I just competed in my first ever TRIATHLON

Somehow I managed to let my friend, Trent, talk me into signing up for a triathlon.  Distances:  500 yd swim, 12 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run.  I have ALWAYS wanted to do one (on my bucket list), however I knew it was going to be tricky with school and the amount of studying I do.  I asked my family's advice and the majority of them discouraged me from not doing it due to time constraints.  Well, it's a good thing I didn't listen!  I always work out 2-5 times per week anyway, so what's a little more consistency with it?  It can only help improve my health.  Yes, it was going to be tough to fit in the training, but thanks to my training partner, Russ, we managed to stick with it for the whole 11 weeks of training.  It was amazing the amount of endurance I built up.  I used to not be able to even run a 5K without stopping once or twice to catch my breath.  Now I can pump one out in no time!

So 4 of us ended up signing up for the Beaver Freezer Triathlon, which was in Corvallis at Oregon State University.  We drove up the night before and stayed at a friend's house.  Our start times were 7:00 am, 7:00 am, 7:35 am, and 8:25 am.  So we got up at 5:00 am, left by 5:30 am and got there by 6:00 am.  It was so dang cold!  About 32 degrees.  FREEZING!

Pre-race photos:

So I set up my bike and gear in the transition area and booked it barefoot in my swimsuit with a towel to the pool, which a was a little ways away.  Now, that was cold, but remember....I wasn't even wet yet.  The worst was yet to come.  For the swimming portion of the triathlon, they assigned 4 people to each lane, sending each competitor off in 5 increment seconds.  If you wanted to pass the person ahead of you, you had to tap their feet and then wait till you got to the wall till you passed.  I was a little nervous about this since I figured I wouldn't see the person ahead of me until I actually ran into them.  Ha!  Fortunately for me I had the WHOLE lane to myself.  Booyah!  My friend, Katie, was in the next heat after me so she was there cheering me on, which I really needed.  That first 200 yards was the hardest part of the whole triathlon for me.  Partly because it was so early in the morning and partly because I was anxious about the whole event since it was my first one.  I mean, I'm competing with over 600 people and you know me.....I'm very competitive.  I definitely wanted to be higher up on the list of finish times.

After swimming the 500 yards (it got much easier after those first 200 yards), I got out of the pool and booked it back to the transition area, all the while towel drying myself while running.  I love the challenge and energy of the transition.  You gotta get your biking/running clothes on as well as shoes & helmet, and quickly hydrate at the same time.  You also have to make sure you buckle your helmet before getting on your bike or you are disqualified.  Fortunately this triathlon had a category for mountain bikers so off on my mtn bike I went.  Of course my time ended up being slower because of it, but not in comparison to people in the same category.  Next time though, I will for sure have a road bike!  Competition, people!  It's all about the competition.  This was perfect for a first triathlon though.

Here's a map of the 12 mile bike ride.  Now that I was wet, and the wind blowing past me on the bike I started getting a little cold.  My fingers and toes went numb about halfway through.  We just biked out on the road along side the cars with cops and volunteers directing traffic and keeping the road clear so we wouldn't have to stop or slow down.  There were some inclines and a few hills, but really the biking portion didn't seem like it was 12 miles long.  Seemed like it was a lot shorter.

Getting off my bike was one of the most challenging parts.  Everyone told me that it takes a while to get your legs back and they feel like jelly for a while.  Psssh, I didn't really believe that or think it would happen to me.  So I immediately started jogging after getting off the bike.  Bad idea.  Total jelly legs.  In fact, the person in front of me was walking.  Heck, I'm competing....I'm not gonna walk!  So I kept jogging.  Maybe a mistake as I felt like I could have rolled an ankle or something but I stuck with it.  All I did was drop my bike off, ditch the helmet, take a quick swig off water and off I went for the run, with my legs trailing behind me trying to catch up with my upper body.

The 3 mile run consisted of 3 laps around campus.  It took one complete lap for the strength in my legs to come back.  My breathing pattern I changed like 3 days previous was perfect to keep me going and not feeling like I was out of breath.  The shocking part was, my knees usually start hurting after biking/running long distances, but I didn't have any problems whatsoever and still don't.  I ran just over 10 minute miles, a little slower than I would have liked (would have like to get under 10 minute miles).  Crossing the finish line was a little anti-climactic since I was the first heat to finish (about 8:45 am) and not many people were there yet, nor my friends.  Lucky for Russ, he got to bike and run in the sun AND have all his friends cheer him over the finish line.

Post-race photos:

It was AMAZING though!  I loved it.  Did I give it my all?  Yes and no.  I thought I did.  But looking back, I definitely could have pushed myself harder and wished I would have, but.....at the same time, this was my first triathlon so I didn't really know how much energy to conserve for the next event.  But I do now!  Let me just say, it was NOT nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  In fact, I didn't have to stop or slow down even once, which was my main goal.  I also wanted to get a time between 1:30:00 - 1:45:00.  I'd say I was close enough with a FINAL TIME of 1:45:29.  I'm pretty happy with that, though, as my first triathlon and being on a mtn bike.  And....I wasn't even sore afterward at all, not even the next day, not even 2 days later (today).  Everyone is pretty surprised.  My training really was perfect and really prepped me well.

So the way they keep track of your times (down to the second) is with a chip you wear around your ankle.  There are mats that track your time every time you run over them.  And it figures that I was the absolute farthest away from the mats in the transition area.  I loved the challenge and adrenaline though!  I already want to do another one, this time in open water and with a mountain bike.  Maybe this summer.....

For my final placement and times, checkout the Beaver Freezer website.  Here's a summary:
Kristina Anderson
bib number:    1004
age:                28
gender:           F
location:         Tigard, OR
overall place:  49 out of 72
division place: 7 out of 13
gender place:  23 out of 40
time:               1:45:29
swim:             13:22
transition 1:     4:28
bike:              54:13
transition 2:     2:08
run:               31:17