I did it, I TRI-ed! Woodinville Super Sprint Triathlon Report

Even today I am still feeling elated. This task which seemed quite impossible, even 28 hrs ago, now is one of my grandest memories. Not because I got a medal, or a super duper time. Not even because I only let Stacie beat me by a minute and 20 seconds or so (though that felt good too!) No, I am elated because I pushed my body through three different exercises (one of which I was slightly terrified to do) for over an hour and I didn't die. Nay, I even finished with a smile on my face! I set several goals and met them all. I had fun. I may be addicted. I may never want to do distances much longer than these!

Ok, lets start from the top so you can know everything that happened, cause I know you wanna and don't worry it's a super short post.

Friday, I was nervous. My belly was full, but my mind was racing and sleep was fleeting. Eventually it came, though was disturbingly interrupted by a Hayden Christensen dream that seemed oddly out of place. I did wake often to lift my sleep mask and peep at the clock only to realize it was not 3:15 yet. When my alarm did sound, I knew those legs weren't going to shave themselves so it actually only took me 4 min to get out of bed! By the time I was nearly ready and had scarfed down two pieces of peanut butter and honey toast, Coach was still not up, so I lovingly turned on the lights and blinded him awake. Oops, turns out his alarm had not gone off! We rushed to get the kids ready and by the time Stacie and Jason arrived we were only a little behind our 4:30 departure time. But don't we look excited to see 4:30 in the morning!

Hello bangs in my face!

 The ride was filled with nervous chatter and sleeping Jason's. My boys actually stayed awake most of the time which was not a good thing. We found our destination and just Stacie and I headed down with the bikes to check in and set up our transitions. Now, we had been promised sweet swag bags so I was trying to stay focused on that and not the sight of the water or racks of bikes, which may have sent me into hyper-freak out. The swag was decent. A bag, some dried plums, a water bottle, car blanket, and a chance at a wet suit (spoiler: didn't win).  After getting all marked (which I admit makes you feel pretty pro) we went to set up our transitions.

Me and Stacie muscle posing with our numbers

Luckily, I had seen enough pictures and watched Jesse enough to know what to do here. I was a little scared about racking my bike, though. What if I broke it or something? Good news, I didn't. We then took our time looking around to see our entries and exits, hit the restrooms, tried not to puke from nerves, and then headed back to the boys to stretch and give them our things. By this time it was getting close to go time, so we headed down, I said good-bye to Coach and the munchkins and the playground and left to get ready. This of course meant trying to get that darned swim cap on. While on I was working on it, the girl next to me (who was also looking nervous, I found out it was her first time too) started digging through her stuff and freaking out. Turns out, she left her socks. Me to the rescue! I told her I had some extras in the car, and she promised to be my best friend for life if I got them for her. Well, I always need more friends so I had Jesse run up and get them, and thanks to Laurie's giveaway, she had some pro socks to wear. So not really an important part of the day, but I do like feeling like a hero!

After getting my cap on and warm clothes off, we headed to the water to start, and my legs did not stop shaking. I sort of listened to the pre-race announcements, but mostly I was looking for my Mommy! Mine was to be the third wave, which I guess was good so then I couldn't possibly be the last out of the water right? I said bye to Stacie (I think, it's a blur now) and headed toward lake "I look freezing and may take your will to live!" Other girls were dunking their butts in the water so I figured why not? I lowered my ghetto booty down and let it touch the water only to have it rebel and instantly hate me for making it touch the water first! Soon the girl in front was waving her swim noodles to signal the start and we all started moving forward. Some girls dove right in, this was not me. I was not digging the chill so I took some steps first then gently lay forward until my upper body was under water, then began my stroke. Obviously, I got kicked some, and I did some kicking, but weirdly I kind of liked this part. I think as I get more competitive this could be my favorite part. Now nowhere did I have delusions of swimming fast, this part was always about survival. Keep a good pace so I never have to struggle or hurt myself. It actually worked out really well. Never needed a boat for aid, though the man a wave in front of me needed almost every one, and I never had to float on my back or tread water. Yes, this was only 400yds but still. I went back and forth between my made up stroke and the breast stroke, with my head out of the water of course. I passed a few girls that started out too fast and only got passed by 4 or 5 of the best swimmers from the wave behind me. Oh well. Go them! We got to the shore and I saw my boys and was happy to be done with this portion! Swim time goal 20:00. Actual Swim Time 11:49.6 (400 yds)Goal One and Two Complete.

Yes, Jesse made me slow down so he could get a pic!

