Warsaw Optimist Triathlon Race Report

(If you got here looking for official Warsaw Triathlon race photos, they can be found at this site. But you could hang out for a little while anyway!)

I had to do all my packing on Thursday night.



After work on Friday, Ryan and I drove to Warsaw, Indiana where we met my parents and grandparents.

Of course, we brought our dog along with. My parents hadn't met her yet.



Maggie absolutely loved the hotel room...



My Dad and I arrived at 7 am the next morning.



Transition was already pretty crowded.



Here is my Dad's stuff all ready to go...



He seemed pretty excited about the race.




The swim didn't look too bad from the shore. The water looked very calm.



I went down to the shore to feel the temperature. I hear some guy yelling. I turn around, and a man with "Referee" on his shirt was staring at me.

Man: "I SWEAR! I'm going to start taking numbers and handing out DQs!"
Me: "What??"
Man: "The lake is now CLOSED!"

Oh. Well sorrrrrrrry! Sorry that no one TOLD me it was closed. Sorry that there isn't a CLOCK anywhere around. SORRY! (jerk.)

So I didn't really get a good feel of the water temperature, but they announced later it was officially 84 degrees (yes... you heard me correctly!). So my Dad and I would be going without our wetsuits for the race.

The other problem with the lake was the seaweed. If you recall, I was voicing my concerns about seaweed earlier this week. So before the race began, they skimmed all this seaweed off the top of the water...



The pile was gross, but I was happy it was on shore and not floating around with me in the water.

So I made final race preperations...



My grandparents were all ready to watch us race.





The race officially began...



Half an hour later, my dad's heat was up. He's the one in the foreground looking to the side...




And they're off!




Four minutes later, it was my turn.



There's me in the black and white suit...




"Hi!"...



Ready...



Go!...



I started up front, but it didn't last long...



So remember all that seaweed they skimmed off? Totally POINTLESS. I mean... I didn't know it was possible for this much seaweed to exist in one place. I was hoping it would thin out as we got away from the shore, but that didn't happen.

Every time I pulled my hands through the water, I got handfuls of weeds. When I came up for a breath, I got a faceful of weeds. It was on my arms, in my toes, covering my goggles, etc. AWEFUL. It may just be the one thing that would prevent me from coming back to this race next year.

(Note: I'm not just a big baby. EVERY ONE was complaining about the weeds. It was a mess.)



So, the swim was pretty rough. I wanted to complete it in 10 minutes, but I kept getting tangled in the seaweed. I had a tough time catching my breath, and I did a good amount of breast stroke and sidestroke.

Fortunately, my Dad did NOT drown on the swim. But he did look exhausted when he came crawling out of the lake...






He made a smooth transition and headed out to bike...



I was THRILLED to be done with the swim portion. Notice the HUGE smile on my face below (I'm second from the right)...




Also note the seaweed on my legs...




I did a nice jog into transition...



Got a quick drink...




Helmet on...



And I'm off...





13.5 miles later, my Dad returned with a SWEET flying dismount...




My bike was decent. It was a pretty flat out-and-back course. I got passed by quite a few bikers, which didn't surprise me, because biking isn't my strong point. But (you'll all be so proud) I DID shift my gears going up and down the hills. I noticed a pretty significant different, so thanks to everyone for the tips!

A while later, I returned and headed back into transition...




The run was hot and tiring (isn't it always?). It was 3.5 miles instead of a 5K, so it seemed a little long. Plus, it ended with a very long uphill and then a very steep downhill.

My Dad finished in good time. He said he walked a little (mainly that uphill at the end), but still did great overall.




And just like that, he completed his first triathlon ever!



A few minutes later, I came running in.




It was a total relief to cross the finish line. The crowd was very supportive.



So... I bet you're dying to know who got the better time!



Well, you may be shocked to hear that my Dad actually beat my time by about 2 1/2 minutes.

Me... 1:47:10 overall

11:30 Swim
2:06 T1
54:04 Bike
:53 T2
38:39 Run

6/7 in Athena division
122/168 for women

My Dad... 1:44:32 overall

12:03 Swim
2:22 T1
52:54 Bike
:53 T2
36:22 Run

20/24 in Clydesdale Masters division
338/378 for men

He did a great job, and it was an EXTREMELY close race. He said it was by far one of the hardest things he's ever done in his life. Despite that, he seems extremely interested in completing another triathlon.

Thoughts on my race? I definitely didn't train enough. Stupid Kelly. It was apparent in my swim and in my run. But considering that, I'm proud of myself for finishing in one piece and not walking during the last leg.

I feel like I had a million things that I wanted to write about yesterday, but they seemed to have all been forgotten overnight. Oh well. So, I'll leave you with 2 random photos...

When I got home, I found all this seaweed stuck to my skin. BLEH...



Check out my sweet battle-wound...