Complete a Triathlon
check!
Check out a few pictures from Saturday.
On Sunday, July 24th, 2011, I ran in the Steamboat Lake Sprint Triathlon with two of my friends from high school, Kinsey and Jen. We made a weekend out of the trip of course, and it was quite the adventure.
Jen and I rode together, along with Donnie and his friend Drew, since we were both coming from Denver. Kinsey was coming from Nebraska so she met us there. On our way, we saw a pretty surreal sight - a semi truck completely in flames on the side of the road. As we were coming down the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel I saw smoke in the distance and made a comment that something must be on fire. Then, as we got closer to the smoke, traffic started to slow. As we came around one of the curves a few drivers had gotten out of their cars to direct traffic to the far left lane. That is when I saw it; the semi's cab was completed engulfed by flames and melted. The fire was starting to make its way to the trailer but had not done much damage yet. As we passed by Drew rolled down his window to get a picture (unfortunately I don't have that picture - it is pretty crazy!) and the heat was super intense. We passed by and continued on our way. A few minutes later, filling up at the gas station in Silverthorne, we heard and saw the fire truck and other emergency vehicles go by. It must have just caught fire before we passed if the emergency crews were just headed out. Luckily, we were able to continue on our way without any hesitation. I heard the following day that some competitors from Denver got delayed due to the interstate being shut down!
Once we arrived in Steamboat, Jen and I checked in at the competitors' tent and got our bag of SWAG, along with our numbers and race information. Once Kinsey got there she wanted to acclimate to the elevation; Jen and I were saving our energy for the next day, so we opted to play with her dog while she went for a short bike ride. After that we said bye to the boys (who decided to camp) and made our way back into town. We got checked in to the hotel and then went on a wild goose chase looking for an open sporting good store to buy some last minute things. Everywhere we tried was closed - I couldn't believe it! So we did without and went to Safeway to buy food for breakfast instead. Once we had food for the morning we went in search of food for the evening. Our goal - an Italian place to enjoy some delicious pasta! Lucky us, we found just what we were looking for, and then some! After getting plenty of carbs we headed back to the hotel and crashed hard. We had an early morning.
Jen and I rode together, along with Donnie and his friend Drew, since we were both coming from Denver. Kinsey was coming from Nebraska so she met us there. On our way, we saw a pretty surreal sight - a semi truck completely in flames on the side of the road. As we were coming down the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel I saw smoke in the distance and made a comment that something must be on fire. Then, as we got closer to the smoke, traffic started to slow. As we came around one of the curves a few drivers had gotten out of their cars to direct traffic to the far left lane. That is when I saw it; the semi's cab was completed engulfed by flames and melted. The fire was starting to make its way to the trailer but had not done much damage yet. As we passed by Drew rolled down his window to get a picture (unfortunately I don't have that picture - it is pretty crazy!) and the heat was super intense. We passed by and continued on our way. A few minutes later, filling up at the gas station in Silverthorne, we heard and saw the fire truck and other emergency vehicles go by. It must have just caught fire before we passed if the emergency crews were just headed out. Luckily, we were able to continue on our way without any hesitation. I heard the following day that some competitors from Denver got delayed due to the interstate being shut down!
Once we arrived in Steamboat, Jen and I checked in at the competitors' tent and got our bag of SWAG, along with our numbers and race information. Once Kinsey got there she wanted to acclimate to the elevation; Jen and I were saving our energy for the next day, so we opted to play with her dog while she went for a short bike ride. After that we said bye to the boys (who decided to camp) and made our way back into town. We got checked in to the hotel and then went on a wild goose chase looking for an open sporting good store to buy some last minute things. Everywhere we tried was closed - I couldn't believe it! So we did without and went to Safeway to buy food for breakfast instead. Once we had food for the morning we went in search of food for the evening. Our goal - an Italian place to enjoy some delicious pasta! Lucky us, we found just what we were looking for, and then some! After getting plenty of carbs we headed back to the hotel and crashed hard. We had an early morning.
