Metro Brokers Sprint Tri Race Report

My first race of the season is done, and for the most part it was a total blast!  The Metro Brokers Triathlon was a really small (only 131 people total), low-key sprint tri that was perfect for my first tri of the season.  I am so glad I decided to do it and I will definitely do it again next year.  Below is my race report and I must warn you that it's a little long!  For those of you who don't want to read the whole thing, here's a preview of what is to come:

Pre-Race:

I have to say that it was kind of strange having a race that didn't start until 6pm.  I was more anxious than nervous about the race, but all day my stomach had that queasy, nauseous feeling.  It was hard to eat and keep the water down because I just felt weird all day.  As the day went on, it got hotter and hotter (91 degrees to be exact) and I was hoping that we would get at least some cloud cover for our race.  

Since the race was so close to our house, I decided to just pack all my stuff in my TYR Backpack and ride my bike to the race.  Around 4, I got dressed, then headed out.  It took me about 20minutes to ride there and I arrived sweaty and hot.  I found a good place to rack my bike, set up my transition area, and went to packet pick-up.  While I was getting my packet, Kathleen from  Dare to Dream came up to me.  I was so happy to finally meet her that I gave her a hug.  :)  We chatted a little bit and then went our separate ways.  It was so hot in the transition area that I felt like my skin was burning (it wasn't thanks to gobs of sunscreen)!  I actually couldn't wait to get into the water!

With only 15min. till the start, I started to put my wetsuit on.  I have the DeSoto two-piece wetsuit, and while the bibjohn went on fine, the top was a nightmare!  For some reason I got my arms twisted, so when I went to put it over my head, it was a twisted mess.  I took it off and tried again, except this time I was sweating profusely and could not for the life of me get the darn sleeves over my hand!  I actually had to ask a volunteer to help pull it up my arm.  We did the best we could and I headed to the swim start.  As I was walking to the beach, I saw my husband ride up on his bike with the boys in the burley.  I was so glad they made it in time!   He snapped this pic just before I headed to the start.  See how my head looks wet?  Yeah, that's from sweat!  And see how my sleeves are so far down over my hands?  Ugh..I could not get them pulled up (can you foresee a problem with the swim?)

Swim:

There were 3 swim waves, and all the women (52 in all) were in the 3rd wave.  I tried to look for Kathleen to wish her luck, but everyone looks the same in wetsuits, goggles, and a swim cap and I couldn't figure out where she was!  We started on the beach, ran in between two swim buoys, then made a sharp left to swim out to the first buoy.  This made for a huge bottleneck right at the start and I got kicked in the face bad enough to knock my goggles off my right eye.  Thank god I put my goggles on under my swim cap because I think they would have come off completely!  That rattled me a little bit, so I did the breast stroke for awhile to calm down, then tried to find my groove.  I never found it.  Once you reach the first buoy, you turn right and swim parallel to the beach to the second.  There were crazy waves caused by the motorboats and jetskis that just kept pounding me.  And for some reason, I couldn't figure out how to swim through the waves without getting a gallon of water in my mouth each time.  I would be swimming, and then all of a sudden swallow tons of water.  Again, I would do the breast stroke until I got my breath back.  It sucked!  Plus, my wetsuit just didn't feel right while I swam and I just couldn't find my groove.  I was so discouraged and I just wanted it to be done.  I thought for sure I was going to be one of the last ones out of the water.  Finally, I reached the beach and ran up towards the transition area.  My husband got a picture of me running. Why are swim exit pictures so horrible?

Swim Stats:
Distance: 880 yds.     Time: 19:58 (includes running from the beach to the transition area)   
Swim Place: 77/131 (Boo!)


I know my swim time sucked, but honestly, I was so happy with that time.  With how much I struggled, I thought it would be a lot slower!  I'm still trying to figure out how to not let myself get so freaked out in the swim part.  Hopefully my next race will go much better.  

