Third Tri's a Charm!

Saturday marked the start of my first full triathlon season and my third tri ever. And this time I would get to race in TF blue! Needless to say I was stoked and couldn’t stop smiling. This day was also particularly meaningful to me as my 19 year old brother would be participating in his first triathlon.

I woke up bright and early after a very restful night of sleep. My family, who had spent the night to limit drive time in the morning, was up at the crack of dawn as well. My dad kindly made my brother and I breakfast while we gathered our gear and loaded the car.

I was really surprised by the absence of butterflies in my stomach this morning. This was a first for me. I think the lack of nerves might have partly stemmed from the fact that my brother seemed to have enough for the two of us. I felt like I needed to be calm and relaxed for him to feel more comfortable. I think that ended up helping us both.

The drive to Issaquah was so great. I was enamored by watching the sun rise this morning. It was so glorious cresting over the mountains as I drove along I-90. What a beautiful start to the day.

We arrived to the race at 5:35ish, were greeted by Tory and Tracy in the parking lot (Can I just say that I love this team) and then checked in. Saw Kris who kindly helped me place my bike number on my bike and then told me to take off my tire changing kit and reflector as they just added weight (thanks for the tip!). After getting body marked, I headed into the transition area. I did start to feel a little rushed by this point as I didn’t realize how long everything would take especially when you’re trying to help out a first-timer, even though it is only your 3rd time and you’re still figuring things out yourself. Good thing my brother is pretty independent and managed to set up most of his transition area by himself. He was even smart enough to pick the premo racking spot on the end! Lucky!

I got my transition area set-up, grabbed my shoes, found Tracy, and went for a 10 minute warm-up run. I used to think people who spend any amount of time exercising or “warming-up” before the race were crazy. I would think “What are you doing expending precious energy before the race?” or “Why would anyone want to get into the water before you had to?” Now I just laugh at myself for thinking that. Warming up is so important. I felt loose, refreshed, and eager to race after my short run and swim warm-up!

Team prayer was great! What a perfect way to start my race. Seriously, the support from this team is incredible.

The Swim: Chaos! I was kicked, pulled, pushed, run into, etc multiple times but I confidently held my own. I never panicked! So different from my last race where I ended up swimming half of it on my back panting and gasping the entire time. As I rounded the first buoy I was hoping that a lane would finally open up as we were still clumped together and I kept swimming into road blocks (meaning other swimmers). I looked up after rounding the buoy and sighted my path with no swimmer in immediate view. I locked in and got in a groove. I was swimming pretty smoothly and felt like I was going at a great pace without expending too much energy. Every now and then I would brush up against someone to my left. It took me a couple of buoys, but I finally looked over and realized that I was totally drafting off of someone’s hip! That felt great, especially as I finished the swim in record time! A PR from my previous race by over 2:30 minutes.

T1: I located my bike easily thanks to the graduation balloon someone hung on the rack in front of mine. I exited my wetsuit in about 5 steps (still working on that 3 stage exit), slipped on my bike shoes, then glasses, helmet, and was off. I took a moment in the mounting area to clip my left foot in before pushing off and swinging my right leg over. For the first time I wasn’t frazzled, didn’t loose my balance, and most importantly didn’t drop my bike like I had before.

The Bike: My FAVORITE leg of the race! That no passing area in the beginning was rough! I wanted to pass so badly, but rules are rules. I caught sight of Tracy up in the distance once we turned onto East Lake Sammammish Parkway. Goal: catch and pass her. Reality: Easier said then done. When we came to the first hill, I passed a handful of people one of them being my brother. I didn’t realize I had passed him until he rode by me on the down hill while I was taking a drink from my water bottle. As he passed me he looked over and said, “I just love the down hills” I was like what, Luke! I quickly put my water bottle back and sped up to him, told him awesome job, and left him behindJ. There were 3 other riders that I kept ping-ponging with. They were great and so encouraging each time we passed one another. One of them even asked if Tracy and I were teammates. Then said “you should train together” I smiled proudly and said, “We do” At the turn around I finally caught and passed Tracy, but that didn’t last long as I was soon looking at the back of her Team Fastt jersey again and that was how it would remain.

T2: Amazing! Just last Wednesday I had no idea how to quickly mount my bike, let alone dismount my bike. After some practice, I was able to pull my feet out of my shoes, swing my right leg over and through, and taking off running with my bike still in motion. It felt so great to pass the 10 or so people dismounting their bikes as I came in. I do think I took my feet out too early, but that timing will come with more practice. I also realized that my toes were numb, making it a bit more challenging to stay on my shoes. I lost my footing a little when I first pulled them out and almost lost a bike shoe. Yikes! Got my heart racing for a moment, but I stayed composed and was able to regroup. I was out of transition in record time, :49 sec, for me and right on Tracy’s tail.

The Run: My LEAST favorite leg of the race. As we were running along path by the beach I saw Lisa snapping Tracy’s picture and then Lisa turned to me, took my picture, and then yelled “catch her!!” I totally tried, but “someone” had rockets attached to her shoes! My HR was in zone 4, 194-197 the entire time. I was hauling, well for me at least, but Tracy just kept getting further and further away. So I changed my focus to passing one runner at a time. I got an extra burst of energy at the turn around, picked it up, and sprinted the final bit through the trees to the finish line. My goal was to finish the run in 23:30 which I thought was still a stretch for me, but I ended up with a 22:19 run! I was quite pleased.

I ended up crossing the finish line in 1:12:06 which was over a 16 minute improvement from my last race! Aside from having a great race and a ton of fun, I loved sharing this day with so many teammates and friends!