Warming: be prepared for a ridiculously long recap and far too many photos of myself.
A 4:15 alarm is never a welcome thing, especially when you wake-up every hour wondering if it’s time for your fate to be determined. Soon it was time to roll out of bed and head to Morgan Hill for the Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon: 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike and 5 mile run.
(Triathlon tip from Coach Paul: apparently there is no “official” or “standard” distance for sprint triathlons. Technically anything less than an Olympic distance is considered a sprint. Who knew.)
As I rolled into the event I saw Chris McCrary, one of the leaders on the Forward Motion Race Club that I’m a part of, and he was quick to help me through the set-up process. Tape your number here, rack your bike there, etc. – he knew this was my first and it just the type of newbie support that I needed.
After a quick bathroom break and body marking, I wiggled into my wetsuit and made my way to the start of the swim with Chicken Face to watch the waves ahead of me take off. I nervously took a Gu and before you knew it, kissed Chicken Face goodbye and I was ready to go.
The Swim
As I stepped into the edge of the water, my feet quickly sank in the mud. Oh no. Mud = murky water. I put my head down and my suspicions were verified, I couldn’t see anything but green and my hands. Strangely, at least being able to see my hand brought some comfort. I swam out to the far right side of the buoys as it was a deep water start. Looking back, I should have spent this time warming up, but I thought my elevated heart rate was enough.
As the yellow caps went off, the pink caps made their way to the start. I stayed to the right (just like track, the fast folks go on the left) and within a matter of moments, we were off. There wasn’t much kicking, punching, touching or anything to be drama or panic-worthy. So I just swam and like clockwork, my heart rate was overwhelming me. NO. NO. NO! NO PANIC ATTACKS.
I knew in my head that this panic was unwarranted so I stopped, did some breaststroke, then flipped on my back for a quick moment to get my composure. It only took about 30 seconds but it was worth it because it worked. I flipped back over and counted. 1-2-3-breathe-1-2-3-breathe-1-2-3-sight/breathe-1-2-3-breather. It seemed to do the trick because from that moment on I found my rhythm and just swam. The swimming felt like it came naturally, as did my sighting, and I wanted to smile in the water.
The swim was actually around an island in the reservoir and as I rounded the corner, I sighted and could see the end of the swim. I did it. I had overcome my panic attack and went on to actually enjoy the open water swimming.
As I neared the end, I remembered the tips that my coach and friends had told me: keep swimming until your hand scrapes the bottom three times. As soon as I felt the ground, I popped up and started my way up the ramp while ripping the top half of my wetsuit off.
I heard Chicken Face cheering for me and I screamed at him, “What was my swim time?!” Apparently my watch didn’t start and I had no idea what my pace actually was.
He shouted “24 minutes,” back at me.
“24?!” I questioned.
“Yes!” he replied.
With a minor panic attack and a newbie swimmer, this was exactly the confidence booster that I needed. I slipped on my cycling gear (no gloves, no socks – lesson learned), switched watches (annoying) and took my baby on to the next leg.
Swim Time: 23:46 / 1:49/100 yard pace
Transition Time: 2:00
The Bike
Pumped with excitement from accomplishing my biggest fear, I made my way to the bike course and quickly popped into my aerobars. BOOM! Another fear accomplished and I stayed there for a majority of the ride (except photo ops and the hill climbs).
More than anything, this leg made me appreciate people who say, “On your left!” You can scream it at me, you can politely warn me, I don’t care, just say it. Because when I almost eat it from seeing a pothole to late so I swerve and you get pissed because I slightly swerved, well maybe you should have told me you were trying to pass!
I continued on my way and was fairly uneventful outside of the ridiculously good time I was having. I love cycling.
As I approached the transition, I could see girls getting out of their shoes while riding and while admirable, there was no way I was going to attempt that just yet.
Bike Time: 51:00 / 18.8 mph pace
Transition Time:1:25
The Run
Unsure of how my body would react by this point and given that it was an out and back course, I decided to try and maintain my pace at 7:00/miles and then decide as the turnaround how I wanted to pace the second half.
I started out with small steps until I quickly regained my balance and stride. When I saw other athlete’s ages on their legs, I kept an eye out for the 25-29 age groupers. As I reached the turnaround, my stomach was “sloshy” so I downed some ClifBloks and tried to increase the pace to sub 7 minutes.
As I rounded the corner, I ripped off my sunglasses and pushed it in. FINISHED!
Run Time: 34:38 / 6:55 pace
I crossed the finish line feeling fantastic. I wasn’t exhausted or tired, but instead, proud of this next step in my journey. To add to my excitement, I found out that I placed in my age group and couldn’t be happier.
Finish Time: 1:52:49
3rd in my age group, 23rd female overall
Overall, I felt fantastic and it reconfirmed why I’m on this journey. Taking risks, overcoming fears and pushing myself to new levels. I think I’m in love.
