I see no one has commented on my last post...come on people...give me your advice!! Haha!
Anyway, two exciting things have happened in the past 2 days....the first, and MOST exciting thing is that my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday! Her name is Shaelyn Michelle Cargill and she is 6lbs. 11oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't be happier, I have the two most adorable nieces in the world and I am such a proud auntie, and a proud sister. My sister is such a great mom and I love seeing her so happy with her two little girls. Congratulations Amy, Pete and Maren!
The other exciting thing is that I finally bought a bike! My brother in law Pete has a friend who owns a bike shop...Garden State Bicycle, for those of you who live in NJ, you should check it out! So anyway, Pete's friend Tim called me the other day and said he just got a used Cannondale CAAD 4 from 2001 in the shop in amazing condition. It has Shimano Ultegra components, some really nice wheels that I can't remember the name of, and it is all in great condition. I bought it from him and he helped me pick out shoes and clipless pedals. Now I am all set! Once I learn how to post pics I will be putting up a pic of my new bike and some pics from my first tri...I have just been too busy lately.
More tomorrow or the next day...too tired now to write more!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
FUNtastic Nantasket!!
I signed up for my second triathlon today! It is on September 26, and it is a sprint distance in Nantasket, which is a beach somewhat near my house. I am nervous to do ocean swimming, but sooo excited to be able to get in another triathlon this season! I am working on getting a bike and am keeping up my training. Here is my question for those of you who are triathletes and read this...give me some suggestions for speeding my time up and for upping my training for this next race. I know I can finish, now I want to go a little faster. What should I do? Please comment and let me know what you think!
Oh, a big Shout out to Training Payne, who raced IMLP yesterday and finished in 10:20:20! Awesome job, can't wait to read your race report!!
Oh, a big Shout out to Training Payne, who raced IMLP yesterday and finished in 10:20:20! Awesome job, can't wait to read your race report!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
A post that has (almost) nothing to do with triathlon...
So...it has been just over two years since I moved to Boston, so I think it is a good time to reflect on some of the changes and some of the growth that has happened in the past two years.
When I first graduated college, I moved back home even though I knew it wasn't what I wanted. I had always had this thought in my head that you go to college and then you move out on your own. I guess in my head I had never thought about the fact that it takes a job and money to move out on your own. When I graduated I was looking for a teaching job, and all the professors at my university made it seem like we would all get jobs easily...that was bullshit, in fact I'm still looking for a teaching job two years later. But anyway, I digress. I moved home and kept looking for jobs. I thought I wanted to move to the Boston area, and my reasons were many. For one, I was born here and have always loved the area. I was also dating someone who lived in this area and we had been dating all through college long distance. I wanted to be closer to him. I also wanted to live in a city while I was in my early 20's, I thought it would be really fun. One Saturday in June of that year I was applying for jobs and I haphazardly applied to a job as an art teacher in a summer camp. I really didn't think much of it until they called on Tuesday and asked if I could come for an interview on Thursday. I said yes, hung up the phone, and then started packing to drive to Boston. I called my friend Jess who lived in Boston. She was my best friend as a young child and we had lost touch and then gotten back in touch in college. I asked if I could stay at her apartment the next night, and she said yes. I drove up on Wednesday, slept on what is now my living room floor, and interviewed on Thursday. I drove straight from my interview back to New Jersey...because I was working at a daycare center and had to be back for work on Friday. I got a call on Friday saying I had the job and I needed to be there Monday to start. I packed up all my stuff...called my friend Jess again and asked if I could move in with them. She said one of their roommates was moving out and so on Sunday I drove to Boston and on Monday I started my job. I worked there all summer and then got a job as a teaching assistant in the fall at the same school. That is the job I am still doing now.
But anyway, onto the interesting things. Here is a list (in no particular order) of things I have learned, experienced, ways I have changed, and reasons I am so glad I made this move two years ago.
- I learned how to "really" live on my own. In college I lived on my own, but my parents were kind of paying my way and I always knew it was only the school year. I feel like now I am really on my own. It feels good.
- I learned that sometimes long distance relationships don't get better when you get closer. In fact, sometimes they get worse. For 5 years I thought my ex and I would be blissfully happy when we were living in the same state, but I found out when I moved here that we were actually less happy together. I'm glad I found this out when I did.
