Tri-Sprint; DONE!

I’m laying in bed, just thinking about this past weekend.  Truth is, I’m far too tired from it to write a full post, so I will most likely finish this tomorrow.  But, I am sitting here with this new found feeling of pride.  I tend to push things off that I’m proud of, let them roll off my shoulder like I would an insult or an every day thing.  But, Saturday was a monumental day for me.  I mean, a year ago running twenty feet was a problem and yesterday I conquered a mother loving tri-sprint.  That is a feat to be proud of.  That is something that deserves a few moments of amazing reflection and an actual personal mental pat on the back.  To me it just shows, it may take a while, but pretty much anything is do-able if you put your mind to it.  I’m just really proud of myself and that is something that I don’t think I’ve been for a long while.  More so, I’m beyond excited to keep going and just push myself further.  I always thought I’d just want to be a tri-athlete and yesterday I was and that is really fucking cool.

OK- back to the normal post…

AHHHHHH!!! I did it, Saturday I finished my first ever triathlon sprint and it was awesome!  I just loved it so much.

Crystal, Ben, Lillie and I left NYC around 330 Friday, we had to get to the race site by 8PM to pick up our race packets.  Jolene was about an hour or so ahead of us.  Thanks to traffic, 4 hours later we finally rolled up to the site.

Getting out of the car, Ben told me that he and Lillie had a surprise for me.  He pulled out Fit Journey bike jersey’s and two Fit Journey shirts for Lillie.  There couldn’t have been a better gift in the entire world, period.  So thrilled.

That night, I started to go through my tri bag.  Wet suit, check, tri shorts and top check, ear plugs, yup.  Holy shit!  where are my sneakers?  Oh, not to worry, they were just sitting at the door IN MY APARTMENT! OK, maybe time to worry.  My heart sank, my holy eff I’m the dumbest person in the world feelings poured over me.  Who does that? Who leaves one of the most pivotal pieces of tri-gear at home?  This girl right here.  Ben told Crystal that night, I went through about nine emotions in five minutes.

I got up thinking that I would just use this tri as a practice see what it is like.  Learn about transitions and go from there, just not hitting the run.  All I could think about was how I was disappointing everyone who helped me train bc I was so dumb.  As we are leaving, all of a sudden size 11 sneakers appeared from the sneaker Gods out of nowhere.  I’m a size 9, but I did not care.  They were my solution and I was using them.

Car line on the way to the tri

The ride to the tri was good, dark and quite.  There were lots of cars in the pitch black with bikes racked to the back.  When we got to the race we unracked our bikes and headed to the transition area to set up.

This is the perfect race as your first tri experience.  So many people were there for the first time, learning how to set up their space and, many, totally freaking out.  After we set up Jolene, Crystal and I just stood around and chilled. It was cold and all three of us didn’t bring flip flops, so we were bare footed in the cold.  Good times.  Jolene and Crystal made sure to make fun of me because I was far too calm and not freaking out at all.

Finally it was time to line up.  AHH!  I couldn’t wait.  We were in the second heat, after the “challenged” athletes.  We got in the water and waited for our turn to tread up to the start line.  The water was actually quite a bit warmer than the air, so it felt nice.  Next thing I know we were off, I took my swim slow and steady just like my swim coach Earl told me to.  As he said to me,  “just remember that moving slow in the water can sometimes move you faster THROUGH the water”.  The slower I kicked and the more I elongated my body the faster I went.  I definitely did not have the right wetsuit for this swim, but that was OK.  The hardest part of the swim was when the heat behind us – the men’s heat- went and just pummeled us.  Ran over me, on top of me, to the side of me, if I didn’t have a foot fetish before (I didn’t), I now hate feet more than ever.  ew!  I took a moment at that point, let the rush pass and went on my merry way.  I wasn’t trying to make time in this bad boy, just finish.

Coming out of the water

Jumping out of the water, I felt good.  I ran to the transition area, wiped down my feet, threw my socks and bike shoes on, helmet on and clipped, grabbed my bike and I was off.

The bike had it’s ups and downs.  I downed a Cliff Gel in the first five minutes to give me that added burst of energy to my ride.  The 12 miles went pretty quickly, lots of people passing me, I passed a few.  I was having trouble speeding up and sprinting, but that is something I’ll have to work on now.   This was one of the most beautiful bike rides I’d ever taken, there was one point where we were going on the edge of the water and it was absolutely stunning.  I had to remind myself that I was in a race and that it wasn’t time to slow down a look.  I was shocked to find out that I had finished the swim before both Jolene and Crystal.  On my bike, I saw them both.  Jolene was about two miles behind me on the bike… for about five minutes. I knew she was going to lap me any second and BOOM! There she was flying past.  Amazing.

The second transition I took my time, racked my bike, took the helmet off and slowly changed my shoes.  Size 11’s baby!

The run was MISERABLE, there is no other way for me to put it.  I haven’t run in about 5 wks and WOW could I feel it.  I was moving slow and once we hit the uphill I felt like I was on a treadmill with the incline all the way up – going nowhere and feeling miserable.  I hit the top of the hill and I had to tell myself over and over “you got this” Shockingly, it worked.  The moment I hit the second mile of the run I knew I was about 10-12 minutes from being finished with my first tri.  WHAT A FEELING!!!

The 400 meter sign sparked my energy and I hit the last two minutes of the run hard.  I was so excited to pass that finish line.  BOOM 1:49:13 finished.

I couldn’t believe it.  I’ve crossed only three finish lines before this (all in the last year), but this was one that I was proudest of.  So thrilled!

Yesterday I went for a really nice ride on my bike, but it was different.  I felt proud to be on that bike and like I now understand the reason I’m riding.  I want to ride to get better and to compete more.  Will I ever place in a tri? Who knows, but I can sure beat my personal best over and over and over.

Huge congrats to everyone who finished this killer race this wkend and to my two partners in tri-crime, Jolene and Crystal who crushed it.

Cannot wait to train more, harder and just keep going.

xx

Julia

#FITJ