Congratulations Meg on Your First Sprint Triathlon!

Well, she did it! Meg completed her first sprint triathlon - and with no training. My girl rocks. She sailed through the 1/4-mile swim with a time of 10:26, darn good for someone who was attempting her first open water swim. Good thing she's a high school swimmer in her "other job". I had given her some tips for transition knowing that she would finish significantly faster than me, but I couldn't believe how much of a run you had (with bare feet) between the swim exit and transition entrance. The bike portion was funny. Meg's bike is a Huffy from Target with 7-gears. Now, in spite of this cycling handicap (or as she put it: no carbon fiber!), she still managed to finish the 12.2 miles in less than an hour in 58:26. Her only cycling training was a couple rides with me through the Metroparks after getting a hot dog and ice cream at Sweetwater Landing. Way to go, Pumpkin! The second transition time was much better, although she and I both made the same mistake: knocking over the bike racks! Her run portion was her major weakness because she hates running. How is that possible with me as a mother? Oh, it is. But she never gave up and finished in 42:55. Meg completed her first sprint triathlon in under 2 hours with a time of 1:58:42. Congratulations, Megan! Best of all, she wants to do this again. Now that's my girl :)

This race for me was not meant as a "race", but to do with my daughter. But because I was in a different wave and knew she was a much faster swimmer than me, I ended up improving my bike time. My bike portion was at 15.5mph. Not bad considering I don't have clipless pedals. However, I did tell Greg that it's time for a trip to Century Cycles to get the pedals. They really do make the difference - and I want to upgrade to the Olympic distance. Hmmm...maybe even this summer.

My biggest complaint about this sprint triathlon was their management of the transition area. It was not well protected and visitors were allowed to roam and socialize. When I came back from the swim, a crowd had already gathered at the transition entrance making it tough to get through and find my rack. When I was exiting to tackle the bike portion, I had to yell "coming through." That's not cool. When I came back from the bike, a large group had my rack row blocked and I kept having to say, "Excuse Me" quite loudly to get people to move. My final gripe was part my fault. I listened to a guy in the transition area who pointed me toward the run (he was wrong-my fault for listening) and I ended up by the bathrooms with no signage and had to fight my way through the crowds.

NCN could take a cue from the Mossman Triathlon. The Connecticut race had great security for the transition area. All course markings were spot on. The volunteers kept racers and others away from the entrance/exit points and volunteers were constantly yelling to get you in the right direction. Kudos to Connecticut. Thumbs down to NCN on the transition.

Congratulations, Meg! Now it's time to find a bike with more than 7-speeds!

I Wish I Were Salmon

The rules for the Race for 50 States challenge were two-fold: 1) it had to include family either as one or all of us participating in a race or at least traveling together and 2) had to include different types of races from 5k to 50k, trail races, a century bike ride or two, and triathlon to further challenge our physical selves and to step out of our racing comfort zones while learning (and maybe enjoying) a new sport. So far, we have collectively acomplished a 5k, 10k, 10 mile trail run, half marathon, marathon, sprint triathlon, Olympic triathlon, and a half ironman. We're moving right along in reaching our goal. And with this past weekend's sprint triathlon in Portland, Oregon, we managed to check off our19th state! Now, on to the race report.

Swim. I wish I were salmon because then I could naturally swim upstream in a river. As you know, a triathlon race begins with the swim portion. Not only is this not my strength, but I started practicing 4 weeks ago on my lunch hour, with the pool facility being closed one of those weeks. Not surprisingly, I was not speedy in the water. It's hard to even begin describing all that went wrong during
my swim portion, but I will try as this also serves as a learning tool for improvement. We had to jump in the river from the marina dock and then tread water till our start time. The outside temps were 60-61. The water was 67. Can I just day brrrrrr. No wetsuit because I thought the water couldn't be much cooler than Lake Erie (mistake#1). I think I might have panicked at that point because I was so cold before getting into the water, then was shocked at how really cold I could still become. When the gun went off, you would have thought this was my first time in open water. I had to back stroke it until I could relax myself enough to attempt the freestyle stroke. Thank goodness I am no sissy and was able to pull myself together, although I swear I saw "things" swming alongside me! I managed to finish in 30:51, about 5 minutes off my goal time. Based upon the little training I had for the swim portion (9 pool sessions and 1open water practice), I didn't fare too badly for swimming 750 meters. The Transition is another story (can you say train wreck?).