- I learned how to ride the T. Haha...I know this sounds crazy, but when you grow up in a rural area, riding the T (subway for those of you who are non-Bostonians) is something you never learn how to do. It's an awesome thing and makes it much easier to go out in the city.
- I have changed my outlook on money. I know now that you don't have to make alot of money to have a fulfilled life. I never was the type of person to really care too much about money, but I am extremely proud that I make a very little amount of money and I have still managed to live for two years completely on my own without having any credit cards.
- I have changed my outlook on love and men. I used to try so hard to make my ex love me. I tried everything I could to try to get him to want to make time for me, to want to be with me, and to want to try as hard as I was. None of this really worked. Now that I am with Bryan I realize that if someone really loves you they will want to spend time with you, they will care about your feelings, they will want to do special things for you, and they will want to introduce you to the important people in their life. My outlook now is that if someone likes me they will call, they will try, they will show me, and if they don't do these things then, to quote the movie "he's just not that into me" and then why bother with him anyway?
- I have discovered a passion for triathlon. (The title of the post said ALMOST nothing to do with it!) I NEVER thought I would be able to do a triathlon, or that I would ever want to. When I went through a break up in March I decided I needed to rediscover myself. My friends and family had been telling me that I had lost my glow, my passion and the spark that used to make me the funny, perky, bubbly girl I always was before. My mom said that for the past few years it was like I had a dark veil over my face, like I just seemed depressed and sad alot of the time. I wanted to do something for myself, something that would give me satisfaction without feeling like I was depending on someone else. I also wanted it to be something healthy. I mean, it would have been easy to start baking cupcakes in my spare time, but I don't make alot of money and couldn't afford to buy bigger clothes, so that was out of the question, hahaha. I decided I wanted to do some sort of exercise, but I didn't really like running, master's swimming was too expensive and I didn't really want to join a team sport. I wanted this to be an individual journey. That is when I decided on triathlon. I went online and signed up for one that day. I knew if I didn't do it then that I never would. I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could about the sport, I started training, and I started reading blogs about it (slow, fat triathlete and Brybrarobry). I completed my first triathlon on July 11, 2010 in 2:15. I am so proud of that accomplishment and I cannot wait to do another one. As much as the actual acomplishment of finishing the race was wonderful, even better is all the other things that have come from discovering this sport. I joined a triathlon group and met some great people, I came out of my shell and tried things I was afraid of before, namely swimming in a very deep lake, running on the treadmill at 9 mph and biking 25 miles.
- I have learned what it feels like to be in a truly loving, respectful, no drama relationship. My past relationship was riddled with stupid drama, there were fights literally nearly every day, there was no trust, and it almost seemed like we thrived on the pain we caused each other. Basically it was really messed up and unhealthy. The relationship Bryan and I have is amazing. There is no drama, there is trust without question, our love is true and pure, and we are together for the reason we should be together, because being with each other makes us happy. I never realized how simple a relationship could be. There is nothing for us to fight about because we just want to be together and we are simply happy for the time we get to spend together. It feels great to be loved and to be living in the moment. I am content.
- Family is even more important to me now than ever. It is hard to be away from my parents and my sister, especially now when my sister is pregnant and my niece is so young. I love my family so much though and it is so important for me to keep up with what is going on with them. I talk to my mom almost every day and my sister and I text all the time. My dad gets the scoop from my mom, he's not much of a phone guy! Haha...love ya dad!
I'm sure there are more lessons I have learned, but I am tired of typing for now, haha. These are the most important ones I think, if I think of more then I will have a part 2 for this post. And yes, I realize the longest paragraph in this post is about triathlon even though I said this post had almost nothing about it in here...so I lied..what can I say, I love to "tri"!
