CB&I Triathlon Race Report

I trained for a triathlon after I had the kid, but I got super sick the night before and never ran it.  Then I got distracted by other things - the crazy half marathon (series of) incident(s), the MS150, etc.  This triathlon, ironically, kind of happened on a whim, and because of the MS150.  You see, there is this lady at ex-work who is a great biker.  One day I was chatting with her and I was expressing my worry over completing the MS150 and she was telling me she figured I'd be fine because I'm a triathlete.  (This is a misconception, as we all know.  One kind of athletic fitness does not necessarily translate into another.  PLUS I hadn't done a tri in something like 5 years!)  And then she told me she had signed up for an Ironman.  I used to want to do an Ironman.  I started this blog all those years ago because of all those triathlon, and specifically Ironman training blogs.  I've never done one, obviously, and I'm at the point where I no longer think I will.  But I am so grateful to the community for getting me started on triathlons because I love them!  So I got super excited and asked her a few questions: have you run a marathon?  No.  Can you swim?  No.  WOW.  Ok, well then, might I suggest a little sprint triathlon that I love called the CB&I so you can get your feet wet?  She said she'd do it if I did it.  So I did.

Fast forward to a week ago.  One of the reasons I've always loved the CB&I is they do an open water swim the week before which in hugely valuable to not freaking out on race day.  This year it got cancelled due to weather, so that was a total bummer.

Fast forward to Friday night.  ANOTHER reason I love the CB&I is they let you do a bike drop off the night before, which I love because it makes race morning that much easier.  So Friday night I picked up my packet, got body marked (the nice marker offered to put my number on Z's arm, and what a great idea!  She felt included, she was supporting me, but it also would have been a great tool if she had gotten lost), and played with the ducks a bit.  I had a STELLAR spot in transition, by the way.  Really great!  Then I went to the Astros game (9 game winning streak, y'all, and the tickets were free!!  I couldn't turn it down even though it was the night before my first tri in 5 years and I should have been sleeping.).

Saturday morning we woke up at 5, were in the car by 5:35 and out of Shipleys by 5:45.  This was PERFECT timing, so I want to put it here for posterity.  Freaking perfect.  By the time we got there and got parked and made it to transition, I only had about 15 minutes to set up my gear.  Which I did.  Then I stood in line for the real bathroom, totally worth it.  And omg my new tri suit!  I totally love it but it is a freaking NIGHTMARE in the restroom.  It is sooooo hard to put on without getting the sports bra all twisted.  I messed up bigtime in the bathroom and ended up hiding in the woods with my boobs out trying to fix it, no lie.

Then I sat on the side of the lake for 45 minutes and watched the MILLION waves that were before mine go off.  (Seriously - that is my one complaint this year.  Don't announce the course cut offs a mere week before the race, and if you do, let your slower athletes go first.  Literally, the man who won the race was FINISHING while I was in the water.)

Got in line with my wave, saw the ex-work chick who was freaking out.  It was actually kinda nice - I get way more freaky for triathlons than I do for runs or rides, but I was totally zen in the face of her freak-out.  Got in the 75 degree water (lots of peeps in wetsuits, but I just don't get it for a sprint), lost my breath, lined up to the far outside but in the first row, and off we went!

I always forget how freaky open water feels.  It is weird to say that because I always intellectually remember.  I remember that I will be freaked and that it will be impossible to see and hard to breathe, but even though I remember it, the feeling always shocks me.

I put my face down in the water and started swimming and lost my breath and fought to keep it under control.  Breathing twice as often, self-soothe, try to find a smooth stroke, look up and sight, omg it is cold, arg I'm scared I'm off my line, sight, ack people everywhere, screw it just try to swim straight, keep breathing it will get easier, etc.  Basically all the way to the first turn bouy, where the number of people thinned out and I was freaking out less.  Sighting really jacks with me.  I am swimming the whole time afraid that I'm off course, and the mental questioning takes me away from focusing on the swimming.  It is so weird.  It is so different than normal swimming, which is massively peaceful for me!

Swim time: 13:09 for 2:37/100  (This was disappointing - I was expecting 11ish from my pool swimming.)

Ran in, grabbed water, slowed to a walk, 5 rows to bike, stand on towel, put on shades, helmet, run belt, dry feet, put on shoes, and done.  Loooooong run out of transition to the bike mount. 

T1: 2:50

Saw two people go down trying to mount and was infinitely pleased at how much better I am at biking.  I got on and it felt like an old friend at this point.  Just 15 miles?  Easy, not even a training ride.

BUT, need to make that cutoff.  Checked the time, knew I would make it, but set a goal to hammer anyways.  This is the best trained I've ever been on a bike, let's see how fast I can do a timed trial.

It turns out not that fast.  (I'll come back to this.)  58:53 for 15.3mph

For memory's sake, the course was mostly flat with some very mild uphill in the beginning, mild downhill at the end.  There was a headwind on the way out.  There are several several turns.  If you divided the course into 4 parts, for me it was slow, fast, slow, fast.

T2: 1:15

I'm actually not even sure why this is so long, except the awkward running with bike bit.  Literally all I had to do was rack the thing and take off the helmet and I was done.  I actually stood there stupidly for maybe 5 seconds thinking surely I forgot something because that was too easy.  And then out I ran.

Oooooh, the running.  No bricks yet this year.  No bricks in maybe 4 years?  Almost forgot the crazy noodley feeling in my quads off the bike.  Ran to the water stop, just to try to shake it out.  Then walked up a hill.  Then starting running again with a goal of running 4 minutes, then walking til I felt like I wasn't going to die, and repeating ad infinitum.

That was actually working pretty well for me.  When I was running I wasn't displeased with my speed.  When I was walking I was focusing on slowing my breathing and heart rate and just making it to the finish.

I started going back and forth with this woman.  She was running slow, so I'd pass her running, then she would pass me walking.  After a few times, she asked if we were going to keep playing tag and I said it looked like it.  So the next time, I asked her her name, told her mine, etc.  The next time I looked at her left calf and OMG y'all, she was 13 years old.  THIRTEEN.  What an AMAZING kid!  I struck up a convo with her and actually chatting with her got me running a bit more than I was planning on.  She does lots of triathlons and is a part of a team and knows kids as young as 10 doing it.  When we rounded the corner on the way back, she saw her people and I told her to go be awesome.  She finished about 100 yards ahead of me and waited for me to cross the line.  It was a total honor to get to run with such a determined young athlete.

35:20 for 11:19mph

I collected my well-earned medal and went in search of food and family.  Frankly, I was wandering around rather aimlessly in transition trying to figure out how to get to the food.  Finally made it and went through the line, getting one of everything, and still had no idea where family was.  I was guessing the playground, and while I didn't see them, I did see the camp chairs (BRILLIANT idea, btw), and collapsed and let them find me.  Sat around for quite a while listening to music and the awards and eating and watching Z play, then headed home.

Takeaways: Bring camp chairs for family, get better at using tri-suit, being well-trained for long distances doesn't make me speedy - time to get shorter and speedier, need hand-held hydration for the run, always get Z body-marked with my number, try a faster tempo with swim stroke, bring the Garmin for the run, I LOVE TRIATHLON!!