My First Sprint Triathlon

Ok, so I'm officially in love!  I loved, loved, loved this race!  I've done a lot of running races but I wanted to try something different so I though I'd start out with a sprint triathlon, the Splash N Sprint Triathlon to be exact.  It's a: 

14 length swim (350 yards, aka 7 laps)

12 mile bike ride

3.3 mile run

I trained really hard for four months so I'd be sure to be really prepared for this thing.  I've never swam competitively before so this was the part I was most nervous about.  The day finally came on May 14th.  I was so excited.  You swim, bike then run.  The fam came after the race had already started so they didn't see me swim.  I was so glad it was in a pool. I would have been WAY too nervous in a lake for my first time!!!

Here are the kiddos waiting for me.

I bought a new bike for this race.  Thanks to my brother and his expertise, I think I chose wisely and got a really good deal!  Since it's a lot easier on the knees, I thought I'd start biking a lot more so I knew it would be a good investment.  I purchased the bike online and didn't get it until five days before my race so I only went out on it twice for 15 minute rides to learn the gears.

I've been training on our mountain bike which is TOTALLY different than a road bike.  So race day I was pretty nervous about it.  I knew I'd go a lot faster on it, but I didn't realize I'd fear for my life going 25 mph on rough roads and over train tracks.  Such a bumpy ride...but I survived!

Here I am coming in from my 12 mile bike ride.

I hopped off my bike and started my run.  The funny thing about this race for me was realizing that the hardest part about it was the transition time.  I was so slow in drying off and getting on my shoes, watch and helmet.  I felt like I was there forever before I started biking.  I seriously should have practiced...I'm so competitive so I could just see the clock ticking in my mind as I'm just standing there wasting time getting dressed!  LOL!  But I realize that's just part of the race and part of my overall time!

 Coming around the corner seeing my cute family after my 3.3 mile run (just a hair over a 5k for some reason)!!

 Yay!  I finished and I even beat my goal time that I set for myself of 1.5 hours!  I can't wait to do another tri.  I may even try an Olympic Triathlon next time.  It really was so much fun.  And the training was awesome; I just loved the constant change, going from swimming to biking to running each week!

Here I am after posing with my new beauty and my cute medal!!!

Here are my stats:

Total time:  1:18:19

THE BREAKDOWN 
Swim Time: 8 min 57 sec
Transition one:  2min 28 sec
Cycle: 37 min 52 sec
Transition two:  47 sec
Run:  28 min 15sec (8:33 pace)

Age Division for all females 30-39:  6th out of 37
Age 30-39 overall (male & female):  38th out of 98
Overall Female:  15th out of 93
Overall Results: 109th out of 296 people--Top 36%

When I was training, I never did under an 11 minute swim so that was awesome for me!  The adrenaline must have been high!  And after looking at everyone's transition times compared to mine,  I was kinda slow...see, I told you I didn't know what I was doing!  HAHA!  It really was my favorite race thus far!  Can't wait to do another!!!!