From the category archives:

Race Reports

OC_Swimmer’s First Sprint Triathlon Race Report!

by Kcurly on June 28, 2010

Girl, thanks so much for sending me this story. I am so proud and inspired by your race story! You look great out there, I just love it!

The night before: I hadn’t slept well in days. I kept stressing about the bike and run portion. Would I have enough energy? Could I complete 16 miles on the bike over steep hills? Did I drink enough water to still hydrated?

Race Day: My friend and I left my house at 5:30am. Thanks to all the books and articles I had read, I over-packed (3 beach towels, ice-packs, shoes, duct tape, scissors…all kinds of random stuff). When we got the transition area we went straight in and starting setting up…only to find out we had to use assigned spots based on our pre-submitted swim times. I had to move my “luggage” and bike…get my number and re-setup.

The Swim: Indoor swim. I love (LOVE) to swim. I was not nervous and tried to help people around me stay calm. We had to race up and down each lane of the pool for a total of 16 laps or 400 yards. Thought I would swim faster, but I couldn’t get used to having guys swimming around, over, next to me. Also, the water was warm (yuck). My time = 10:20 minutes.

T1: It was hard to run to the transition area…especially over the pebbles in the parking lot. My main focus in T1 was dry my feet enough to get socks on without falling over. I opted not to mess with extra clothing and planned to drink sometime on the bike course. I had taken a Claritin the night before but I still expected to have a runny nose while biking, so I stuffed a cotton hankie into my suit. T1 = 1:55 minutes

Bike: The hills…some many hills. My longest ride on the road before this event was 10 miles. 16 miles was going to be a challenge. I tried to take it one mile at a time and just enjoy the ride, breeze, view, and challenge. Many people passed me on this leg. Most were super supportive, cheering me on the hills. I tried (when I had the air) to cheer back. Luckily, I had driven around the course a few weeks beforehand and had a mental image of the obstacles ahead to pace my expectations. They had a great set of volunteers on the course and the police were great at holding traffic for most of the race. I finished faster than my goal of 1:30 hours (actual = 1:25:57). My avg pace was 11.2 miles per hour (there was moments on the hills my pace was barely over 3 miles per hour).

T2: Legs like jello. Still made it through pretty fast. Depressing to see most of the bikes were back on the racks. I kept my bike gloves on, took off my helmet, put on a shirt, drank some warm (yuck) crystal light water and was ready to go. T2 time = 1:14 minutes

Run: …more like walk. My legs felt like jello after the bike. My right shoe insert wouldn’t lie flat, so I took it out and held it for the whole 3.1 miles. I walked the first mile. More people walking and jogging passed me. Finally got some energy back on mile 2, so I decided to start jogging and talking to people. One guy had a great strategy of walking 2 mailboxes, jogging 2. Worked great. Normally, my pace is 20 minutes a mile….that day it was 15.39 minutes per mile!!!

Post race: I was so happy to finish. So happy to finish under the 3 hour cut off. So happy my body didn’t ‘break’. All smiles.
Total race time = 2:28 hours

Comments: I need to practice how to ride my bike and drink water…the act of reaching for and returning the water bottle is still a bit shaky. I don’t think I will ever be a runner…I am okay with that.
Gear Used: Danskin 1-piece (last XXL in stock). Enell sports bra. Wicking fabric shirt and socks. Used the same running shoes for both the bike and run (many people have fancy bike shoes). My Trek 1.1 road bike (it doesn’t have a third front gear…you will wished you paid the extra $100 for them on steep hills). Helmet, bike gloves, bike sunglasses, swim cap and goggles

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Race Schedule

by Kcurly on January 21, 2010

The question marks denotes that I couldn’t find the date but the months usually remain the same. I’m pretty excited! I work weekends and have to take off, so I can’t do all of the races I would like.

March 13 5k Run (3.1 miles)- This is supposed to be a very flat course and a lot of people get a PR (personal record) so I would love to get under 35 minutes!

May (?) Sprint Triathlon( Swim 250 Meters, Bike 8 miles, Run 2 miles) This will be a great way to kick off the season :)

June 5 Olympic Triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 24.5 mile bike, 6.2 mile run)- Whew! I get tired just looking at that one! This will be my biggest challenge! I start training for this one Monday!

October (?) Heart Walk- I am actually organizing this one! It is only a walk, but for a very good cause.

October (?) Sprint Triathlon- Hopefully this will not interfere with the heart walk. This is the same one that I did last year, I would love to do it again to see if I could improve on my time.

I know some of you ladies have already said you have some races/walks/tris coming up. So share your schedule!

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My first triathlon-race report

by Kcurly on December 29, 2009

Here’s my race report! For those of you who don’t know, a triathlon consists of a swim, bike, and run. All of the courses looped back to the transition area, where our bikes and equipment are housed. We came back to the transition area after each part. I hope you enjoy my story! Thanks again for all the support!!