Check out a few pictures from Saturday.
{looking rough after a long day in the sun}
{We found our pasta! We decided to go with the "make it huge" size and share it. Needless to say we didn't realize "make it huge" meant feed a family of 10. We had some leftovers.}Sunday: race day. We woke up around 5:15 so we could leave by 5:45. It took about an hour to get out to Steamboat Lake State Park, where the race was being held, and I wanted to be there in time for open swim which started at 7am. I was wearing a full body wet suit for the first time in my life and was told that you need to get at least 15 minutes in the water with the suit in order to break it in. Otherwise, I was told, the resistance makes you feeling like your fighting the suit rather than letting it help you. Since it takes me about 20 minutes to swim the entire race distance, I definitely wanted to get that swimming in so I wasn't fighting my suit the entire swim course!
We got to the race location, parked, and then had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the transition area where we set everything up. We picked out our bike rack, set up our bikes, and laid out our clothes, shoes & socks, and helmet. Then I put on my wet suit. That must have been a sight! These things are super tight, and you are supposed to lay it down inside out in order to basically unroll it up your body. So I laid my suit on the ground, sat down, put my feet in the ankle holes, and started "peeling" it up my legs. That went on pretty easy, but it got a bit more challenging around my hips. I felt like a beached whale trying to get the suit around my hips, and I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle, but I got it past my hips pretty quickly. I think the insecurity I felt, knowing what I must have looked like wiggling around on the ground, made me work fast - hence the straining and muscle pull. Anyway, getting it on my upper body was no problem at all, and once I was zipped up it actually fit perfectly! Swim cap and goggles on, and I was ready for the open swim. I was told to pull the collar away from my neck in order to let a layer of water into the suit. I didn't know this, but the way wet suits work is that you let a thin layer of water into the suit, and the water, between your body and suit, heats very quickly due to your body temperature. It is that layer of heated water that actually keeps you warm. Not the suit itself. Interesting, huh? It felt pretty weird to have that water in the suit, but it was nice and warm. I felt pretty good after a couple hundred yards of swimming so I made my way out of the water and waited for the race to start.
We were the third wave to start - women age 24-39 (or something like that) - so we started just around 8:12am. Each wave started about 4-5 minutes behind the previous wave in order to spread the competition out. Here's another fun fact, you can actually use the buoys and kayaks to hang on to during the swim course if you need to catch your breath. You just can't use them to propel yourself forward. That was comforting to know, although I never used them. I finished the swim course first out of the three of us that raced together, and I was pretty proud of my time. I completed the 1/2 mile swim in 18 min 43 sec. Not bad for my first swim in open water - except that time in Lake Springfield when our boat died and we had to swim to shore to my friends house late at night in the dark...in our clothes.
Once out of the water I immediately started stripping off my wet suit. I already had my shorts and sports bra on underneath, so I just needed to put on shoes, socks, and a shirt. I was shaking a little after the swim, from exhaustion and adrenaline - and excitement that I was doing pretty well, so I wasn't too smooth in the first transition. I managed to get stuck in my shirt as I was putting it on, and it took me a few seconds to get untangled. I still got off to the bike course in less than 2 minutes, still out of breath from the swim. The very first part of the bike course was a fairly short but extremely steep uphill climb. I had not yet gotten my gears where they needed to be, and I had to hop off my bike on the uphill in order to not fall over and get in everyone's way. Once off my bike though, I had a short moment of panic when I realized I had no clue if I would get disqualified for walking my bike up the remainder of the hill. I looked around a saw a man in front of me walking up the hill, but he was also behind a patch of trees, so I didn't know if he felt hidden behind those trees, or if walking the bike was allowed. Because my only goal was to complete the triathlon, I didn't want to risk disqualification. So I hopped back on my bike and fought to get up the hill. In the process, I broke one of the toe straps on the bike that I was borrowing. The hill was so steep I didn't have the time to get my toe in place before pedaling, so I just pedaled up the hill with the toe strap on the bottom side of the pedal. I chose not to worry about this until after the race was over. About 1 mile into the bike course I finally got a chance to catch my breath on a fairly flat stretch of road. However, I want to take this time to say that the bike course was in no way, shape or form a flat course. I don't know who wrote the description of the course, or what kinds of courses they have ridden, but I don't see how that course could ever be considered flat. At least not where I come from in Illinois. I suppose if you compare it to the Pro Cycling Tour that goes up and over numerous mountain passes in Colorado, then yeah it's flat. But this was considered a beginner friendly tri, and I don't think that was a fair description. I would have ridden my bike more than twice in the 2 months prior to the race if I knew that was what I would be riding! Whew, that was an exhausting 12.4 miles, and my legs felt like rubber when I was finished. On the up side, it was a gorgeous bike ride!
