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Race Result
Race Report:
I had a good time, but I really need to work on my swimming over the summer and 1K feels like serious effort to me. I trained the past couple months just to be able to swim that far, without worrying how pretty my stroke is, because I don't think I've tried to swim that far since I was 17 or 18 (really!). Well, now, I've trained for it, so I'll have to work up to the next distance, while working to fix the stroke. Honestly, and because it was allowed within the rules, I backstroked some laps because that's my strongest stroke. (You get your own lane. Not an issue.)
I enjoyed the bike course, I enjoyed the run (even though my legs kinda felt like lead), and even though I slogged my way through my "debut," I plan to do better next time. There were only a couple things I encountered that were problems, like was some uneven pavement that I was able to avoid on the bike, but that actually caught me off guard and tried to trip me once or twice running (including running out of T2). That course situation is temporary and won't be there next year, I'm sure. Has to do with some road work on South Lakes.
Since I got back in the pool to do serious swimming for the first time in years relatively recently, I appreciated the volunteers and I appreciated my lap counter being encouraging and shouting encouragement as I got on my last couple laps. Also, I liked the "V" on the race numbers to identify the triathlon "virgins" so that the more experienced people who were on the course could i.d. us and say kind, encouraging things to us as we biked and ran. Normally, I don't like being branded a "newbie," but this is a sport where I did want it because I wasn't 100% sure what I was doing all the time. Also, because it is hard for me to remember to put my bike helmet on before getting on my bike and that is something I am trying to ingrain into habit, I put it on first before my shoes and look kinda dweebie for a few seconds. (Okay, I look kinda dweebie for more than a few seconds.)
Also, and because I have an appetite for a meal between breakfast and lunch rather like a hobbit, I will point out that there were lots of goodies at the finish line. The volunteer support was excellent. It felt like there were a zillion volunteers. It was a good first timers race. Made you want to do it again. Since the people who are managing the race have been doing this for many years (I guess since about 1999), they have all the bugs out. They know what they are doing and it is good to have competent, confident direction. It's really friendly, it's really fun. There's a mix of the experienced and the inexperienced.
I really want to work on swimming before doing another triathlon, probably in the late summer/ early fall.
Oh, and my goal was 2:15, so I was pretty happy with 2:13:58.
Note: There were 39 triathlon finishers who did the 1K swim, 20K bike, 5K run. The race results at http://www.homegrowntriathlon.com/scores2008.asp are a little confusing in this regard, because there are some relay teams or participants who elected to swim a shorter distance than 1K and who received scores, but were not ranked with those individuals who did the full distance. There were 53 (or 54) people, total in the triathlon - a nice, tiny field and perfect for extra TLC for "newbies." We all got our own lane and starting heat in the pool - no need to bump into people!
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