T1 - I got out of the water by placing my foot onto a 2x4 and climbing out of the water using a net like a Navy Seal, only clumsier. Ran up the hill to the Transition area where I couldn't quite figure out how to put my helmet on. I could see Meg & Greg watching my confused motions wondering how long does it really take to strap on a helmet. According to my T1 time, it takes 3:59 to slip on socks, shoes, strap a helmet onto wet hair and ride off into the sunset (or Naito Pkwy).

Bike. It was hilly and challenging, yet a beautiful ride overall. I had set my goal at 1:04 and ended up with a very acceptable 1:19 for the 16.4 mile bike ride. The first 3.5 miles were uphill with an additional 1/2 mile up a very steep hill before cresting atop Terwilliger. The big learning lesson here is that I should have practiced climbing hills on my rented Fuji road bike to get a better sense of shifting gears. Learning how to ride a bike DURING a race is not the time to master your gears. Terwilliger was quite scenic with lush foliage and breath-taking views of Portland. The crowds and volunteers were wonderful. And I loved hearing my two girls yell "go mommy go" while I was rounding the corner on my bike. Not only do I judge a race by their pre- and post-race activities, but also by how family friendly it is. So even though my quads and calves were cursing me, I totally enjoyed the race and gave it my best. I also loved the ride, fit and feel of my rented Fuji Finest 2.0 road bike.

T2 - I racked my bike, took a giant gulp of HEED, ponytailed my hair, added a hat (partly for sun protection, partly to hide the poor ponytail job!) and off I went on the run. Time in T2 was 2:17.

Run. Thank goodness something my body understood. Believe it or not, I actually ran one of my faster times and probably would have broke 30 minutes if my quads hadn't locked up twice on me. I still managed to run 32:36, and was quite pleased. We ran along the banks of both sides of the Williamette River and across 2 bridges. Once again, great views of the city and a fairly enjoyable run with only a few short climbs.

Post-race. Hell yeah this will go down as one of my favorite races! I got a fantastic bamboo long-sleeve race shirt with 3 chickens - each one reading flail (swim), flap (bike) and flee (run) - triathlons are not for chickens. Loved it! At the finish line, every finisher received a stainless steel water bottle with Portland Triathlon Finisher on it. Each race participant also got gelatto from Staccato Gelatto and a delicious microbrew ale from Deschutes. The line was too long, but there was also BBQ as well. There was also a kids painting activity area and great open green spaces for families and supporters to relax and wait on their athlete.

Final Thoughts. Overall, I finished in 2:29:14 and was happy considering the training effort put forth. I would like to do another sprint triathlon sometime, but I'm not committing to one anytime soon. I was very happy that I tackled a sport that was definitely outside my comfort zone (open water swimming) and, best of all, had my favorite cheering section with me through the whole race!

Transition Dress Rehearsal

Tonight was a last minute practice of T1 and T2 for the upcoming Portland Freshwater Trust Sprint Triathlon. Learned a few keys things to change and realized that when you're trying to be fast in transition, you can often miss things. I can't exactly write crib notes on my arm for this! I have packed all the key items - goggles, extra swim cap, tri shorts, tri top for the swim; helmet, extra shirt for race number, socks/shoes, and sunglasses for bike portion; and my favorite (worn-out) running hat to finish with. I have all the little extras just in case - gu packets (lemon sublime, my favorite), bodyglide, water bottle for HEED and one for water, sunscreen, my good friend Biofreeze, bandaids, baby powder, and a Christmas Red towel so I can easily spot my corner of the woods in the triathlon pit.

I had a good swim today. At this point, I am challenging myself to finish in 2 hours...give or take a minute or two. My goal is to finish the 750m swim in 25 minutes, the 16.4 mile bike ride in 64 minutes, and the 5k run in 30 minutes.

Portland, here I come!