So finally, almost an hour later, I came back into the transition area to start my run. At this point I was in second place out of the three of us racing together. Jenn had passed me when I was stuck on the hill at the very beginning of the bike course, and Kinsey was close behind me. It didn't take her long to pass me on the run course. After all, that is her strength and my middle ground, or maybe weakness; I'm not sure if I'm worse at biking or running. But that's neither here nor there. The run course followed the same path as the bike course for the first 1.2 miles or so. But then we turned off the road and onto a dirt hiking path. It was an absolutely gorgeous run that followed the edge of the lake most of the time. The fact that people could see me from the other side of the lake is honestly what motivated me to keep running much of the time. I was totally exhausted and I'm not sure how my legs were still working after that bike ride. I attribute God for my ability to still be moving at this point in the race. And thank Him I did. I think I was talking to Him most of my run; asking Him to give me the strength and endurance to finish, and to keep my knee pain at bay. Surprisingly, my knee didn't hurt for most of the run, which was good because the knee brace I was borrowing felt so foreign on my leg that I felt like a dog in boots when I was running with that on. (I don't know if you've ever seen a dog wearing booties, but they pick up their feet twice as high as normal and stumble around like a baby learning to walk. I didn't look quite that strange - I don't think - but it sure felt odd and was throwing off my stride.) Around 2.5 miles I finally gave in and put the brace on though; my knee was starting to hurt and I had no other option. I also had to walk around 2.25 miles due to the pain (and the exhaustion; let's not kid ourselves). I picked it back up with about 3/4 of a mile to go and ran the rest of the race, finishing as strong as I could.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I thought to myself I might throw up or I might collapse, either one being plenty embarrassing. Thankfully I did neither of those, and I walked out of the finish area to greet my friends. Side note, as I was nearing the finish line I could hear the MC announcing names of competitors as they crossed the finish line. At one point I thought to myself, "I wonder how bad he'll butcher my name." Every sport I've competed in where my last name is called, announced, etc., someone has inevitably said it wrong. So when I crossed the line I listened, and he didn't say it wrong! Nope, he just chose not to say it at all. Haha...it literally made me laugh out loud. He simply said, "And now making her way through the finish line, Laura -pause- from Englewood, Colorado!" It made me smile. I love my name; truly, I've thought about keeping my name when I get married. That's how much I love it and its uniqueness. But I know I won't really do that. But boy will I miss it one day.
And so, that's the tale of my first ever triathlon, in beautiful Steamboat Springs, CO. My final official time was 2hr 4min and 39sec. It's not that impressive, but in the end my only goal was to finish. And considering my training tapered off after about 2 weeks I'd say I did pretty good. In total, in the five weeks leading up to the race after deciding I was really going to do this, I biked twice, ran 5-6x, and swam 1-3x per week (with 1x/wk being the norm in the last 2 weeks before the race). If I were to do a triathlon again, which I hope to do someday, I would definitely like to train more. Ideally I would follow an actual training program to try for a good time. I simply underestimated this race, but with a bike course description as "flat and fast" I thought I had nothing to worry about there, and my knee pain prevented regular running training. Truthfully, the only thing I really trained in was the swimming, and that clearly paid off in the end. I guess what they say is true, practice makes perfect.
