I finished triathlon number two! The Nianic Bay Triathlon put on by the Hartford Marathon Foundation. Have I said how much I love their races? I love their races! This was an awesome sprint triathlon with an ocean swim.
The week before the race I attended a group preview ride of the bike course. It was nice to know exactly what the course was going in. If I can always find a way to preview the bike course I think it will go a long way towards calming my nerves.
The night before the race, Michy, the kids, and I stayed with her parents on their boat in Mystic, CT. That way we would only be about 30 minutes from the race, instead of the hour and fifteen or so it would be from our house. It meant more sleep! Hooray. We had a lovely night walking around Mystic and had a wonderful dinner before heading to bed as early as possible. It was a bit difficult to fall asleep with both kiddo in bed with me, but I did manage to get some rest. I wasn't quite as nervous as I was before the IronGirl, so I think I slept a bit better.
We got up at about 5am and were on the road by 5:30. I had some coffee, coconut water, a banana and a almond flour muffin to get some fuel. We arrived in Niantic around 6am.
Pre-Race: Parking was at a nearby church, just a short walk from transition. I got the bike out of the car and pumped up the tires before we headed down. Packet Pickup went smoothly and I got my snazzy pink swim cap. I would be in the third of five waves.
I left the kiddos with Michy (luckily there was a nice playground to keep the Munchkin occupied), and headed towards body marking and then found my transition spot. The rack for my number was right next to where you came in from the swim and from the bike, so I had a great easy to see spot. Once my area was set-up I headed back to the playground and had about a half hour to kill. It was a pretty chilly morning, so I tried my best to keep warm. I was definitely wishing I had a wetsuit. The water temp was 71, which was fine but not exactly pleasant.
Ian and Micah met up with us to cheer me on and help entertain the kiddos. Soon it was time to head down to the beach.
Swim: 1/2 mile: 16:58
The first two waves were the men, my wave was women under 44, the fourth wave was women over 44, and I think the last wave was relays and first timers. The waves were 4 minutes apart.
At Irongirl I stayed towards the back of the group for the swim start, which was a mistake. This time I went towards the front but off to the side. I didn't feel nearly as trapped. I was, however, a bit shocked by the cold. I'm used to swimming at either the 82 degree pool, or the local state park lake which is pretty warm. This felt so cold. It took me a couple minutes to catch my breath. I was able to swim without feeling like I was kicking or bumping into someone, so that was good. I did quite a bit breast-stroking until I warmed up, but then I was able to get into a good freestyle groove. The first 100-200 yards was full of seaweed. yuck! It felt kinda gross, but at least there were no jelly fish.
I felt pretty good about the swim. I caught and passed a few guys from the wave before me. Ian was there at the end of the swim taking my picture and let me know I was around the top half of my wave.
T1-1:57
The transition area was closer to the beach in this race that it was at the IronGirl so that helped my time. I just moved as quickly as I could. headband on, helmet on, wipe down feet, body glide feet and slip on my cycling shoes and I was off!
Bike: 12 Miles 43:48
Going to the preview ride was a great idea, because I knew the course started with a pretty steep hill. So I had my bike in a nice easy gear, while it was obvious some people were struggling with harder gears. I even passed people.
It was a bit chilly and a little drizzly. I don't have much (ok any!) experience with riding in the rain, so I held back a bit because I was worried about slipping and wiping out.
It was a pretty enjoyable bike course, really beautiful area, and only two really significant hills. On the second big hill there were some locals who were watching from their yard- cheering everyone on and blasting "Eye of the Tiger." That definitely gave me good motivation for that hill. There were some fun downhills and I hit about 30 mph a couple times. Wheeee! I was also getting completely blown away by some people on super fancy tri bikes.
Sooner than I realized we were turning back towards the beach.
T2: 1:24
I did pretty good moving quickly here. Shoes off, vibrams on, helmet off, race bib on, and off!
Run: 3.2 Miles 29:09
My legs felt pretty tired on the run but I kept up a good (for me) pace. The course was mostly flat through a residential neighborhood by the beach. We got some nice views of the ocean. There were two water stops, that had both Gatorade and water. I opted for water since I had coconut water on the bike. The first water stop you ran by twice, the other one was at a turn around point. So there was lots of support on the course.
I got passed quite a bit on the run. I'm happy with my time, because my goal for the summer was to get my 5k under 30 minutes. I want to continue working on my 5k speed over this next winter.
The final push of the run was on the beach, which was challenging but also really fun! I loved hearing my name called as I crossed the finish line.
Post Race:
I met back up with my crew and grabbed a couple bananas. The munchkin charmed his way into granola bars and a Popsicle. We hung around near the beach waiting for the results to be posted.
I headed back into transition to grab my sweatshirt while the guys stalked the results tent.
Total Time: 1:33:13 3rd place Athena!
So we stuck around for the award ceremony and I collected my prize. The medals and division awards were really cool- made from bamboo and recycled bike chain.
After we left the race we met up with some friends who live locally for a celebratory lunch, stopped back in Mystic to grab the rest of our stuff and headed home. Fun day of adventure.
Great race, beautiful location. I can't wait to do this one again.
