Third Tri!

Yes, that's right, this is my third triathlon and the second time doing the Whidbey Island Triathlon: "Race the Rock". This triathlon is a 1/2 mile swim, 19.5 mile bike and 3.8 mile run. Last year it was hard, but rewarding, this year just seemed hard.

I had a new challenge for this triathlon: I decided to get a wetsuit. I saw an informational video about how a wetsuit had changed this person's swim during his triathlon so I decided to give it a try. Thankfully, Holley was getting one for her birthday, so we were both going to try it together. We did one open water swim on the lake where the triathlon takes place and I could not catch my breath for the first third of the swim. It freaked me out! I was really worried about doing it on race day, but I knew I was definitely going to try it.

A note about this years results: While I can always get down to comparing times from last year to this, something changed. I got older, which means that I was in a different age group this year. Last year I was in the 30-34 year olds, which had 21 participants (and this age group has some fast women, the women who actually come in first place) and this year I graduated to the 35-39 which had 16 participants (which still has plenty of fast women, just the dynamics change slightly). So this year I really had only one goal: to do better than last year. Did I do it? Yes and no.

Here is the beginning where everyone is getting their gear ready, putting on wetsuits and getting their number marked on their body.
Here we are getting ready and getting our wetsuits on. James decided to do this race too, but had no wetsuit and it was some cold water on this morning. Andy and Heidi stayed on the sidelines and helped watch kids, do pictures and take care of all of our belongings. Thank you both, we definitely couldn't have done this without you two!I look pretty happy now, don't I? That's because I don't really know what's going to happen to me. Yet.Getting on a wetsuit is never an easy task.
Ayden wanted to come to me, but I was already wet by this time from a practice swim and the race was about to start. She wasn't very happy about that.Here we are just before the race. Don't we look confident?Here is James before the race. I'm not sure what this look is saying. I don't think it's his normal "I'm going to win this race" face.Here is James trying to get used to the water. Did I mention it was a little chilly?And off they go! James was in this first wave. Holley and I were in the third wave which started 8 minutes later.
Here I am coming into the finish on my swim. I did the crawl the entire 1/2 mile swim! That is the first time I have done that ever!Getting out of the water. Normally I would just have to remove my swim cap and goggles but now I have to remove my wetsuit too! Thankfully it went well and the wetsuits come off A LOT easier than they go on.I did my swim (and I felt great the whole time too!) in 21 minutes and 39 seconds. 3 minutes better than last year's time! I came in 10th place in my age group compared to 20th last year.This is in Transition 1 (T1) where we had to remove our swim caps, goggles and wetsuit and put on our socks, shoes, bike helmet, sunglasses, and shirt with race number. I managed to do all this in 4 minutes and 28 seconds which is up over a minute from last year which took me 3 minutes 12 seconds. I did have the new wetsuit though!Here I am heading out on the bike. This bike route is two loops around a very hilly area and in the first loop I felt good. Not super fast, but good. The second loop however. . .. . .just about killed me. I got this MAJOR cramping/stitch in my side that hurt so bad I thought I would probably have to drop out of the race. I couldn't take a full breath in, it hurt so bad! I was pedaling the bike so slow an old lady on a MOUNTAIN bike passed me. (no, that is not an exaggeration!) Here I am almost finished with the bike portion. Only 5 miles left to go. I finished the bike in 1 hour 36 minutes which was (surprisingly) not last in my age group but was 13th. Also (surprisingly again) I did better than my last year's time by about 2 minutes. I would have done even better had I not felt so bad, I'm sure of it.
You can't see the T2, we didn't get a picture but I did my second transition where I just had to put my bike by my number, remove my helmet and put on my hat in 1 minute 40 seconds better by about 50 seconds from last year.

Here I am coming in from my run in 53 minutes and 45 seconds in 16 (yep, last) in my age group, which is still better than last year by about 3 minutes. Overall I finished the race in 2 hours and 58 minutes which is seven minutes faster than last year! So, in that sense it was a plus! But I still finished last in my age group overall, which was a bust. It was a crappy race but at least I finished.
The kids had fun playing while I was in agony.Wrestlemania!Successful triathletes!
So, this race is done and now for Andy and I to do the City Chase Seattle next weekend. I am so looking forward to it and can't wait!