First Triathlon - Anthem Holiday Classic VI

The Anthem Holiday Classic on 12/8/07 was my first triathlon.  I was very nervous and excited as the race approached, and very thankful that I was going with some fellow TriCats so I wouldn't be alone.  The weather worried us, raining the night before, but we lucked out with overcast skies and only a couple light drizzles during the race, leaving the roads mostly dry.  Sean (another TriCat) and I drove up the night before and stayed at Geoff’s (another teammate) mother’s house.  This worked well as we only had to get up at 6:00am instead of 4 or earlier.

The day of the race the three of us drove to the event and met Nick (another TriCat) for a total of four of us in the men’s race.  It was nice to have teammates to chat with as we got ready.  Also, it was Sean’s first triathlon as well, so we were in the same boat. Our fifth TriCat, Liz, arrived as two of us were still waiting to start the swim; she was signing in for the women’s race, which started later.

I was fairly confident in my abilities in each of the events individually based on training over the past three months.  The question was whether I could stay at my usual pace having to do all three.  My primary goal was simply to finish, hopefully under two hours and not dead last.  As my teammate said, I blew my expectations out of the water.  I finished in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 28 seconds, at 164th out of 237 participants.

The race started with a 400m comb/serpentine style swim, starting one swimmer at a time self-seeded from fastest to slowest.  I was worried about sticking to my calculated time of 9:15 based on my last time trial so I placed myself, approximately, in the 9:30 - 10 minute range.  I started a little too hard on the swim, but realized that after my first or second lap and paced myself a little.  I don't recall getting passed and only passed a couple people, so my placement turned out to be good.  I felt a little low on energy - we had a light breakfast before heading to the race at 6:30 AM and I didn't have anything else before starting around 9:50 AM.  My swim time was 9:13, so I managed to stick to my time trial pace, which I was very happy with.

In T1 I had a gu to get some energy, and between that, being slow, and struggling a little with getting my bike gear on, I spent 5:16 in T1 - clearly I need to work on my transitions, but for my first race I wasn't concerned with them.  The bike course was a fairly fast 22k, although about half of it was slightly uphill.  I was surprised to pass a few people, and not so surprised to be passed by some - including Sean (who had started after me in the swim) during the second lap.  I managed to finish in 55:18, averaging about 15mph, which is good for me.  I think I may have held back a little on the bike to save energy for the run, which was probably good.  I just don't know if I could have put a little more effort in the bike and still done the run as well as I did.

T2 was faster than T1, but still slow at 2:44.  I downed another gu, which I probably could have done as I ran (live and learn).  A couple of my teammates were there and they cheered me on (Geoff having finished, Liz waiting for the women to start).  The run course was 5k with some hills.  My legs hurt a little for the first .5 mile or so, but as I got into it they felt a little better.  I made it a point to thank the people at the water stations as I grabbed a cup, having worked at one before.  I managed to pass a few people, who were mostly walking or jogging.  I got a little scarred (apparently in the last mile or so) when I saw someone with a race number running the other direction on the opposite side of the street.  I thought, "There can't be that much more, can there?  I'm not going that slow, am I?"  Fortunately that wasn't part of the race (I don't know if he was doing a cool down or what).  My run time was pretty good for me, 33:59; roughly 11 minute miles.

Crossing the finish was a relief and a surreal.  I couldn’t quite believe I had done it; I thought maybe I had missed something.  At various points of the race I had thought "Wow, I'm really doing this," so finishing made it real.  The finish line itself was an inflatable black arch (with a photographer in front) and various spectators along one side, all right after a water-logged tunnel.  Right after finishing I went straight for the water and food where I coincidentally found Geoff, Sean and Nick.

Overall I enjoyed my first triathlon tremendously and learned a lot.  I know some areas I need to improve on, what I’ve been doing right, and what to expect in future events.  Most importantly, I know I have the TriCats and our coach to thank for getting me through it.  Without the support and education I got from all of them, I never would have finished a triathlon, let alone held my own in one.  Now I’m looking forward to next semester and going to events with more of the team!