Waist Management: Crossroads Sprint Distance Triathlon - DeWitt, IA

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Crossroads Sprint Distance Triathlon - DeWitt, IA - Saturday, August 2, 2014

I wasn't going to do this race this year. I hadn't signed up for any triathlons at all. I wanted to, but the first one of the year that I thought about was on a day that I was in Ohio. The next one was a super hilly one that I did last year that I'll probably never do again, just didn't enjoy the run course at all. The next one was the week before my marathon and as awesome as Quad Cities Tri is, I just couldn't do a race like that 1 week before a long running race. There were others, but they happen to fall on Sundays and I don't race on Sundays. Then there's this one. It's well organized, in a small town and just plain fun. I planned on it, but then dismissed the thought and decided not to do a tri this year. I have been feeling spent ever since my marathon. I've still been swimming, biking and running, just having felt that into it. I signed Jason up to do this over a month ago. He has told me that he will do this triathlon every year as long as he isn't injured. I was going to just go as support and take pictures. Then he mentions to me a few days ago that the race had 20 spots left. I checked the weather for Saturday and it seemed favorable for a triathlon. I decided on a whim to just do it. I asked him to sign me up since I was on my way to work. He did just that, he signs me up and then I have second thoughts like, "What was I thinking?"

If you are confused at this point and don't know what a Sprint Distance Triathlon is, first you swim 500-600 yards, then you bike 12-15 miles, then you run a 5k. This particular course said the swim was 500 yards, although a guy with a triathlon watch said it was closer to 600 yards. The bike was 15 miles and then it was a 5K distance. If you think this sounds easy, then please sign up for one and try it. When I got out of the water I was thrilled beyond anything I can describe. I was so happy to finish the hardest part of a triathlon for me.

This was the first time I felt comfortable in the water and that is a complete miracle. The first 5 outdoor triathlons would go like this: The gun would go off for us to start and my heart would start to race, my breathing would be out of control. I felt like I was going to die, literally right there, drown and be gone, swallowed by the lake. I felt like I was having either an anxiety attack, or a panic attack. It was horrible. Every single time I would flip to my back and swim backstroke, not knowing where the heck I was going and thus running into people a lot, having to flip over a lot to see where I was going and re-direct myself again and again. This time at the first first part of the swim I started breathing weird, thought I was starting to have a panic or anxiety attack. I flipped to my back and floated for a couple seconds, said a prayer that everything would be fine and then proceeded. To my surprise when I flipped back over my breathing was normal. I could put my face in the water. I could swim normally. All was well in the lake. I wasn't going to die. The bike and run went well. I could have pushed a little more on the bike and run, so I know for next time that I can give a little more. Transition 2 was only 29 seconds so that is a personal record. Sweet.

Here are the Results if you have to see them!

A friend of ours named Elaine and her two daughters were there. Elaine participated in the race and actually won 1st in her age group. Her daughters snapped TONS of pictures so here are a bunch to look at.

Kind of scary when you get to the lake that you will be doing the triathlon in the next day and you see this sign. Gross.

Signs like this telling you where everything would be.

The bike transition place.

Signs like these were already up in all the places and all the transition places were set up with our race numbers on the poles. Everything was so well organized.

Front of shirt.

Back of shirt.

The place we had to swim in. It was a fishing pond. Gross. Look FAR out to your left for an orange buoy and that is where we had to swim first, then we take a right turn and swim all the way to the right orange buoy and then swim in.

The morning of the race. Jason and I wearing our Tri Suits. You can swim, bike and run in these. Jason wore a wetsuit for his swim, but I chose not to this year

Our results. As you can see my division said I was 4th, however the top girl in my age group won overall, then the 3rd girl in my age group was actually in the Athena division so that bumped her out, which made it so I was 2nd place in my age group out of 7. Not bad!!! A sweet suprise.