What a morning! We hit the road at 3:10am for the drive over to Moss Park in Orlando. We got there at about 5:50 and began setting up my transition station & I was already getting NERVOUS. Everyone looked like they knew exactly what they were doing but I felt like it was my first day in a new school. Before I knew it I was body marked and getting ready to suit up!
# 321 - Marked and Ready to Go!
After squeezing into my wetsuit I headed over to the lake for the pre-race meeting. The sun was still coming up!
Sunrise over the lake. That's me on the right.
Thank goodness for these guys:
WetsuitRental.com may have saved my life!
The water was FREEZING (officially 55 degrees I think)! It literally took my breath away. The mix of the cold and this being my first open water swim made this the most TERRIFYING part of the Tri. I couldn’t control my breathing, couldn’t keep my face in the water, and my body would basically seize whenever I got splashed in the face, so that meant no freestyle for me. I ended up doing the entire swim ON MY BACK (was surprised to see a LOT of competitors doing this). I somehow managed to come out of the water in front of good number of people, which surprised the hell out of me.
Ready to exit the water. Couldn't be happier!
My legs felt like rubber once I hit try land. But I somehow made it into the transition area and quickly got out of my wetsuit, into my riding gear, sucked down some nectar of the gods a PowerBar Vanilla Gel and hit the road.
T1
Heading out of T1
On the road for 20km
The ride was without a doubt my strongest leg. It was very windy day (seemed like we had a head-wind the whole ride) but I averaged a 15.4mph pace. Along the course I managed to pick off 9 people, some of them big strong men! I met up with a gal named Christa about 3/4 of the way thru & we ended up riding the rest of the course together, it was a nice distraction from our cold feet and tired legs!
Then back into transition to prep for the run.
Coming up on the "dismount" area
Heading in to T2
T2 was MUCH easier than T1 – just take off the riding shoes & helmet, pull on running shoes (gotta love Yankz Race Laces) then start running.
Coming out of T2
Boy was I TIRED. After the intense swim and probably overdoing it on the bike my legs (and cardio) were SHOT. I had to take several walk breaks during the last leg. It was a fun run though – part of the course is an out & back and the passing runners were very encouraging to one another! Before I knew it, I was approaching the finish line!
Approaching the FINISH LINE
It was ultra rainy yesterday so the course was SOAKED. The chute was like a Slip N’ Slide!
All in all, it was a FUN and CHALLENGING experience.
Happy (and dry) Finisher
And to top it all off, I GOT FIRST PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!!! (Just don’t tell anyone I was the ONLY ONE in my age group…)
Female 30-34 Champion!
I think I will definitely try another Triathlon & hopefully improve on all 3 legs. Especially the swim.
Thanks to everyone for the continued support!
Theresa:
I am so proud of you! You are an inspiration. Keep it up!
Paula
i loved reading this recap
you did awesome 
You should be so proud!!!
Thanks for the kind words!
I’ve definitely got a LONG way to go but as long as I keep moving I’ll get there someday!
WOW – What an awesomre effort! Open water swims are scary – but great work for not giving up
Love your recap! Our experiences seem very similar, except you had to deal with freezing water as well! That must have made it scarier. W
Thanks Liz! The swim was AWFUL. I honestly don’t know if the cold water made it worse or not – I probably would have freaked out either way. To be safe though, my next Tri will be in warm salt water in October. (And I’ll be sure to get in some open water swing before hand this time too!)