Next up…lessons learned from my first tri.
Happy Running!
Congratulations! Sounds like you had a great race, and an AG place to boot. and double congratulations on conquering the open water fears. can’t wait to read about the lessons learned
Congratulations on the great finish and the age group award! All of these bloggers keep doing triathlons … and loving it … might just inspire me to starting training for one.
That’s fantastic! Congratulations!!
You totally killed it out there, so excited for you!! You just got me all excited about trying a triathlon, I may just have to do one this summer
I better start working on the swimming asap…
Amazing job, Page!
Great job today and congrats on placing in your age group! It was great to finally meet you!
See you at Silicon Valley.
Yay, Page! This is so cool! Congrats!
Wow, this was so great to read, I love to see how you accomplish new things and get over your fears, you are a big motivation. Finally: big congratulations, you really did an amazing job! You kick ass!
Congrats! That’s amazing! Now I can’t wait for my first sprint
Congratulations to you!!
I’ve always wondered what the official sprint distance was since I’ve seen so many variations. Great job!!
I am so excited for you! That is amazing!!
Huge congratulations! Awesome job and looks like you had a good time, too. I hope you wore that medal to work today because I would – probably also toting pictures of me in a wet suit and telling people, “look, I’m legit.”
YOU ARE LEGIT! 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT to quote the famous philosopher, MC Hammer.
I’ll leave you with a story. Yesterday, my sis and I went to a 5K/1 mile fun run with a family I’ve babysat for years here (known both kids since they were born). 4 year old Chase did the 1 mile fun run with my sis (I did 5K with his sister) and afterwards was telling the other kids on the playground nearby that he won and they all lost. So, his mom went up to him to tell him to stop saying that because everyone is a winner. Chase replied, “Listen, only 3 people won. And that was me, Ally, Tanner, and Tanner’s mom. Everyone else was a loser.”
YOU WERE WON OF THOSE 3 PEOPLE THAT WON!
Page, this is wonderful! Congratulations
I love how HAPPY you look in these photos!
Congratulations on your awesome race!!!
congratulations!
Wow Page. That sounds like fun! You’re definitely inspiring me to want to do some triathlons. Congratulations on placing!
Damn, newbie! This is AWESOME! So glad you got the swimming confidence you needed, and psyched that your first tri was such a massive success. IS IT TIME TO GO TO ARIZONA YET?! Congratulations on kicking ass. So psyched for you!
AWESOME!!! Your swim time was fantastic for a new swimmer and same with your bike! And then you killed the run. I predicted you’d podium at your first race and I was right!
Oh yay!!! I want to sit here and say “I told you so!!!”, and I will, but more importantly I will say loved the recap, I admire your face-your-fear attitude, and what an incredible debut! You’re going to continue to kill it in your next (one or two or?) triathlons.
YAY!! I’m so happy for you and this huge success!!!!!!!!!!
Congrats! You are such a rock star!!
KICK ASS. I think this triathlon thing really agrees with you.
Awesome job! You freakin rocked it!! Way to overcome the panic attack and just do it!! Super job!!
my god page, you are a rockstar! congrats! keep it up, IMAZ isn’t gonna be ready for you!!!
Congrats on the race, sounds like overall it went perfect!
You rocked this race! Congratulations!! That’s an awesome accomplishment to a) overcome the swim b) rock the run and c) place ALL in your first tri!
Way to KILL IT out there my friend! I had no doubt you would but still… huge congrats!! So proud of you and can’t wait to see you continue to conquer these milestones!
Congratulations on a very successful first tri!
Congrats on a great tri and the AG place! Well done. SO glad the open swim didn’t cause too many problems and you were able to overcome your fear!
YEAHHHH you totally killed it out there! Way to face the challenge & fears head on. 2nd place too. Booyeah! Congrats, girl!
WOW!!! How inspiring!!!!!! Congrats on an awesome job well done, first for conquering your fears and secondly for the nice added touch of placing in your age group. This is motivation enough for me to get going on my goals, THANKS Page!!
awesome! Congrats! ugh, reading your description of the water gives me the heebie jeebies. I need to start getting in the ocean again. I dont think I”ll ever not dislike it, but hope it gets more tolerable with time.
Love your backwave finish chute pic!!
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I’m so glad you had such a good time in both regards of the race! You killed it out there and I’m glad it gave you the confidence boost you needed. Believe in yourself because you’ve worked hard and trained hard and you are only going to benefit more and more from it!
you did good, i enjoyed reading about your experience, i too participated (1st time, my age group 60-64)and i too was concerned about the swimming, in the end it was so much fun, i finished in 2:21:00, i need to improve my swimming.
see you in a future t-lon
You are amazing! Congratulations!! At this rate, you won’t have to buy any wine all year!
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