Now that I've got two triathlons under my belt, its time to start really gearing up for my September half marathon.
The week before the race I attended a group preview ride of the bike course. It was nice to know exactly what the course was going in. If I can always find a way to preview the bike course I think it will go a long way towards calming my nerves.
The night before the race, Michy, the kids, and I stayed with her parents on their boat in Mystic, CT. That way we would only be about 30 minutes from the race, instead of the hour and fifteen or so it would be from our house. It meant more sleep! Hooray. We had a lovely night walking around Mystic and had a wonderful dinner before heading to bed as early as possible. It was a bit difficult to fall asleep with both kiddo in bed with me, but I did manage to get some rest. I wasn't quite as nervous as I was before the IronGirl, so I think I slept a bit better.
We got up at about 5am and were on the road by 5:30. I had some coffee, coconut water, a banana and a almond flour muffin to get some fuel. We arrived in Niantic around 6am.
Pre-Race: Parking was at a nearby church, just a short walk from transition. I got the bike out of the car and pumped up the tires before we headed down. Packet Pickup went smoothly and I got my snazzy pink swim cap. I would be in the third of five waves.
I left the kiddos with Michy (luckily there was a nice playground to keep the Munchkin occupied), and headed towards body marking and then found my transition spot. The rack for my number was right next to where you came in from the swim and from the bike, so I had a great easy to see spot. Once my area was set-up I headed back to the playground and had about a half hour to kill. It was a pretty chilly morning, so I tried my best to keep warm. I was definitely wishing I had a wetsuit. The water temp was 71, which was fine but not exactly pleasant.
Ian and Micah met up with us to cheer me on and help entertain the kiddos. Soon it was time to head down to the beach.
Swim: 1/2 mile: 16:58
The first two waves were the men, my wave was women under 44, the fourth wave was women over 44, and I think the last wave was relays and first timers. The waves were 4 minutes apart.
At Irongirl I stayed towards the back of the group for the swim start, which was a mistake. This time I went towards the front but off to the side. I didn't feel nearly as trapped. I was, however, a bit shocked by the cold. I'm used to swimming at either the 82 degree pool, or the local state park lake which is pretty warm. This felt so cold. It took me a couple minutes to catch my breath. I was able to swim without feeling like I was kicking or bumping into someone, so that was good. I did quite a bit breast-stroking until I warmed up, but then I was able to get into a good freestyle groove. The first 100-200 yards was full of seaweed. yuck! It felt kinda gross, but at least there were no jelly fish.
I felt pretty good about the swim. I caught and passed a few guys from the wave before me. Ian was there at the end of the swim taking my picture and let me know I was around the top half of my wave.
T1-1:57
The transition area was closer to the beach in this race that it was at the IronGirl so that helped my time. I just moved as quickly as I could. headband on, helmet on, wipe down feet, body glide feet and slip on my cycling shoes and I was off!
Bike: 12 Miles 43:48
Going to the preview ride was a great idea, because I knew the course started with a pretty steep hill. So I had my bike in a nice easy gear, while it was obvious some people were struggling with harder gears. I even passed people.
It was a bit chilly and a little drizzly. I don't have much (ok any!) experience with riding in the rain, so I held back a bit because I was worried about slipping and wiping out.
It was a pretty enjoyable bike course, really beautiful area, and only two really significant hills. On the second big hill there were some locals who were watching from their yard- cheering everyone on and blasting "Eye of the Tiger." That definitely gave me good motivation for that hill. There were some fun downhills and I hit about 30 mph a couple times. Wheeee! I was also getting completely blown away by some people on super fancy tri bikes.
Sooner than I realized we were turning back towards the beach.
T2: 1:24
I did pretty good moving quickly here. Shoes off, vibrams on, helmet off, race bib on, and off!
Run: 3.2 Miles 29:09
My legs felt pretty tired on the run but I kept up a good (for me) pace. The course was mostly flat through a residential neighborhood by the beach. We got some nice views of the ocean. There were two water stops, that had both Gatorade and water. I opted for water since I had coconut water on the bike. The first water stop you ran by twice, the other one was at a turn around point. So there was lots of support on the course.
I got passed quite a bit on the run. I'm happy with my time, because my goal for the summer was to get my 5k under 30 minutes. I want to continue working on my 5k speed over this next winter.
The final push of the run was on the beach, which was challenging but also really fun! I loved hearing my name called as I crossed the finish line.
Post Race:
I met back up with my crew and grabbed a couple bananas. The munchkin charmed his way into granola bars and a Popsicle. We hung around near the beach waiting for the results to be posted.
I headed back into transition to grab my sweatshirt while the guys stalked the results tent.
Total Time: 1:33:13 3rd place Athena!
So we stuck around for the award ceremony and I collected my prize. The medals and division awards were really cool- made from bamboo and recycled bike chain.
After we left the race we met up with some friends who live locally for a celebratory lunch, stopped back in Mystic to grab the rest of our stuff and headed home. Fun day of adventure.
Great race, beautiful location. I can't wait to do this one again.
Now that I've got two triathlons under my belt, its time to start really gearing up for my September half marathon.
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