Genine's Jerseyman 2009 Race Report

Strangely enough, I did not feel nervous going into the race that would be my first full triathlon. Unprepared….yes. Nervous…..not so much. The past few weeks have not been what I had hoped for in terms of training, so I was really just racing Saturday as a test run for Mooseman without many expectations other than to cross the finish line.

Shawn arrived around 9:30 Friday night. After talking and finishing race preparations, I was in bed by 11:00ish, with my alarm set for 5:30am. I slept well. The morning went together easily and we were in the car heading to Spruce Run at about 6:45am. Plenty of time for our 9:30am start. We got there, found parking and I immediately hit the potty for stop number 1 of the morning….there were many! Trying to gauge food & liquid intake over 4 hours prior to starting the race is a bit tricky for a novice. Shawn and I then got our packets, got numbered and then went back to the car to get bikes & gear packed up to take to transition. On the way there, I saw Todd and Chaz in line for packet pickup. And chatted for a minute. Always nice to see familiar faces!

I got to transition and set up. I was the third bike in from the end, hopefully easy to remember. It felt funny setting up my own gear…all of it for ME…I was racing this all by myself! I laid everything out in the order I would be using it and then did a quick mental run thru to make sure I didn’t forget anything. It all seemed to be in the right spot. Todd was heading to the port-potties, so I followed…again. It was about a half hour to the pre-race meeting, so it was almost time to start putting my wetsuit on. Better go again…one last time just to make sure!

My wetsuit went on very easily and comfortably…no troubles. During the process, I was talking with the woman racked beside me. She was quite nice and I shared with her that this was my first full race and that the swim was the part that I had my doubts about. She was a newbie also (her second race) and told me to just relax and go at my own pace. She then said that I don’t have anything to worry about and asks if I have worked out before. I said yes, but not tri workouts (prior to last Oct). To which she replied, “ I thought you did because you look so intimidating with your muscles.” Ha! I laughed out loud! “We’ll see.” I said, “but thank you though!”

Time to walk down to the water. The part of the race I was dreading was upon me. Again, I didn’t feel nervous, but just wanted to be out of the water and on my bike. I chatted a bit on the beach with Matt, Maija, Todd, Chaz and Shawn before the start. The first 2 waves leave and then wave 3 is called…my wave. No turning back now. I walk over the timing mat and wish Maija good luck as she heads to her spot and I go to mine….in the back, behind to the right. Again, my only goal here is to get through the swim and on to the rest of the race. It is a means to an end for me. After a few minutes delay, the horn sounds and I am in the water. I try to find a spot that I am not hitting into anyone…pass 2-3 people… and now it’s time to swim. Apparently my arms and lungs didn’t hear me, as all I could manage to do was dog paddle. I am not joking even a little bit. It was like my brain could not control what my body was doing. I tried to put my face in the water and swim…not happening. So, I went with it. I actually passed a few of the super slow people. Go figure! As I was turning at the first buoy, I began to get angry with my situation. I know I am not a strong swimmer, but come on! Seriously?!? I can’t dog paddle the entire swim! So, I managed to get myself to begin to side stroke on the right. This seemed to be better and most importantly…faster. As I rounded the second buoy, I was on the straight line for shore. It was then I decide it was time to swim. And so I did…with almost every bit of technique I have learned at masters swim flying right out the window. Oh well…I was “swimming”. My stroke felt smooth, but bi-lateral breathing wasn’t happening. No, it was every stroke on the right and that was going to have to be good enough. Just please get me feet back on the ground. After what seemed like an eternity, I was standing up peeling off my wetsuit. Hooray!! Matt was right there coaching, cheering and running beside me back up to transition. It was exactly what I needed to put the swim behind me and shift my focus to the bike. My favorite part! My wetsuit came off without a hitch, rinsed my feet off with my extra water bottle, quick dry them off, bikes shoes on (no socks!), helmet on, sunglasses on and I’m ready to go! I decided to take one quick chug of water from my extra bottle I had on my towel. Chug..…wait, that’s not water! That’s Nuun! Ooops…yes, I did just rinse my feet with Nuun! T2 was 3:20. Oh well…time to bike!

I felt confident on my bike…a welcome contrast from the swim! And since I didn’t kick at all during the swim, my legs felt good now. I got some fluid in me and felt ready to go. I passed several people throughout the course. It felt good! Since Matt and I rode it twice in the past 2 weeks, I knew what to expect. Some good uphills, rollers and the big downhill with curves. I think I hit 42mph before I start to tap the brakes. I had a gu at about half way through. I finished the bike feeling good about my performance and was ready to test my hip out on the run.

T2 went smoothly. I did put on socks to run, swapped helmet for running hat, drank some fluids and off I went. I think my T2 was 1:00 flat. My goal for the run was to finish and not injure my hip any further. The first mile or so was difficult as my legs felt very heavy and my right hip felt like a knife was being jammed in to it every step. I ran slow, but steady. By mile 2.5 the legs were feeling better and the hip was going numb. I’m not sure if numb is good, but I figured no pain was good at that moment in time. So, with only a half mile left, I was starting to feel like I could pick up the pace and was trying to get some push off out of my strides as I crossed the finish line. This makes me hopeful for the 10k Mooseman run……time will tell. I ran the whole 5k, only stopping to walk at the water stations long enough to drink. I averaged a 9:44 pace. The bigger victory is that my hip didn’t break or fall off. At the end of the day, it actually did not hurt any worse than it has recently, so good recovery news there.

I crossed the finish line to the sweetest reward – a congratulatory kiss from Matt! (sorry for the girly talk boys, but hey, what can I say…he’s the best!) I felt that I gave a solid performance for my first race. My total time was 2hrs 5min and change. Which as we found out at the awards ceremony, would have earned me a 3rd pace trophy had I registered in the “first timer” category. Oh well! I know what my time was…don’t need a trophy for that. Ok, it would be nice, but whatever!

I’m excited to have that experience to learn from prior to Mooseman. I am going to make an effort to get some open water swim practice in before then. No dog paddle in Newfound! The day was made complete by having so many friends there racing and cheering for me. To Matt, Shawn, Maija, Todd, Chaz and Bob….Thank you!! You guys are so supportive and fun to hang with! The next 3 weeks will be busy ones, but exciting ones. Can’t wait to be writing my next race report….Mooseman 2009!!!!