When I first graduated college, I moved back home even though I knew it wasn't what I wanted. I had always had this thought in my head that you go to college and then you move out on your own. I guess in my head I had never thought about the fact that it takes a job and money to move out on your own. When I graduated I was looking for a teaching job, and all the professors at my university made it seem like we would all get jobs easily...that was bullshit, in fact I'm still looking for a teaching job two years later. But anyway, I digress. I moved home and kept looking for jobs. I thought I wanted to move to the Boston area, and my reasons were many. For one, I was born here and have always loved the area. I was also dating someone who lived in this area and we had been dating all through college long distance. I wanted to be closer to him. I also wanted to live in a city while I was in my early 20's, I thought it would be really fun. One Saturday in June of that year I was applying for jobs and I haphazardly applied to a job as an art teacher in a summer camp. I really didn't think much of it until they called on Tuesday and asked if I could come for an interview on Thursday. I said yes, hung up the phone, and then started packing to drive to Boston. I called my friend Jess who lived in Boston. She was my best friend as a young child and we had lost touch and then gotten back in touch in college. I asked if I could stay at her apartment the next night, and she said yes. I drove up on Wednesday, slept on what is now my living room floor, and interviewed on Thursday. I drove straight from my interview back to New Jersey...because I was working at a daycare center and had to be back for work on Friday. I got a call on Friday saying I had the job and I needed to be there Monday to start. I packed up all my stuff...called my friend Jess again and asked if I could move in with them. She said one of their roommates was moving out and so on Sunday I drove to Boston and on Monday I started my job. I worked there all summer and then got a job as a teaching assistant in the fall at the same school. That is the job I am still doing now.
But anyway, onto the interesting things. Here is a list (in no particular order) of things I have learned, experienced, ways I have changed, and reasons I am so glad I made this move two years ago.
- I learned how to "really" live on my own. In college I lived on my own, but my parents were kind of paying my way and I always knew it was only the school year. I feel like now I am really on my own. It feels good.
- I learned that sometimes long distance relationships don't get better when you get closer. In fact, sometimes they get worse. For 5 years I thought my ex and I would be blissfully happy when we were living in the same state, but I found out when I moved here that we were actually less happy together. I'm glad I found this out when I did.
- I learned how to ride the T. Haha...I know this sounds crazy, but when you grow up in a rural area, riding the T (subway for those of you who are non-Bostonians) is something you never learn how to do. It's an awesome thing and makes it much easier to go out in the city.
- I have changed my outlook on money. I know now that you don't have to make alot of money to have a fulfilled life. I never was the type of person to really care too much about money, but I am extremely proud that I make a very little amount of money and I have still managed to live for two years completely on my own without having any credit cards.
- I have changed my outlook on love and men. I used to try so hard to make my ex love me. I tried everything I could to try to get him to want to make time for me, to want to be with me, and to want to try as hard as I was. None of this really worked. Now that I am with Bryan I realize that if someone really loves you they will want to spend time with you, they will care about your feelings, they will want to do special things for you, and they will want to introduce you to the important people in their life. My outlook now is that if someone likes me they will call, they will try, they will show me, and if they don't do these things then, to quote the movie "he's just not that into me" and then why bother with him anyway?
- I have discovered a passion for triathlon. (The title of the post said ALMOST nothing to do with it!) I NEVER thought I would be able to do a triathlon, or that I would ever want to. When I went through a break up in March I decided I needed to rediscover myself. My friends and family had been telling me that I had lost my glow, my passion and the spark that used to make me the funny, perky, bubbly girl I always was before. My mom said that for the past few years it was like I had a dark veil over my face, like I just seemed depressed and sad alot of the time. I wanted to do something for myself, something that would give me satisfaction without feeling like I was depending on someone else. I also wanted it to be something healthy. I mean, it would have been easy to start baking cupcakes in my spare time, but I don't make alot of money and couldn't afford to buy bigger clothes, so that was out of the question, hahaha. I decided I wanted to do some sort of exercise, but I didn't really like running, master's swimming was too expensive and I didn't really want to join a team sport. I wanted this to be an individual journey. That is when I decided on triathlon. I went online and signed up for one that day. I knew if I didn't do it then that I never would. I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could about the sport, I started training, and I started reading blogs about it (slow, fat triathlete and Brybrarobry). I completed my first triathlon on July 11, 2010 in 2:15. I am so proud of that accomplishment and I cannot wait to do another one. As much as the actual acomplishment of finishing the race was wonderful, even better is all the other things that have come from discovering this sport. I joined a triathlon group and met some great people, I came out of my shell and tried things I was afraid of before, namely swimming in a very deep lake, running on the treadmill at 9 mph and biking 25 miles.
- I have learned what it feels like to be in a truly loving, respectful, no drama relationship. My past relationship was riddled with stupid drama, there were fights literally nearly every day, there was no trust, and it almost seemed like we thrived on the pain we caused each other. Basically it was really messed up and unhealthy. The relationship Bryan and I have is amazing. There is no drama, there is trust without question, our love is true and pure, and we are together for the reason we should be together, because being with each other makes us happy. I never realized how simple a relationship could be. There is nothing for us to fight about because we just want to be together and we are simply happy for the time we get to spend together. It feels great to be loved and to be living in the moment. I am content.