We got to the race location, parked, and then had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the transition area where we set everything up. We picked out our bike rack, set up our bikes, and laid out our clothes, shoes & socks, and helmet. Then I put on my wet suit. That must have been a sight! These things are super tight, and you are supposed to lay it down inside out in order to basically unroll it up your body. So I laid my suit on the ground, sat down, put my feet in the ankle holes, and started "peeling" it up my legs. That went on pretty easy, but it got a bit more challenging around my hips. I felt like a beached whale trying to get the suit around my hips, and I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle, but I got it past my hips pretty quickly. I think the insecurity I felt, knowing what I must have looked like wiggling around on the ground, made me work fast - hence the straining and muscle pull. Anyway, getting it on my upper body was no problem at all, and once I was zipped up it actually fit perfectly! Swim cap and goggles on, and I was ready for the open swim. I was told to pull the collar away from my neck in order to let a layer of water into the suit. I didn't know this, but the way wet suits work is that you let a thin layer of water into the suit, and the water, between your body and suit, heats very quickly due to your body temperature. It is that layer of heated water that actually keeps you warm. Not the suit itself. Interesting, huh? It felt pretty weird to have that water in the suit, but it was nice and warm. I felt pretty good after a couple hundred yards of swimming so I made my way out of the water and waited for the race to start.
We were the third wave to start - women age 24-39 (or something like that) - so we started just around 8:12am. Each wave started about 4-5 minutes behind the previous wave in order to spread the competition out. Here's another fun fact, you can actually use the buoys and kayaks to hang on to during the swim course if you need to catch your breath. You just can't use them to propel yourself forward. That was comforting to know, although I never used them. I finished the swim course first out of the three of us that raced together, and I was pretty proud of my time. I completed the 1/2 mile swim in 18 min 43 sec. Not bad for my first swim in open water - except that time in Lake Springfield when our boat died and we had to swim to shore to my friends house late at night in the dark...in our clothes.
Once out of the water I immediately started stripping off my wet suit. I already had my shorts and sports bra on underneath, so I just needed to put on shoes, socks, and a shirt. I was shaking a little after the swim, from exhaustion and adrenaline - and excitement that I was doing pretty well, so I wasn't too smooth in the first transition. I managed to get stuck in my shirt as I was putting it on, and it took me a few seconds to get untangled. I still got off to the bike course in less than 2 minutes, still out of breath from the swim. The very first part of the bike course was a fairly short but extremely steep uphill climb. I had not yet gotten my gears where they needed to be, and I had to hop off my bike on the uphill in order to not fall over and get in everyone's way. Once off my bike though, I had a short moment of panic when I realized I had no clue if I would get disqualified for walking my bike up the remainder of the hill. I looked around a saw a man in front of me walking up the hill, but he was also behind a patch of trees, so I didn't know if he felt hidden behind those trees, or if walking the bike was allowed. Because my only goal was to complete the triathlon, I didn't want to risk disqualification. So I hopped back on my bike and fought to get up the hill. In the process, I broke one of the toe straps on the bike that I was borrowing. The hill was so steep I didn't have the time to get my toe in place before pedaling, so I just pedaled up the hill with the toe strap on the bottom side of the pedal. I chose not to worry about this until after the race was over. About 1 mile into the bike course I finally got a chance to catch my breath on a fairly flat stretch of road. However, I want to take this time to say that the bike course was in no way, shape or form a flat course. I don't know who wrote the description of the course, or what kinds of courses they have ridden, but I don't see how that course could ever be considered flat. At least not where I come from in Illinois. I suppose if you compare it to the Pro Cycling Tour that goes up and over numerous mountain passes in Colorado, then yeah it's flat. But this was considered a beginner friendly tri, and I don't think that was a fair description. I would have ridden my bike more than twice in the 2 months prior to the race if I knew that was what I would be riding! Whew, that was an exhausting 12.4 miles, and my legs felt like rubber when I was finished. On the up side, it was a gorgeous bike ride!
