Confessions of a Cat 4 Bike Racer: Kickin' It Off

Finally!!! Today was my first triathlon of the season...Tri For Humanity. Last year this was my first open water swim race, and my swim did not go so well. I'm pleased to say that it went much better this year. Redemption!

I can honestly say that I didn't even get that "I really don't want to do this" sick feeling in my stomach as I was waiting for the race to start. The race did start a little late, but I had Sherri and Rebecca to keep me company. We made small talk and warmed up our wetsuits while standing on the bank of the lake. When my wave, the third and final wave, was finally in the water, I positioned myself on the inside of the buoys. As the swim began I was surprised by how calm if felt...at least where I was. My sighting was good and I kept a decent pace. It wasn't as fast as I could have swam, but my goal was to swim steady. As I approached T1 threw myself on the ground for the wetsuit strippers to help me out of all that rubber. It wasn't easy getting that thing off! I grabbed my bike and heading off on my 12 mile ride.

The course was a two loop course. The first part of the loop is uphill and the wind was a factor. It wasn't too bad, but it was noticeable. Once I took a right onto Eldorado, I was able to pick up my pace. I didn't pay much attention to my speed and heart rate, but at one point I looked down and saw that I was going over 27 mph! It helped that I was on a slight decline and had a little tail wind. A few miles into the race I could hear motorcycles behind me. I figured it was race officials making sure that the guys who were on their second loop weren't trying to draft off me. As women passed me I kept looking down to see if they were in my age group. I didn't see any so I figured they hadn't caught me yet or they were already ahead of me. So, I just kept racing. It was nice to know that I didn't have to save a whole lot for the run since it was only a 5K.

As I came into T2 I finally saw Sherri. She caught me, but I didn't care because she's not in my age group. I could hear my friend Jim yelling at me from the side lines like over-bearing soccer dad, but it was what I needed. It kept me from doing what I wanted to do...walk out of T2. I hated it, but I ran up that hill at the start of the run. The whole time I just wanted to stop and walk for a second, but I knew I couldn't let myself. Sprints aren't supposed to feel good, so I knew I was doing it right. I couldn't see my pace on my Garmin, but I could see my speed. There wasn't enough blood flow to do much math to calculate my pace so I just tried to keep my speed over 6 mph. 6mph is a 10 minute mile and that's as far as my math skills could take me. I managed to keep my pace, and I even had snippets of time when I was running 7+mph. Running is not my strength so this wasn't too bad for me.

My favorite part of the race was finally coming across that finish line. Most of my friends who were racing had already crossed, so they were there to greet me. I could barley catch my breath, but I was happy. I knew I had to be close to my goal time of 1:15. I was actually off by a couple of minutes. I finished in 1:17, but it was good enough to get second place in my age group.

North Texas Multisport also walked away with the team championship! I believe there were about 14 teams competing today! I'm so proud of my tri group, and not just because we took home a trophy. We represented well, and we were all there to support and cheer on one another. Many members weren't even racing, but still came out to volunteer and support us. I couldn't have asked for a better day!