- Family is even more important to me now than ever. It is hard to be away from my parents and my sister, especially now when my sister is pregnant and my niece is so young. I love my family so much though and it is so important for me to keep up with what is going on with them. I talk to my mom almost every day and my sister and I text all the time. My dad gets the scoop from my mom, he's not much of a phone guy! Haha...love ya dad!
I'm sure there are more lessons I have learned, but I am tired of typing for now, haha. These are the most important ones I think, if I think of more then I will have a part 2 for this post. And yes, I realize the longest paragraph in this post is about triathlon even though I said this post had almost nothing about it in here...so I lied..what can I say, I love to "tri"!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Time splits
Ok, as soon as I posted that last blog my time splits were posted.....so here it is:
Swim: 17:49- 214th place
T1: 2:27
Bike: 1:15:31- 350th place
T2: 1:30
Run: 38:02- 3:49th place
Final time: 2:15:19
Total # of athletes: 444
I am disappointed in the run time...38 minutes is pretty bad for me, but I guess considering what came before and the fact that it is trail running that is ok. My goal for the next is to cut some time off of that run!
Swim: 17:49- 214th place
T1: 2:27
Bike: 1:15:31- 350th place
T2: 1:30
Run: 38:02- 3:49th place
Final time: 2:15:19
Total # of athletes: 444
I am disappointed in the run time...38 minutes is pretty bad for me, but I guess considering what came before and the fact that it is trail running that is ok. My goal for the next is to cut some time off of that run!
Randolph Lake Tri Race Report
Here I am...officially a triathlete! I really couldn't have asked for a better race...On Saturday night I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep. I know I got a few hours, but I definitely felt like I had just fallen asleep when the alarm went off at 5:15 on Sunday morning. I woke up and my eyes were sore...which is never good, and is a sign of the fact that I did not get much sleep. I forced myself to eat a bagel with peanut butter, but I had to read Bryan Payne's blog while I was doing it to calm myself down. There's something about reading about him drinking copious amounts of beer and completing hours and hours of training that was calming to me after a night of very little sleep and a big race coming up.
I left my house at 5:45 and got to the lake at around 6:20...which was good, I was 10 minutes earlier than anticipated. I was amazed by how well run the race was. I was expecting long lines of people waiting to get their bodies marked and lines to wait for race packets, but it was so well organized that I got my packet, got my body marked and put my number on my bike all in about 5 or 10 minutes. I was impressed. Then I set up my transition area. I wasn't really sure what to do because this was my first tri, but I have practiced transitions, so I kinda went off of that, plus I just put things where I thought they would be easiest to reach. I left some space at the end of my towel so I could step on it and dry my feet off while I was drying myself off and putting on my helmet.
While I was setting up my transition area I met a girl named Heidi. She said this was her second tri and she and I started talking. It was really nice to have someone who had done this before but who wasn't an expert to talk to. It's nice to talk to experts, but sometimes I want to know that I am not the only one who is nervous, and someone who has only done one other tri is more likely to remember the feelings I was having. She was great, she told me that she was nervous too, and we talked about the butterflies in our stomachs.
I was all set up and ready to go by about 7:00, so I called my mom. I knew she would be really nervous, but I knew it would still help me if I talked to her. She said her and my dad and my boyfriend were leaving the house and would be there before the race started. That made me feel good because I was nervous they would miss the start. I really wanted to see their faces before I started and I was worried that I wouldn't.
Around 7:15 I took a short jog to warm up my legs, and at 7:30ish I put on my wetsuit and took a short swim. The water felt warm, and, to my surprise I didn't freak out when I got in. Usually I get all short of breath and nervous even when I just go for a practice swim in open water. I took this as a good sign that it was going to be a good race. It boosted my confidence to know I didn't freak out.
We had our pre-race meeting at 7:45, and that's when the butterflies really kicked in. I couldn't even stand still during the national anthem, my legs were shaking like crazy and I was kinda jumping up and down a little. I have a new respect for kids with ADD because that's how I felt, like it was impossible to keep my body still. Finally the first wave got into the water. I was in the 4th wave, which was good and bad. It was good because I got to watch 3 waves and see how the start looked, but bad because I had to wait about 10 minutes before my wave went. My parents and Bryan showed up around this time, and they were taking pictures and looking at me the whole time. It was nice to see how proud they were.
