Officially a TRIATHLETE!

It's taken me a few days to come down off the high from this past Memorial Day weekend when I made the jump from runner to triathlete by completing the CapTex Tri on Monday in downtown Austin.

We had originally planned to leave on Saturday so that I could go to the expo on Sunday and then do the race on Monday.  It's about a 3 hour drive from Dallas to Austin (longer for us because we hit traffic).  At the last minute we decided to leave Friday afternoon instead. 

The race was one in a series of races put on by Lifetime Tri.  They were hosting an open water swim clinic at a Lifetime Fitness on the northern side of the city Saturday morning, so this was a big reason for our change in plans.  I am really glad I went.  The swim was in a small private lake and the water temperature was close to 80 degrees.  The water was calm and relatively clear and it felt great.  If you are a member of that gym, you can swim in the lake any time -- I would absolutely love that.  Anyway, they had buoys set up around the lake and tons of lifeguards on the water.  One lap was just under half a mile.  I chose to join the intermediate group and the instructor answered any questions we had about the race before sending us off.  He had us check in after our first lap around but I felt completely fine.  I took a quick break and then proceeded to swim four continuous laps around the lake before calling it a day.  I figured if I could swim that far without any issues, then I was in good shape.

Ready for another open water swim

On Sunday we made our way to the expo around lunchtime to pick up my packet and attend the athlete briefing.  The expo was fairly small with only a couple vendors, so I was in and out pretty quickly.  We brought my bike over to check it in to transition a little later in the afternoon.  Things were starting to get real!

Bike's ready!

I didn't have the best night's sleep Sunday night.  I was most nervous about the bike portion of the race.  I had done a lot (ok, almost all) my training indoors on Zwift and so handling the bike outside and keeping enough distance between myself and others was a concern.  I did get some sleep before I was up at 5 AM and out the door by 5:30.  It was a short walk over to transition and once I got there I set up all my stuff.  I had rehearsed in my head so many times what I needed to do at each transition and laid everything out just as I wanted it. 

It was a warm morning and I avoided putting my wetsuit all the way on until the last minute.  Transition closed at 6:40 and the Olympic distance race (which I was doing) began at 7:00 (there were also sprint and supersprint races that followed).  It was a time trial wave start for age groupers, and I was in the 17th wave so didn't start until close to 7:30.  The waves moved pretty quickly and soon it was my turn to stand on the edge of the dock and then jump in the water.  And I was off...

The swim portion took part in Lady Bird Lake (really part of the Colorado River) and the water felt cold initially (it was 71).  However, I settled quickly into a rhythm.  I felt confident in my swim and before I knew it I started passing people in the waves ahead of me.  I came out of the swim in 29:38 at a pace of 1:59/100m.  I'm very happy with that.

Getting the wetsuit off was the longest part of T1, but I was soon running with my bike to the mount line and off I went.  It was a four loop course through downtown Austin for the Olympic distance.  I was careful and cautious on the first lap, but as my comfort level increased, so too did my speed with each successive lap.  My time on the bike was 1:24:54 -- this will probably be my biggest area for improvement.  Looking back, however, the bike wasn't nearly as bad as I had worried it would be.  You never forget how to ride a bike and I think with more outside riding I'll only continue to get more comfortable and faster.

Getting it done on the bike!

T2 was much shorter as I switched into my running shoes, clipped on my bib number and took off on the run.  It was getting hotter and the first thing I noticed was that people seemed to be struggling with the run.  I was certain I was going slow but I refused to look at my watch (turns out I wasn't).  I just focused on continuing to run and I was slightly surprised that I kept passing so many people along the entire course.  I knew that this was the easiest part for me coming from a running background and if I made it this far then I would be crossing that finish line very soon.  It was a 2 loop run course and toward the end of the first loop I saw Mike among the spectators cheering me on.  That was another boost.

Feeling good on the run

And then I was in the home stretch -- about to officially accomplish what I had been working toward these last several months.  I finished the run in 40:58 (I was 28th out of over 700 on the run part!).

I felt so strong crossing the finish line -- I had done it!!!  I am a triathlete!!!  My final time was 2:43:06 -- I am more than happy with that for my first triathlon!

Finished!

I got my medal and a cold towel and chugged the bottle of cold water they offered.  Of course I made sure to get my picture taken with the medal!

Obligatory medal picture

This was an awesome race and I would definitely consider doing it again (or other tri's that Lifetime Tri puts on).  And I am definitely hooked on triathlons.  The training is so much more enjoyable to me than just constantly running all the time.  

I will continue to do some running races (Berlin marathon), but for now I think triathlons are more my passion.  My plan is to do at least 1-2 more Olympic distance triathlons this summer before I tackle Ironman 70.3 Boulder in August.  I am totally confident that I will be ready for that and am very excited about what the next couple months hold!

The finish line and transition area in downtown Austin

Another open water swim and what's next...

On Saturday morning, once again I got up early and drove out to Lake Lewisville for the open water swim.  Since we could choose which of the groups to join, I decided to try the intermediate/advanced group.  The water was a couple degrees warmer than two weeks ago, and it didn't feel nearly as shocking.  I'm starting to believe them when they say it will be very warm by the middle of summer.  As part of this group, we swam a triangle around two different buoys before heading back to the coach on the shoreline.  It was a bit of an initial adjustment to swimming much longer distances continuously in deeper water, and for a few moments I considered going back to the beginner group.  However, I stuck with it, calmed my breathing and got my swimming into a rhythm.  Once I got to that place, I had no problem with what we did. 

After a few warm up laps, most of our time was spent swimming in small groups with one person sighting to the buoys and the other people sighting to the leader.  We all took turns being the leader.  It was actually much easier just staying near the leader and sighting to him or her rather than looking ahead to where the buoy was.  It might be a good strategy in a race situation.

At the end of the session, the coach asked me if I came from a swimming background and what my next race was.  I told her I came from a running background and I was doing my first triathlon at the end of the month.  She said that if I could swim and run, the bike would be easy.

So, yes, a triathlon is officially my next race.  My training has been going in this direction for months, and with Boston behind me I am focusing even more on swim/bike/run.  After the training cycle leading up to Boston, I think I burned out on running all the time and I am really drawn to the more balanced approach of triathlon training. 

I selected the race I did because I wanted my first triathlon to be a bigger one -- I thought it would be more exciting and memorable.  (Our first running race in Chicago was a big event and look what that started for us).  We are going down to Austin for the CapTex Triathlon Memorial Day weekend (and even bringing Scooby along with us!).  I'm very excited -- and looking ahead to more triathlons this summer and in the future!

I'm second from the left playing with my watch -- time for a Garmin???

Group picture before the swim