The swim and bike portion of the race

The Swim

First, let me say before I competed in my first triathlon, I thought that I was a good swimmer. I swam in high school and competed in a couple of races at my local pool. I didn't realize how different it would be in the lake (where you can't see in front of you) as opposed to the pool.

Back to the race report

I really try to focus on the end of the swim. I have a hard time controlling my breath because I get so nervous at the start and then my heart rate goes too high and I am unproductive. This has happened the past two swims that I have had including IronGirl. After getting out of the water we had to run almost straight up a hill. I was completely out of breath. I started listening to the announcer talk about a competitor in the race and how her sister had breast cancer. He spoke about the money that she raised to help with the research, I was touched and thought about my sister losing her life to cancer and how that I needed to keep going. I refocused and grabbed my bike. Standing right outside T1 as I came out were my 7 year old and my husband. Loved seeing their smiling faces.

Since this is really my first season competing I am learning through trial, error and other bloggers the ins and outs of triathlon. It was very hard for me to train outside for the bike and run portion because of my work schedule, so I spent a lot of mornings in the gym doing Bricks, long bikes and long runs. Having said that, I didn't spent a whole lot of time on my road bike outside (this changed the minute I got home from the race).

The Bike

Well, you know what happened? I spent the first 7 miles in the same gear, because I thought I had broken the shifter-- OPERATOR ERROR!!!! I forgot how to shift. With those hills it was brutal. I even stopped a few times to see if my chain was broken, no it was the fact that I wasn't shifting. Finally at mile 14 I figured it out and laughed at myself.