August 24, 2013
Go Girl Triathlon, Indianapolis
Several of the women at the gym wear I exercise decided to also do a triathlon. One decided to do a tri after seeing her daughter compete a year ago. Others decided to do one after hearing me do one of the "graduation speeches" for Bootcamp where I exercise.
As an aside, I was tickled to be asked to give a motivational speech for Bootcamp. When the owner asked me to do the presentation, I was happy to help. Then I thought, "Oh my gosh! I'm going to be standing in front of 100 people talking about my weight while they are looking at me!" I talked about what life was like before loosing 110 pounds, e.g. not being able to tie my shoes, and all of the things I could do now. I started with a "before" picture and then ended with a picture of me proudly modeling my first triathlon finisher t-shirt.
So . . . I guess that inspired some women to do a triathlon and one of them called me to say they had gotten a group together of triathlete want-to-be women - most with grandchildren - and asked if I'd join them. Heck yes!
What evolved over the next few months was truly heart-warming. A group of women all talking about tri-gear, training, and races. We all started training for the "Go Girl" triathlon in August. I had already scheduled my first tri in July so this would be my second. By for everyone else, it was their first. We gathered at each other's houses (with husbands) to have a diet-friendly meal and talk tri. One woman, who was terrified of water, started taking swimming lessons. My husband took us out on our boat for open-water swims. We took SPIN classes together. Fun, fun, fun!
The day before this race, my husband and I drove to Indianapolis to pick up my race packet and then to Eagle Creek so I could determine what gear(s) I wanted to be in while climbing some of the hills on the course. In the middle of this practice, my bike started bobbing up and down. I quickly saw that I had a HUGE bubble on my tire! Panic! Luckily, we found a bike store open on Friday night and got a new tire. While there, they checked my shifter and determined that I was not crazy - my gears weren't working properly. They'd work fine when the bike was in the test stand, but once I got on the bike, the gears didn't shift properly. The bike mechanic rode around and around the parking lot with me. He finally suggested that I stop pedaling for one second when shifting gears and that worked. He said that general wisdom is that you continue to pedal when shifting, but he had seen a few cases where it worked better to stop pedaling for a second. When we got to the hotel parking lot, I rode around and around shifting gears. Stopping pedaling for a second is a hassle, but it works!
The morning of the race, we got lost on our way! How could that be. I had practiced driving to the race site. Go figure . . . I've learned that I don't like to talk to people before starting a race, so I wasn't very social with the other Go Girls - but it was great to see them there!
My race was fun, fun, fun. I got off course again in the swim. I swim to the right! For half of the swim, the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see a thing. I just followed the person in front of me and hoped that she knew where she was going. Got kicked a few times. It's scary to be all stretched out with your abdomen unprotected when people are doing breaststroke kicks around you.
My goal for the race was to do a better time than last time. I figured the place where I could improve the most was in the transitions. To practice, I created a transition spot in my driveway at home. Jumped out of the shower, ran to my transition area, put on bike stuff, and took off on my bike down the driveway. I did that over and over again. Later that day, I saw my neighbors and felt compelled to explain why I was running out my front door in my bathing suit, putting on bike clothes, riding down the driveway over and over again! Ha! Last time I walked to T1, but I ran in this race.
Bike was great. I just love riding and still want to yell "weeeeeeeee!" as I'm going down hills or flying around curves. I put caution aside and rode as fast as I could.
Run was grueling as usual. I just focused on my cadence and technique, especially not landing on my heals and keeping my elbows back. At one point, I passed a couple of the Go-Girls on the way back (out-and-back course). I knew they were waving at me and yelling "hi," but I was so focused on keeping my feet going that I didn't say anything. They teased me about being so focused later!
We all finished! I did a personal best in all three events and the transitions - and to my surprise, ended up second in my age group. All of the Go Girls finished which was AWESOME! One finished even though she got out of a boot for her broken leg the day before! It was so cool to be part of a group of women all with a common goal. We got together on the evening after the race to celebrate!