T1: Time:  1:35.  Ugh!  I was breathing so hard from the swim, had a hard time getting my wetsuit off, and was just frazzled, so this time was just blah!   
Bike:

I headed out of the transition area and just started riding as hard as I could.  I knew that I had a lot of time to make up from my horrible swim, and I knew that I could potentially pass a lot of people on the bike.  Because I ride the roads around Cherry Creek all of the time, I knew the course really well.  I knew when the hills were coming and where the flats were.  I got in aero position and just rode.  I passed a lot of people, including some men that were in the waves ahead of me, and I never once got passed!  Woohoo!  I was having a blast and I was loving every second of it.  Plus, this is what I found on my bike (it's kind of hard to see, but my husband wrote little notes on my bike.  It was perfect!).

Before I knew it, I was back at the transition area.  I heard my husband and boys cheering me on, and that gave me an extra boost of energy!

Bike Stats:
Distance: 12M     Time:  35:09     Avg. Speed:  20.5MPH      Bike Place: 34/131

T2:  Time: 1:05   I have to work on this time too.  I waisted time putting on my visor and race belt in transition rather than carrying them out with me and putting them on during the run.  You think I would know this by now, but I haven't raced since Oct. and I guess I've forgotten everything!  
Run:

By now, thankfully, there were a few clouds in the sky and it wasn't as hot.  This was awesome because the run course had pretty much no shade.  I took off running and my legs actually felt better than I thought they would.  Gotta love those brick workouts! :)  I felt a little slow, but when I looked at my Garmin I was running around 7:10.  Woa!  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't know if I could hold the pace, but I was sure going to try.  I saw several women in front of me and made it my mission to try and catch them.  I passed several of them, and then I saw the first woman coming back from her run.  I congratulated her and kept on going.  I was feeling really good, but at the turn around I really needed some water.  My mouth was extremely dry, so I stopped for two steps to drink some water (I cannot run and drink from a cup at the same time) and then started back up.  There were a couple of rolling hills on the course, but I actually liked it because it kept it interesting.  At one point I heard my husband behind me shouting, "You're doing great, you're almost done, keep going!"  It was great, because as I was getting closer to the finish, I saw two more girls that were in front of me that looked like they were slowing down.  I passed them, one after the other, and just. kept. running.  Pretty soon I could see the finish line and I saw my husband and boys on the side of the course ringing their cow bells saying, "Go, Mommy Go!"  I smiled, and waved and sprinted to the finish!  It was an awesome run!

Run Stats:   
Distance:  3.1M        Time:  21:10     Pace:  7:04/M      Run Place: 21/131

I was ecstatic when I saw my run time!  I couldn't believe that I ran at an average pace of 7:04!  Later, when I checked my Garmin though, it showed the distance as 2.85.  What?!?  And, Kathleen also mentioned that the run was short as well.  Bummer!!!  Even if it was short, I am still super excited about the run!

Post-Race:
I headed out to find my family and ran into the lady that won.  We chatted for a couple of minutes and she was super nice!  After getting some food and hanging out for a little while with my family, they announced that some of the results were up already.  We were getting ready to leave, but I told him I wanted to check my time first.  I headed over and found my name.  I scrolled across and I could not believe what I saw!  Under division place it said 1/10!  What?!?  I was so shocked that I actually asked some guy standing next to me if that meant I won my division.  I know, I'm such a dork!  I literally ran over to my husband and told him I won!  Woohoo!  He asked if I wanted to stay for the awards.  Since I've never won an award in a tri before and probably never will, we of course decided to stay!  By this time it was close to 8pm and our boys were getting a little loopy, but they were little troopers and got really excited when they found out I was getting an award!  Finally, they started the ceremony, and when they called my name I brought my boys up with me.  It was so cute!

Final Stats:
Overall Time: 1:18:56
Overall Place: 38/131
Sex. Place: 6/52
Div (30-34)Pl: 1/10










Oh, and check out the swag:

We didn't get a t-shirt, but I think a workout towel, Gu, Stay put hair bands, chap stick, medal, and a reusable shopping bag is pretty awesome for a small event!