My first triathlon experience...or is it?

This past weekend was supposed to be my very first triathlon...an 800m swim in Otsego Lake followed by an 12.2mi bike ride through the rolling hills and beautiful countryside and 3.1mi run.  As I've been running a lot this past year and going to spin, I thought it was only fitting to include my years being part of high school swim team and do my first tri.  I wanted one early in the season because I had a feeling that I would become addicted and wanted to do as many as I could for the rest of the season.  Well, my logic was flawed.


5 days before the race I got an email informing me of the bike course problem after a tractor hit the bridge on the course:

 At that point, I was like, "okay that's fine."

 4 days before the race, I got an email informing me of the water temp of 56F and predicted air temp on race day of 40F

At that point, I was like "okay this is fine.  56F swim is quite okay. Swimming was a winter sport in high school anyway, and our water was cold.  Plus I will have my wetsuit.  And I ran in the weather below freezing before.  Everything is good"

2 days before the race, I got an email informing it's now a good "training day" instead of the race because of the crazy cold weather:

 At that point, I was like "sure sure I'm fine with that. Yayy slower people like me..."

Later that afternoon as I was finishing up the packing list and all, I got yet another email, informing me that the swim is cancelled! It's now a duathlon:

I was very sad then...

Lesson learned #1: Early season tri = more chance of canceled swim due to weather.

Julia, my friend who was going to do the race with me, decided that she didn't want to do the race anymore.  It was very understandable that she didn't want her first tri to not be a tri.  Well, Julia was my ride as well, and because she wasn't going, I had to find another way to get there.

I took my dad's advice and got on the greyhound bus to Albany where my dad picked me up to go to Cooperstown, NY, where my parents live and where the tri/du was.  Because we weren't sure if my road bike would be allowed on the greyhound and whether it would fit into my dad's car, I didn't bring my road bike.  My dad was able to borrow a bike for me from our neighbor....the bike was a mountain bike.

My heart dropped.  I wasn't excited about biking the rolling hills on a mountain bike.  But I was already there, and my family and friends were really excited for my experience.

It had rained the night before so everything was  wet, especially the grass on the lawn where the transition area was.  The water got into my socks and shoes, and in the 40F (felt like 35F top), my feet were freezing.  I couldn't feel my feet during my first run, but the pace was somewhat okay.

I started the bike portion feeling somewhat okay.  I wasn't behind, but soon enough, more and more people passed me on their road bikes. 

Lesson learned #2: Mountain bike = bad idea on rolling hills

Also, I realized I never learned when it's appropriate to switch gears and what appropriate gears are.  I went as low as I could without losing control, but I don't think that's the right concept.  Cooperstown  is very hilly.

All but one person on road bike finished the course before I did, and that's because I sped up and cut in front of her; that was quite terrible of me.   I did finish before anyone else on mountain bike though.

My transition #2 went really quickly at 29 seconds, the quickest in my gender and 4th overall.  This is a funny thing to be fast at.

My second run went interestingly.  It took me over 1 mile before my feet didn't feel frozen any longer and my legs felt normal again. I passed a handful of people on the course.  My left shoe became untied 1 mile in, but I really didn't want to stop, so I just kept running.

Overall, I think it was a good learning experience.  I felt bad for my parents and Kate since I was probably not very fun to be around this past weekend because I was so stressed and overwhelmed.  That's actually something I want to work on while I'm at LGO.  My work experience has shown me that I love operations, but I need to deal with stressful situations better.

After the race, we did signtseeing around Cooperstown.  The weather on Monday was extremely beautiful; wish it were like that on my triathlon day.  I think I will give a tri another try before writing it off.

Also, do triathlons not give out medals???  I like shinny things! :P

On another note, 4 days left at work.  Less than 1 week til the start of LGO journey!