Finally it was our turn to get into the water, and as we walked over the timing mat to get into the water for the in water start I joked with Heidi that I felt like we were at camp and getting ready to take our swimming test. It was pretty funny and it lightened the mood. As soon as I jumped in the water I had to pee...haha...so I took care of that before we started swimming...and when the horn went off I felt ok. I didn't panic, I didn't get short of breath, I just started off swimming. I did a few strokes of breast stroke first and then I started doing freestyle. The swim went really fast! My results haven't been posted yet, but when they are I will post them on here, but according to my family, it was under 20 minutes...which is amazing for me if that is true.
When I came out of the water I felt great, and I ran up to T1. My transition was pretty quick, although I wanted to give myself enough time to get my heartrate down a little before climbing on the bike. I realized when I got there that my bike had fallen over, and had a brief fear that I would be disqualified because my front tire wasn't standing on the ground...but then I got over that and realized no one cared. Haha...I also saw that I had beat Heidi out of the water, which really surprised me.
Once I got on the bike I took a few deep breaths and a sip of water/gatorade and I felt good. My heartrate went down and I got into a good groove on the bike. Heidi passed me on the bike. She was really trucking along. She said hi to me and we exchanged a few motivating words then she hammered on up the hill past me. I felt happy to see her pass me. She worked hard and had a goal to beat her last time, which she did. Nice job Heidi! The bike course was very hilly. I did most of my training on a bike path in Boston, which was very, very flat. These hills were killer. I knew there was one big hill called "cemetary hill" on the course, but it turns out there were 3 or 4 other huge hills as well. When I was on these hills I just kept saying "right, left, right, left" in my head and told myself one more pedal one more pedal and focused on going one foot at a time until I got to the top. I was proud that I didn't have to walk at all, I really pushed myself and it felt good. I actually smiled all the way up cemetary hill....I just decided that if it was gonna hurt, I may as well smile and try to make the best of it. It really worked. I felt happy the whole time, even when my legs felt like bricks and my muscles were so full of lactic acid that I thought they would explode.
I started eating my GU chomps around 2 or 3 miles into the ride. I was eating them whenever I wasn't climbing a hill, and Everytime I ate one I took a few sips of water. This seemed to work well for me, my stomach felt good the whole time and I ate all of them by about 10 miles, which worked out well because then I had 6.4 miles to get them digesting before I had to start running. I timed my water/gatorade drinking well, because I finished it about a mile before the end of the bike ride and during the run I didn't have any stomach sloshing. I felt good the whole time.
Once I got into T2 I hopped off my bike and started running it back to the rack. The ground was really uneven and I was feeling a little out of control so I slowed down and walked a little over to my rack. This transition was super quick because all I had to do was rack my bike, sip water and then grab my visor. I don't know how long it took me, but I felt like it was under a minute and a half.
The run was kinda crazy. I have never done trail running, and that's what the majority of this run was. We had to run out into the woods through some pretty large pot holes. The good part was that I was so concerned with not falling and hurting myself that I was focusing on skipping over the rocks and sticsk so I didn't think about how dead my legs felt. I did stop and walk about 20 steps because I just felt so dead, but then I decided I knew I would be dissapointed in myself if I walked alot, so I decided to stop "being a pussy" and I ran the rest of the way. I passed Heidi on the run, or I guess I should say she passed me...she was on her way back in and I was on my way out. We tried to give each other a high five but we missed....she said "you go girl!" and it was motivating to know I had a friend out there. After about a mile we came out of the woods and ran a half mile out on the road. The water stops were really cute because there were little kids giving out the water and when you ran by they would say "can we splash you?" and everyone was saying no. On my way out I took some water and gulped some of it down and then threw the rest over my head. That felt amazing. The turn around made me laugh because it was literally a little orange cone in the middle of a house lined street and there was a guy there watching to be sure you went around the cone. It was pretty hilarious.
