So in April I was feeling a bit under-trained but well on my way to my first triathlon of the year. I did an eight week training class through Late March into May to get ready for my first race. Nothing like a little incentive to keep up... as the coach said "A little peer pressure". I made connections with a great group of local triathlete 'weekend warriors' who have full-time jobs, kids and a love for the sports.
Anyway the two hours of training every Sunday along with the realization that I wasn't getting enough done got me on my way at the end of April and into May. I was finally getting a couple runs, a good long bike and a short bike or two, and at least one swim in each week.
I was still feeling a little short in the training department when the day came for my first race of the season (Bluff Creek Triathlon in Ogden Iowa), but of course I went anyway. The sprint distance race (400m swim, 25k bike, 5k run) was May 23rd and we lined up for the bus to the swim start on what began as an overcast morning. I finally made it to the beach and waded in with the wetsuit as it was May in Iowa... lake temp around 65 degrees. My swim with is normally my best leg got off to a rough start as I had a bit of anxiety for some reason and was 1/3 of the way through the swim before I calmed down.
I still managed to pull myself out of the lake around 5th in my start group. Then the fun really began. The bike was a gently rolling out and back on a N/S road... I knew something was wrong with my average speed on the N route was around 28 miles per hour... granted it was pretty flat but that was super fast and I was having trouble finding a gear to keep up with the wicked tail wind. I knew the ride S was going to be rough and adjusted my gears coming into the turn around to anticipate... It was hard to anticipate the feeling of going from 28 mph and barely breaking a sweat to 9 mph. UUUGH!!!
At the time I just said uugh, this is what I have to deal with and kept praying 'ok if I have to ride this out please let Hy-Vee be without a wind like this!' I survived the bike and managed to make it out on to the run course. The second transition from bike to run is usually a rough one but whew is all I got to say... happy to be off the bike, but knowing going into the run that speed was not an option.
It was a beautiful day so I just enjoyed the run, chatted with some old acquaintances on the run as we passed and re-passed each other. In the end I knew I could have probably pushed a little harder, and I it was in fact a personal worse on a course I have done two times previous, so humbling it was... but I learn and look forward to the next race which was Hy-Vee.
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