 Now transitions, I knew would be my downfall. I walked everything until the actual pavement of the run because I did not want to risk hurting my sciatic early than I had to. Between this and taking my time to stretch and refuel my transition times were slow. T1 4:00.2

Once on the bike I felt oddly at home. Not at first, but once I started flying by people I did. I had never raced on a bike so I didn't know all the etiquette so I was trying to pay attention to what others did. At first I tried to stay away from big groups and was hitting my brakes, then I heard "Left" and someone flew by me. Oh, that's how it works. So in my timid little girl voice, I started saying "Left" to people as I passed them (yes on the left) and it was feeling great. That is until, we got to the backside. Stacie and I had chatted with a lady before hand who had mentioned the backside hills that she had to walk her bike up. Crap, I thought. I was really hoping for a hilly, not mondo hill course. So, when I came around the corner and saw a lady walking her bike up a hill, I dropped my gears and started pedaling. With a little effort I made it up. In my head I was really hoping that was the big hill. I mean it wasn't too bad. However, these grand dreams were soon dashed when the beautiful flat stretch we were on wound around a corner and I saw THE hill. On this one, several bikers were walking. Great! I dropped my gears again and pedaled my little heart out. Of course, since this course loops twice, the elites would just fly by all of us, standing up and showing off. If I tried to stand my poor weak legs would buckle and I would fall. So slowly pedal I did. I made it, but it wore me out. Whereas my legs were feeling great and fresh from the water, they now felt tight and exhausted. Fun for us, the course kept going up. It was not the best part, I didn't like the thought of doing it twice. The worst part, when it finally went downhill it was super downhill right into a left hand turn. Can you say we had to brake and lose all our momentum going right into some rolling hills? Well probably not three times fast, but that is what happened. The rest of it was fairly downhill to flat with some hills. Nothing I couldn't handle or didn't like. Coming around the first loop I looked for my fans and saw that my mom was there too. Awesome! So I shot her a smile and got a burst of energy and rode on.

My fans...currently not crying!

So knowing what was coming I prepared for THE hill the next time around. I decided to *gasp* push my bike up the second hill. It felt wussy, but I thought if I did it, then stretched my hammy's I could handle the rest of the hills better. Well, this turned out to be an awesome plan. Wussy, maybe? But it worked great for me. I felt much fresher the rest of the course and was able to pass people going up the hills and finish strong. Bike Time Goal 50:00. Actual Bike Time + T2 49:39.4 (10.2mi) (Their transition mat broke but I am assuming that T2 was around 3:00 putting my bike time at 46:39.4) So Goals Three and Four Complete. No pictures of me finishing here or starting the run, apparently Coach was putting up with this...

4:00 wake up times do not work for everyone!

Then came the maybe most dreaded run. I waited until the last second to start running for fear of what I might feel. To make matters worse I saw my youngest son crying in the stroller with no sign of daddy or big brother around. Umm, do I stop and get him or just go. Figuring this was a race and I better go I did. Adrenaline must have been pulsing through my veins because I was only feeling my hips. I told my legs to go and we did. Right away, there was a slight incline up to the road and all the runners in front of me were either walking or started walking. I don't know if they were tired or not used to the way it felt to run after biking, but it instantly became my goal to run the whole thing, unless I HAD to walk, no matter how slow I was running. And that is what I did. Throughout the race, their volunteers had been great about cheering us on and smiling and I just kept smiling back. I knew this distance wasn't very far. I had done this in a lot of pain before, I could do it now when it counted. We rounded the halfway bend and I began looking for Stacie, knowing I should see her soon, and within a minute I saw her bright green skirt. I started cheering like a mad woman and she grumbled something about feeling like she wasn't moving. Knowing how close she was, I couldn't let her beat me. Yea, I'm way too competitive for that, she may beat me in time, but to the line! I had some, probably too much, left in the tank so I picked it up and took it home. "Over the bridge and through the woods and you're there" a helper said. Sweet. Pick it up more. I saw the finish and for some reason felt dumb sprinting to the end so I didn't, just ran a bit faster, smiled at Jesse and crossed the line. Didn't even think to throw my arms up or anything, just took my medal, let them remove my chip and went on my merry way to see Jesse. Goal Run time 22:00. Actual Run Time 17:17.1 (1.6 mi) Goal 5 Complete

I told him Stacie was close behind so I was going to watch for her. Soon she was crossing the line and we had both finished our first triathlon! Oh, and I smiled a lot so Goal 6 complete!

Stacie coming to the finish!

Goal Finish Time 1:45 Actual Finish Time 1:22:46.3 That's right I smoked my goal time. Now, you may be saying none of my goals were very tough, and this is true. I didn't really know what to expect, but when I first wanted to do it, before I got hurt, my dream finish was under 1:30, and even then Jesse thought that might be tough for me. But, hey, I beat that too! The greatest and worst part is I really didn't even push myself to the limits, even in my current physical condition. I was trying my hardest to stay away from a bigger injury (which I think I managed) and always have enough to do the next part. That means that I should be able to kill this time in the future too!

After changing, eating a little (mmm, nutella), watching others get awards, and not winning a wetsuit, we (especially my boys, all of them) were ready to hit the road. We decided to drive a ways to let the little ones, and Jason again, sleep for awhile, and then celebr-EAT closer to home. I had really been craving some garlic fries and everyone was gracious enough to allow me to eat at Red Robin. The boys did good there too and the food was delish!

Peyton and Jesse, he really is a hero for taking care of those cranky boys all day! And he only cried once!

Stacie and her husband Jason

MMMM....Garlic Fries!

 We got home exhausted, all ready for naps, but super excited about what we had done. Thank you so much Stacie for being a great training partner and FRIEND. Jason...go get her a bike! I love being a TRIATHLETE!

Swim-11:49.6

T1- 4:00.2

Bike + T2- 49:39.4

Run- 17:17.1

Total- 1:22:46.3

202/285

11/12 AG