On my way back I ran through the water station and said "ok, splash me!" Those kids went nuts! I had probably eight kids dumping cups of water over me, and one kid actually chased me and when he wasn't able to catch me he said "darn, I missed her!" Haha...it was so funny. On the way back, we ran on the same course as we did on the way out, so sometimes you passed people who were on their way out. I smiled at everyone I saw and gave thumbs up to the people who seemed unhappy. I probably pissed someone off because they might have been really not in the mood for my cheeriness, but oh well..I was happy and I wanted everyone to know. So I ran back, and then the trail split and this time we turned right to go around the lake. Apparently this part of the trail is actually a BMX bike trail, so we were running over moguls. It was actually pretty fun. My back is killing me today from the impact, but it was pretty cool at the time. I felt like I was galloping because one foot would hit the top of the mogul, the next would hit the bottom and then back to the top. It was funny. I'm sure I looked really ridiculous galloping along the moguls. After that, the rest of the run was a nice shady run along a trail by the lake. I actually really enjoyed this part. I knew I was near the end, I was full of endorphins, and I was so proud of myself that I felt like I could run forever. Then I passed what I call the "triathlon papparazzi." There was a guy squatting in the bushes with a camera, it was pretty funny. He was there taking pictures of all of us as we were about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I guess this was supposed to be the "pain picture"....so instead I put my arms up like a muscle man and gave a huge shit eating grin. The photographer seemed surprised that I had so much pep, but I was totally running on adrenaline at that point.
Coming out of the woods was weird, it was a tiny little track of dirt up a small hill when we ran out, and then we ran along the outside of a baseball fence and then around and inside the fence. I saw Bryan standing at the final corner, and when he saw me he gave me a huge smile, and that was when I kicked it up and starting sprinting to the finish.
I crossed the finish line strong, and I saw my parents standing right at the fence in front of the finish line. I looked up and my mom was balling her eyes out. She said "I'm so proud of you Lauren" and I almost started crying too. I felt so good that I can't even describe the feeling. I felt like I could do it all again because I was so high on endorphins. After the race we hung around for a while while they did awards because I wanted to wait for them to raffle the bike. Heidi won 2nd place in our age group...nice job girl! Then it got too hot and we decided to leave.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating with my family and some friends. It was a great post race party and I was just on such a high all day. I was exhausted last night. Today I feel pretty good. I am not too sore, my knees kind of hurt and my back is sore, but other than that I feel pretty good! My final time was 2:15:19 I think. I am happy with that. I wanted to finish in 2:15, so I think that is great! When the final times are up I will post my splits. Thanks everyone for the support while I trained...I can't wait to begin the next adventure of training. I haven't signed up for another tri yet because I don't have a bike. I am returning my bike to Caroline this week, so if anyone knows where I can get a bike super cheap, please let me know! For now I will just keep swimming and running and biking at the gym I guess...oh, and blogging of course!
I left my house at 5:45 and got to the lake at around 6:20...which was good, I was 10 minutes earlier than anticipated. I was amazed by how well run the race was. I was expecting long lines of people waiting to get their bodies marked and lines to wait for race packets, but it was so well organized that I got my packet, got my body marked and put my number on my bike all in about 5 or 10 minutes. I was impressed. Then I set up my transition area. I wasn't really sure what to do because this was my first tri, but I have practiced transitions, so I kinda went off of that, plus I just put things where I thought they would be easiest to reach. I left some space at the end of my towel so I could step on it and dry my feet off while I was drying myself off and putting on my helmet.
While I was setting up my transition area I met a girl named Heidi. She said this was her second tri and she and I started talking. It was really nice to have someone who had done this before but who wasn't an expert to talk to. It's nice to talk to experts, but sometimes I want to know that I am not the only one who is nervous, and someone who has only done one other tri is more likely to remember the feelings I was having. She was great, she told me that she was nervous too, and we talked about the butterflies in our stomachs.
I was all set up and ready to go by about 7:00, so I called my mom. I knew she would be really nervous, but I knew it would still help me if I talked to her. She said her and my dad and my boyfriend were leaving the house and would be there before the race started. That made me feel good because I was nervous they would miss the start. I really wanted to see their faces before I started and I was worried that I wouldn't.
Around 7:15 I took a short jog to warm up my legs, and at 7:30ish I put on my wetsuit and took a short swim. The water felt warm, and, to my surprise I didn't freak out when I got in. Usually I get all short of breath and nervous even when I just go for a practice swim in open water. I took this as a good sign that it was going to be a good race. It boosted my confidence to know I didn't freak out.
