My very first Triathlon! Wahoo! I can officially call myself a triathlete! This race was recommended to me and was definitely a good starter for my first triathlon. This race took place on Mother’s day this year and was located at Lake Anna State Park. Now I felt very unprepared for this race. When I say unprepared I mean I hadn’t swam in few months and I had just gotten my speed clips and shoes for my bike just a few days prior. Talk about waiting to the last minute! (so unlike me).  It took me forever to find a good pair of shoes and I ended up going to 3 different bike stores. The last pair I almost did not buy because they were pink on the inside. I am very picky when it comes to the color pink, but I really needed a pair and just had to give in *sighes*. When I bought my shoes I made sure to practice clipping in and out on the trainer. I wanted to try practicing outside, but I could see a big storm making its way through so the trainer had to do for now.

The day prior to the race I signed up for the swim clinic to practice swimming in my wet suit.  I knew the swimming portion was going to be my biggest challenge out of the three. Boy was I glad my cheap tail did the clinic because I was not use to swimming with a swarm of people and getting kicked and hit in every direction! God that would have been so stressful if I waited till race day.  It felt like we were in a sea of swarming fish just fighting to survive. It made me a little anxious at first, especially being in cold open water, but I told myself to keep going. It really helped that I was a swimmer growing up as a kid, so I am glad I still had it in me. I felt like a little penguin with my wetsuit on, like I was wearing a layer of blubber. That thing was so dag on tight on me it felt like it was a little harder to breathe, but hey it helped keep me warm in that cold open water!  I suffered swimming through 2 laps of getting kicked and grabbed and felt decently confident for the race.

It had been raining pretty heavily all week. We lucked out with nice weather for the swim clinic and race day. After the swim clinic I went home and wanted to try out my cleats. I did a quick ride around the neighborhood and felt okay clipping in and out. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. It may have helped that a coworker told me to accept falling on my face (which thankfully hasn’t happened yet! *knock on wood*).

Race morning I set up my bike with the rest of my stuff at the transition station. I left my phone in the car so I was unable to take pictures of the set up, I do apologize! The start of the race took place on the beach which can be seen below:

This video gives an excellent view of the entire swim! I am somewhere among the many people. The 750m swim was not as bad as I thought it would be, especially with my lack of swimming to prep for this race. Surprisingly enough, I do not belong to a pool and only went twice as a guest with a friend. The practice swim the day before really helped me. I was very thankful for the wetsuit trippers at the end of the swim! It would have been impossible for me to take my wetsuit off on my own with how dang tight that thing was on me. Next up was the bike portion.

I ran up to the transition station and jumped into my bike shoes. I did not bother putting socks on and tried to be in and out as fast as I could. I had no problems clipping in my bike and was off. The 11 mile bike ride went through the entire park. The one thing I regret not having was sun glasses. The pollen, dirt and bugs started getting to me and I had to keep looking down at the road to protect my eyes.

After the bike ride came the run. I dropped my bike off at the transition station and jumped into my tennis shoes. I realized I accidently clipped my bib through my entire shirt so I could not just quickly throw it on. I was a little mad at myself for that so I had to quickly unpin it and re-pin the bib back on.

This was bad transition for me. After biking 11 miles my legs were not use to hopping off a bike and then running. What made it even worse was that we were running straight up a hill. My legs were very tight and I had to stop a few times just to stretch them out. I took that run pretty easy, especially after just swimming and biking. I was also not wearing any socks so that added to the discomfort. The last part of the run was on the trails which I was too excited for and began to increase my speed towards the end.

When I crossed the finish line, I was happy to officially call myself a triathlete! I knew I had it in me!

I realized I did not have any pictures of the race so after I finished I took my bike over to the lake for a quick picture before heading home for Mother’s day! The music video below gives a good recap of the race! At around the 1:55 mark, I was in the transition station putting my helmet on for the bike portion when the drone flew right over me. At the time I thought a massive bee was flying towards me and I got a little scared! Was not expecting a drone to fly by at all, but the footage came out quite spectacular!