Race recap – Lincoln Park Triathlon

Awake, but exhausted. Allons-y!

So, I did it! I completed my first triathlon, the Lincoln Park Triathlon. It was a Sprint Triathlon with a 500 meter lake swim, 10 mile bike ride and 5k run. My overall time was 1:39:05. This was about what I expected, based on my training, so I am not too surprised. I was last in my age group (12/12), to which I stick out my tongue, but not last overall (209/242). It’s only up from here!

I'm ready.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather could not have been more perfect. We had to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn (5:00am to be exact), which I loathe, to get there in time. My husband and son came along to cheer me on and by the end they were more tired than I was. We are not morning people. When we arrived, the first parking lot was full, so we had to park in the second, which was a decent distance away and required us to walk about 10 minutes to the check-in.

Checking in was very easy and smooth, since I had picked up my packet on Friday. I only had to get my timing chip, get body-marked (my number 299 written on me in Sharpie), and set up my transition area.  Then, it was off to the porta-potty for the 8^th time. Haha.

Swim: 9:58.8

Swim!

I was in the orange wave of swimmers: 44 and younger. Thank you race director, for not making me feel too old. I was hoping to be one of the faster swimmers in my wave and I might have been, except for a few miscalculations on my part. The first mistake was that my over-confidence got the best of me and I put myself in the front at the start. In my prior open water swims, I had followed the advice to hangout near the back and then catch up, in order to avoid the chaos, since after a bit, people spread out. I really should have stuck with that strategy. Once I was in the water, everyone was so close together I ended up getting pummeled repeatedly, just as I have read about, and it really threw me off, much more than I expected. I switched to a breast-stroke to see my way out of the crowd and, in doing so, lost a bunch of time. As a result of getting kicked and hit, my heart started racing too and I had difficulty calming back down. In addition, I had pulled my groin muscle on my last 5k and when I did a frog kick at that point, the pain flared up again. (Thankfully, I just avoided doing it again, so it was not a problem for the rest of the swim.)

I was finally starting to find my rhythm when I got to the middle buoy.  During my earlier practice at the lake, we were allowed to swim in an enclosed area, but during the race we went further out into the middle and I was surprised by the amount of seaweed at that point. With each stroke I was pulling chunks of it, like hair from a drain, and it was it front of my eyes and in my mouth. Yuck.  Also, at this point, my goggles started leaking badly and I had to stop and fix them. I had known before this race that it was time for new ones, but had put it off. I should have known better.

I know I could have gone a lot faster in this section, so I was disappointed by my time.  I was hoping at least to gain a few minutes from the swim, but that didn’t happen.  Then, it was time to move onto the transition to the bike.

Bike: 48:47.3

Bike!

From the lake, we had to run barefoot to the transition area over concrete and my delicate feet could not take it, so I walked. It took me a while to clear off the sand and get my socks on, which made me realize I probably should have brought a water bottle to rinse my feet off. I think I may have done that for my prior Aquathlon. I can't recall. That would have saved me some time, which I badly needed, because what came next was not pretty.

As expected, this was my worst section. I’m fairly certain I was the slowest biker out there. “On your left” was all I heard as people flew by me, again and again, for nearly an hour. I felt really alone on the bike course, as I was by myself for a good portion it (aside from when I was being passed). Since the course was not closed to traffic, I had a few moments of fear as well. One driver forced me onto the sandy shoulder at one point to avoid him. and near the end the cops were so bored that they were talking to each other and not paying too much attention to directing bikers or traffic. I had to yell to get their attention about which way to go a couple of times. That was slightly annoying.

Because this was literally only my sixth time ever really riding on my bike since I got it,  I don’t feel too badly about my time. I am still just a beginner and I need to ride more frequently and on the roads, even though they scare me. It’s as simple as that. Thankfully, my upcoming race is an Aquathlon and I won’t have another triathlon until the end of the summer, so there is plenty of time to train.

Run: 34:15.4

Run!

The transition here was easy, because I don’t have clipless pedals yet. I already had my sneakers on, so all I needed to do was hop off my bike, rack it and take of my helmet. No problem. I dawdled a bit and ate a gel and drank some Gatorade too. I have read that this is a "newbie mistake", but after that slow bike ride, a few seconds wasn’t going to matter. When I first started to run, that groin pull kicked in big time and I thought "damn, I might need to walk this course." Thankfully, it went away after a little bit. But, oh my god, did my legs feel like jello after I got off the bike! I expected this feeling to disappear after a little bit, but the entire run I felt like a turtle running through molasses. I seriously thought I was clocking a 16 minute mile. It turns out, however, I was actually going my normal speed and I finished the 5K portion in my usual time. In fact, my time was 25 seconds FASTER than the regular old 5K I had done the week before where I had so much more energy. I was very happy with my run time.

I still haven’t figured out the sunblock thing. I had applied waterproof sunblock before the swim with plenty of time for it to sink in, but definitely could have used a reapplication before the run. I now have a slight sunburn. I’m going to have to read up on how to manage that in future triathlons. Maybe use the spray kind and just mist myself at transition?  It was also very fun seeing my Gold Coast Triathlon Club teammate, Diane, out on the course and her “good jobs” on the bike and high five on the run were a nice pick me up when I was feeling tired.

Overall, I am proud of myself and I look forward to working hard and getting faster for the next one. My husband asked me how this compared to other races I have done and, honestly, I think it was easier than both my half marathon and Spartan Race. Unlike the half marathon, the different sports really broke up the monotony and unlike the Spartan Race, it wasn’t a full body workout. Plus, zero burpees makes everything easier! After both of those races, I needed a few days to recover. Right now, I feel like I could workout again tomorrow.

I would definitely recommend this course to other beginners. It really was pretty flat and the lake was very calm and warm (80 degrees, which was not wetsuit legal, but for a person like me, who gets cold easily, a welcome thing.) There were also delicious box meals at the end courtesy of Applebee’s and a very pretty finisher medal and t-shirt. It was well organized and well staffed and everyone was super nice. I really had a fun time.

Now it’s time to take a nap!