We had our pre-race meeting at 7:45, and that's when the butterflies really kicked in. I couldn't even stand still during the national anthem, my legs were shaking like crazy and I was kinda jumping up and down a little. I have a new respect for kids with ADD because that's how I felt, like it was impossible to keep my body still. Finally the first wave got into the water. I was in the 4th wave, which was good and bad. It was good because I got to watch 3 waves and see how the start looked, but bad because I had to wait about 10 minutes before my wave went. My parents and Bryan showed up around this time, and they were taking pictures and looking at me the whole time. It was nice to see how proud they were.
Finally it was our turn to get into the water, and as we walked over the timing mat to get into the water for the in water start I joked with Heidi that I felt like we were at camp and getting ready to take our swimming test. It was pretty funny and it lightened the mood. As soon as I jumped in the water I had to pee...haha...so I took care of that before we started swimming...and when the horn went off I felt ok. I didn't panic, I didn't get short of breath, I just started off swimming. I did a few strokes of breast stroke first and then I started doing freestyle. The swim went really fast! My results haven't been posted yet, but when they are I will post them on here, but according to my family, it was under 20 minutes...which is amazing for me if that is true.
When I came out of the water I felt great, and I ran up to T1. My transition was pretty quick, although I wanted to give myself enough time to get my heartrate down a little before climbing on the bike. I realized when I got there that my bike had fallen over, and had a brief fear that I would be disqualified because my front tire wasn't standing on the ground...but then I got over that and realized no one cared. Haha...I also saw that I had beat Heidi out of the water, which really surprised me.
Once I got on the bike I took a few deep breaths and a sip of water/gatorade and I felt good. My heartrate went down and I got into a good groove on the bike. Heidi passed me on the bike. She was really trucking along. She said hi to me and we exchanged a few motivating words then she hammered on up the hill past me. I felt happy to see her pass me. She worked hard and had a goal to beat her last time, which she did. Nice job Heidi! The bike course was very hilly. I did most of my training on a bike path in Boston, which was very, very flat. These hills were killer. I knew there was one big hill called "cemetary hill" on the course, but it turns out there were 3 or 4 other huge hills as well. When I was on these hills I just kept saying "right, left, right, left" in my head and told myself one more pedal one more pedal and focused on going one foot at a time until I got to the top. I was proud that I didn't have to walk at all, I really pushed myself and it felt good. I actually smiled all the way up cemetary hill....I just decided that if it was gonna hurt, I may as well smile and try to make the best of it. It really worked. I felt happy the whole time, even when my legs felt like bricks and my muscles were so full of lactic acid that I thought they would explode.
I started eating my GU chomps around 2 or 3 miles into the ride. I was eating them whenever I wasn't climbing a hill, and Everytime I ate one I took a few sips of water. This seemed to work well for me, my stomach felt good the whole time and I ate all of them by about 10 miles, which worked out well because then I had 6.4 miles to get them digesting before I had to start running. I timed my water/gatorade drinking well, because I finished it about a mile before the end of the bike ride and during the run I didn't have any stomach sloshing. I felt good the whole time.
Once I got into T2 I hopped off my bike and started running it back to the rack. The ground was really uneven and I was feeling a little out of control so I slowed down and walked a little over to my rack. This transition was super quick because all I had to do was rack my bike, sip water and then grab my visor. I don't know how long it took me, but I felt like it was under a minute and a half.
The run was kinda crazy. I have never done trail running, and that's what the majority of this run was. We had to run out into the woods through some pretty large pot holes. The good part was that I was so concerned with not falling and hurting myself that I was focusing on skipping over the rocks and sticsk so I didn't think about how dead my legs felt. I did stop and walk about 20 steps because I just felt so dead, but then I decided I knew I would be dissapointed in myself if I walked alot, so I decided to stop "being a pussy" and I ran the rest of the way. I passed Heidi on the run, or I guess I should say she passed me...she was on her way back in and I was on my way out. We tried to give each other a high five but we missed....she said "you go girl!" and it was motivating to know I had a friend out there. After about a mile we came out of the woods and ran a half mile out on the road. The water stops were really cute because there were little kids giving out the water and when you ran by they would say "can we splash you?" and everyone was saying no. On my way out I took some water and gulped some of it down and then threw the rest over my head. That felt amazing. The turn around made me laugh because it was literally a little orange cone in the middle of a house lined street and there was a guy there watching to be sure you went around the cone. It was pretty hilarious.