So finally, almost an hour later, I came back into the transition area to start my run. At this point I was in second place out of the three of us racing together. Jenn had passed me when I was stuck on the hill at the very beginning of the bike course, and Kinsey was close behind me. It didn't take her long to pass me on the run course. After all, that is her strength and my middle ground, or maybe weakness; I'm not sure if I'm worse at biking or running. But that's neither here nor there. The run course followed the same path as the bike course for the first 1.2 miles or so. But then we turned off the road and onto a dirt hiking path. It was an absolutely gorgeous run that followed the edge of the lake most of the time. The fact that people could see me from the other side of the lake is honestly what motivated me to keep running much of the time. I was totally exhausted and I'm not sure how my legs were still working after that bike ride. I attribute God for my ability to still be moving at this point in the race. And thank Him I did. I think I was talking to Him most of my run; asking Him to give me the strength and endurance to finish, and to keep my knee pain at bay. Surprisingly, my knee didn't hurt for most of the run, which was good because the knee brace I was borrowing felt so foreign on my leg that I felt like a dog in boots when I was running with that on. (I don't know if you've ever seen a dog wearing booties, but they pick up their feet twice as high as normal and stumble around like a baby learning to walk. I didn't look quite that strange - I don't think - but it sure felt odd and was throwing off my stride.) Around 2.5 miles I finally gave in and put the brace on though; my knee was starting to hurt and I had no other option. I also had to walk around 2.25 miles due to the pain (and the exhaustion; let's not kid ourselves). I picked it back up with about 3/4 of a mile to go and ran the rest of the race, finishing as strong as I could.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I thought to myself I might throw up or I might collapse, either one being plenty embarrassing. Thankfully I did neither of those, and I walked out of the finish area to greet my friends. Side note, as I was nearing the finish line I could hear the MC announcing names of competitors as they crossed the finish line. At one point I thought to myself, "I wonder how bad he'll butcher my name." Every sport I've competed in where my last name is called, announced, etc., someone has inevitably said it wrong. So when I crossed the line I listened, and he didn't say it wrong! Nope, he just chose not to say it at all. Haha...it literally made me laugh out loud. He simply said, "And now making her way through the finish line, Laura -pause- from Englewood, Colorado!" It made me smile. I love my name; truly, I've thought about keeping my name when I get married. That's how much I love it and its uniqueness. But I know I won't really do that. But boy will I miss it one day.
And so, that's the tale of my first ever triathlon, in beautiful Steamboat Springs, CO. My final official time was 2hr 4min and 39sec. It's not that impressive, but in the end my only goal was to finish. And considering my training tapered off after about 2 weeks I'd say I did pretty good. In total, in the five weeks leading up to the race after deciding I was really going to do this, I biked twice, ran 5-6x, and swam 1-3x per week (with 1x/wk being the norm in the last 2 weeks before the race). If I were to do a triathlon again, which I hope to do someday, I would definitely like to train more. Ideally I would follow an actual training program to try for a good time. I simply underestimated this race, but with a bike course description as "flat and fast" I thought I had nothing to worry about there, and my knee pain prevented regular running training. Truthfully, the only thing I really trained in was the swimming, and that clearly paid off in the end. I guess what they say is true, practice makes perfect.
Enjoy the picture story of my race.
{and we're off!}
{beautiful setting for a race!}
{glad to be done!}
{having fun!}Steamboat Lake Sprint Triathlon: 0.5 mi swim, 12.4 mi bike, 3.5 mi run
Stats: Swim rank - 194; time - 18:43; transition 1 time - 2:49
Bike rank - 231; time - 58:33; mph - 12.7; transition 2 time- 0:58
Run rank - 232; time - 43:40; pace - 12:29
Overall place - 227 out of 268
(not impressive; I know - but I'm still proud)
Official triathlon time - 2:04:39
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