Pre-Race

My friend and I arrived the the racing grounds at 6:30 am. We’d been out to the site the day before so we could find it easily on the day of the race. It’s beautiful land, way out in the country with a lake and winding, rolling hills.

The weather had been stormy the day before and there was a weather forecast of rain and possible thunderstorms the day of the race. The race officials let it be known that cancellation was possible if things got too bad. My two main fears were swimming in tumultuous water and riding a bike on wet roads, both of which I’d rarely or never done. But as the sun started to come up, I could see that it was just very overcast and not storming at all. It drizzled off and on while we were setting up our equipment. The temperature stayed around 71 degrees.

DSC05003
Transition Area
Lake
Lake

I can be a pretty forgetful person, so I was waiting to see what vital, important thing I would forget for this event. Fortunately, I didn’t leave out a single thing that I needed. My transition area still needs some work though. Here’s a picture of it.

I won’t go into all of the boring pre-race stuff.  Pretty much we just got the necessary items we needed, listened to announcements, and met some of the other participants. I was pretty excited/nervous.

The Swim

So this next picture will be a good game of “Find Kcurly”. It’s not hard to spot me, even though you can’t see my face.   I was so excited to see this picture in the local newspaper where the triathlon was held. Even though they didn’t get my face, it’s still a nice shot.

Lining up for the swim

Lining up for the swim

I don’t know if I’d mentioned this, but my friend and I had been agonizing over whether or not to wear wetsuits for the race. In my neck of the woods, it can be 50 or 80 degrees in October, so we weren’t sure. I went ahead and rented one just in case. I was a little miffed when they announced that the water temperature was 82 (too high to wear wet suits) and the wetsuits aid in buoyancy. But I got over it when I felt how nice the water was.

I had my hair in twists and did not apply conditioner since I was swimming in fresh water. They’d given us swim caps to wear and mine was tight but fit ok.

We lined up by our numbers and they staggered our entry into the water by 3 seconds. I had a moment before entering the water where everything just felt surreal. I kept praying “Please God, just let me make it out of the water” and trying to remind myself that yes, I can swim.

Heading into the water...thats me in the blackHeading into the water…that’s me in the black

The swim was crazy. There were so many people zooming past me. I’m very slow and don’t try to be fast. I was just trying to make it, so I took it easy.

I could feel the occasional arm and leg brushing up against me. I also had one panicky moment where someone’s foot made contact with my head and inhaled a ton of water in surprise. I started choking it up, trying to stay calm and catch my breath. I heard one of the lifeguards (they were in boats along the path) ask if I was ok. I nodded and got back to swimming.

I won’t lie: I just wanted this part to be over, especially after my scare. I had to keep reminding myself that I hadn’t’ put all this time and effort into this just to fail. The really hard part about swimming  out there was having to stop and look up to make sure I wasn’t off course, which I was frequently.  I was so danged tired and so happy to get to shore that I just took my time going to the transition area. Everyone else around me was running out of the water, but screw that!

Emerging from the water...finally!
Emerging from the water…finally!

Bike

Unfortunately, the photographer, bless her little heart, failed to get my picture while biking. So…this pisses me off just a little bit, but what can I do about it? Nothing I guess.Here’s a pictures of the country side.

I was one of the last people to get out of the water, so I just took my time at the transition area knowing I wasn’t going to be breaking any records today anyway. Once I had everything on and took a big gulp of sports drink and an energy gel, I got on my bike. I started out ok and even passed a few people until I got to the really hard hills. I despise hills.

I’m not one to cuss much, but I’d have made a sailor proud if one had been around. At the top of the really bad hills, I prayed a little, thanking the powers that be for letting me make it over that one and to please, please let there be no more hills. No one heard me!

It was a very challenging course, I even heard some of the more experienced people complaining about it.  I did have the occasional cow and horse to look at and try to take my mind off things. It rained a few times off and on, so my clothes never had a chance to dry off from the swim. My socks and shoes also got soaking wet. I didn’t have any accidents or hydroplane, so I was happy for that. However, it was probably the most miserable 16.5 miles I have ever biked. But how does something so miserable make me feel so good?

Run, Kcurly, Run!

I got back to the transition area, got rid of my helmet and gloves, drank a few more gulps of sports drink and headed out. I started out walking because I was so incredibly tired. I’d passed the runners on my way back to the transition area on my bike, so I knew the running course was hilly as well. I decided to just walk the whole thing initially. There were a few other people around that were walking too, so that made me feel better about my decision.

After walking for about 5 minutes, I felt pretty good and started jogging. There were hills, but nothing worse than I usually ran. I ended up passing a few people and then got lost on the course, going the wrong way.  I have no idea how much time it cost me, but there were other people also lost and well figured out the way back. My total time for the 3.1 mile run ended up being 44 minutes, but considering I got lost and started out walking, I don’t think that’s bad at all.