On my way back I ran through the water station and said "ok, splash me!" Those kids went nuts! I had probably eight kids dumping cups of water over me, and one kid actually chased me and when he wasn't able to catch me he said "darn, I missed her!" Haha...it was so funny. On the way back, we ran on the same course as we did on the way out, so sometimes you passed people who were on their way out. I smiled at everyone I saw and gave thumbs up to the people who seemed unhappy. I probably pissed someone off because they might have been really not in the mood for my cheeriness, but oh well..I was happy and I wanted everyone to know. So I ran back, and then the trail split and this time we turned right to go around the lake. Apparently this part of the trail is actually a BMX bike trail, so we were running over moguls. It was actually pretty fun. My back is killing me today from the impact, but it was pretty cool at the time. I felt like I was galloping because one foot would hit the top of the mogul, the next would hit the bottom and then back to the top. It was funny. I'm sure I looked really ridiculous galloping along the moguls. After that, the rest of the run was a nice shady run along a trail by the lake. I actually really enjoyed this part. I knew I was near the end, I was full of endorphins, and I was so proud of myself that I felt like I could run forever. Then I passed what I call the "triathlon papparazzi." There was a guy squatting in the bushes with a camera, it was pretty funny. He was there taking pictures of all of us as we were about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I guess this was supposed to be the "pain picture"....so instead I put my arms up like a muscle man and gave a huge shit eating grin. The photographer seemed surprised that I had so much pep, but I was totally running on adrenaline at that point.
Coming out of the woods was weird, it was a tiny little track of dirt up a small hill when we ran out, and then we ran along the outside of a baseball fence and then around and inside the fence. I saw Bryan standing at the final corner, and when he saw me he gave me a huge smile, and that was when I kicked it up and starting sprinting to the finish.
I crossed the finish line strong, and I saw my parents standing right at the fence in front of the finish line. I looked up and my mom was balling her eyes out. She said "I'm so proud of you Lauren" and I almost started crying too. I felt so good that I can't even describe the feeling. I felt like I could do it all again because I was so high on endorphins. After the race we hung around for a while while they did awards because I wanted to wait for them to raffle the bike. Heidi won 2nd place in our age group...nice job girl! Then it got too hot and we decided to leave.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating with my family and some friends. It was a great post race party and I was just on such a high all day. I was exhausted last night. Today I feel pretty good. I am not too sore, my knees kind of hurt and my back is sore, but other than that I feel pretty good! My final time was 2:15:19 I think. I am happy with that. I wanted to finish in 2:15, so I think that is great! When the final times are up I will post my splits. Thanks everyone for the support while I trained...I can't wait to begin the next adventure of training. I haven't signed up for another tri yet because I don't have a bike. I am returning my bike to Caroline this week, so if anyone knows where I can get a bike super cheap, please let me know! For now I will just keep swimming and running and biking at the gym I guess...oh, and blogging of course!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
SWIM...BIKE....RUN....PARTY.
Well, tomorrow is the big day...and I am pretty nervous. I have trained hard and I think I am ready, but I can't help freaking out and thinking I am going to drown 200 yards into the swim. I am a strong swimmer, but I tend to freak out and hyperventilate when all those people are around me. I hope that doesn't happen tomorrow. I am going to try to focus on breathing slow and steady, and if I need to I will roll over and look at the sky for a bit. Those are my techniques for relaxing. It's raining today, which is nice because it has been record breakingly hot this past week, and the rain seems to be cooling down the air a bit...although it is still gross and humid. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cool-ish and cloudy, which sounds perfect to me. I don't want it to be too hot, or too sunny...in fact, a nice gentle rain while I am on the bike or running would be wonderful, as long as it isn't thundering or lightning or pouring so hard I can't see or my brakes don't work. Can you tell I am a little nervous? Haha..I think of everything that can go wrong...but I am also really excited! I can't wait to feel the rush of triathlon, and I can't wait to feel the accomplishment of finishing the race and knowing I did it! I think it will be such a huge rush! I also can't wait to party afterwards with my friends and family. I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying a sub and a beer....or two. Haha...anyway, I have alot to do today, I am cleaning the house and drinking water and gatorade. Later I will pack my bag and put everything including my bike into the car so that when 5:15 rolls around I can just hop out of bed and be out the door by 5:45. EEEEK! I will be back tomorrow with a race report...lets hope its a good one!!
SWIM BIKE RUN!
SWIM BIKE RUN!
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