I recieved so many positive yells and comments as I running into the finish line. It was wonderful and my friends were waiting at the finish line for me with big smiles on their faces.

Kcurly crossing the finish line
Kcurly crossing the finish line!

Over all, my time was about 2 hours and 4o minutes. Lord, what an ordeal and what fun! It was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life but so worth it. I can not tell you the sense of accomplishment I feel and I’m looking forward to the next one, possibly in the spring. I really want to improve on my times and my body.

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10k report

by Kcurly on December 23, 2009

From February 2008:

Let’s see, how to start? Oh yes, it was a beautiful day. I don’t know if anyone reading this is familiar with the Natchez Trace, but this is where this race took place. It’s a parkway that follows the route of an old trail that went from Mississippi to Tennessee and had high traffic from Native Americans and European explorers. There are markers all along the way. People like to bike there and run. It’s nice and wooded with the occasional farm land or cows and there are plenty of deer peeking out of the trees. In other words, this was a nice place to run.

I picked up my best friend we drove down the Natchez Trace Parkway, not really sure of where this place was. Eventually we found it and I hurried over to the registration tables since there was only about 10 minutes until it started. I was running a little late due to childcare issues.

Anyhoo, I get over there and the lady says “You can pay here” and I said that I’d already registered online. She told me to go over to the box by the truck. Apparently she should’ve been more specific, because I found myself rummaging through the box of winning plaques , which were in brown colored envelopes (it was the only box I saw!). And I’d just realized my mistake when one of the race organizers busted me….I joked that that was the only way I was going to get one of those! Anyway, I found the boxes, which were totally not where she said they were.

I lined up with the rest of the runners, toward the back where I belong, and listened to instructions. This was the first race I’d run on a road that was not closed off, so we were warned to watch the traffic. I decided then to not listen to my ipod. I was so incredibly nervous, my tummy felt like it was full of butterflies.

So the gun went off and I ran much faster than I intended, but it felt so good that I kept it up. A lot of people passed me, but I was expecting it, so I didn’t’ sweat it. I just tried to look around at the beautiful surroundings. I was surprised to see another very overweight person running too. I don’t know why, but I felt pride in her and I gave her a smile as I passed her and then later after the race. I won’t make this long and drawn out, but it was a good run. I was a little discouraged around mile 2 when the first speed walker passed me (how in the world can those people WALK a 5k in under 30 minutes?!) But there are always 3 that attend these races and beat the slower runners. Luckily, they were only doing the 5k, so I didn’t have to see how badly they would’ve beaten me at a 10k lol.

Around mile 5 is when I really started getting tired. Some people who were speed walking the whole thing (though I think they may have started out running) went ahead of me and I just let them. Then I saw a guy who’d been in front of me for a good while and decided to focus on getting in front of him. I eventually did and that felt good, but it was hard. Then the last 0.5 miles a lady behind me kept trying to run faster than me so we went back and forth and I think I was like 3 seconds in front of her lol.

But here is the best part: My time was 1:17:50! I can’t believe it! On my training run it took me 1:20 just to do 5.5 miles. Someone told me good job as I finished and that made me feel really good, but made me wonder if I looked pitiful out there. I didn’t place of course, but I felt so happy that I’d done it at such an unexpected time.

I am already very sore. Here is a horrible picture of me after crossing the finish line.

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First 5k Run

by Kcurly on December 23, 2009

From October 2007:

I was sooo excited that morning. I literally skipped out of the house after I kissed DH and baby good bye. My best friend’s boyfriend came along. He took a picture of us before and as we crossed the finish line.

There were a lot of runners when the gun went off and people just seemed to shoot off past us. There was a small group behind us and sometimes they would occasionally walk. At the 2.5 mile mark, I really wanted to walk. I did about literally 5-10 seconds of speedwalking before I started running again. I was proud that I kept it up.

This is kind of disgusting, but whenever I increase my mileage, I get mucousy and just really need to get rid of it. That happened during the run and I ran by the grass and got rid of it. Along the way I noticed that other people apparently have the same problem, but don’t bother spitting in the grass (yeck!!) Anyway, my best friend was battling her own demons in the form of a side stitch. I asked her a couple of times if she wanted to walk,but she gave a firm and hearty no, so we kept going.

We saw the finish line in site and the clock read 35 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. I said “Does that say 35 minutes??!?!” We were shocked because while training, it took us both at least 12-14 minutes to do a mile, so we figured we’d be in at about 45 minutes. That gave me renewed energy, so I said “Let’s try and make it before 37 minutes!” and I took off. There was a man at the finish line with a bullhorn and I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but for some reason I thought he was tellnig me to slow down. So I did a little bit, thinking that he was thinking that I was going to overdo it. Then my dumb ass got confused about which finish line to go through. How did I not know that there were 2? One for walkers and one of runners. So my best friend ended up zooming past me a second ahead of me. Not a biggie, but I have to laugh at my stupidity.

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