Flashback to Saturday, June 13th. I actually slept in Saturday morning and had a good night sleep. I ate my usual breakfast of a Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal and a Grande Americano. Left the house early to drop off my bike/run transition bag and then to head upto the swim start. It was very exciting to get to the start and get your number written on you. Of course I had pre-race jitters, which is totally normal. I think it being my first triathlon ever my pre-race jitters were much higher. The swim was my biggest fear and the pre-race jitters reflected that. I had to go to the bathroom several times before getting into my wetsuit. Note: I started hydrating at least a week before the event. My kidneys were working overtime!
So transition areas were all set for the "clean transition", my wetsuit was on, and my heart was racing. Thankfully I didn't have my heart rate monitor on for the swim because it would be off the charts! In fact, I think my heart was doing all kinds of funny things. At that moment in time, I would have been a cardiologist nightmare. I got into my wave of women 40+ and waited for the elite division to start. Eminems song Lose Yourself was playing on the loud speakers which was making me want to move (good beat), but I needed to find my inner zen and calm my heart rate down. Finally, U2s song....Beautiful Day....one of my workout songs that I know by heart. I closed my eyes and did some deep breathing exercises. My heart started to slow....finally. The elite division were given the cannon. My wave of a 40+ women were called to head for the water, there was about 150 of us. It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away, It's a beautiful day. ~ Touch me, Take me to that other place, Teach me, I know I'm not a hopeless case.I walked out towards the water, put a little bit on my face and then put my goggles on. I guess you can say I put my game face on, which usually is a smile from ear to ear. I believe in having fun. I like professional tiathlete and Mom, Bree Wee's attitude of smiling, it is contagious! http://breeweehawaii.blogspot.com/
U2's lyrics ringing in my head. I get to a point where I couldn't touch so I did a few breast strokes and find a good location in the school of women. I allow some space between those around me knowing that once we go from treading water to swimming we will be fighting for water to swim in. The cannon goes off and here we go.....
It took me a little bit to get into a rhythm. No one or book can prepare you to swim with a group of people. Sometimes you get run into or you are the one that hits someones feet. Thankfully I wore my goggles under my swim cap and they never got knocked off. Okay so yellow buoys out to first red and turn...good I am so totally doing this. As I was heading to my second red buoy the wind came up and I was surrounded by whitecaps. I didn't prepare myself for this one. Yikes! Breathing was a bit of a challenge. If I did a 3 to 1 bilateral breathing then I got splashed and swallowed a ton of water when I tried to take a breath from the left. Okay adapt....2 to 1 or 4 to 1 and breathe on the right until I can. There was one point that I would put my chin to my chest and swim away, sight for my buoy and feel like I was not making any forward progress. Wow this is really hard. Come on Heikkila you can do this....Failure is not an Option!
So here is my husband waiting patiently. He later told me that he kept on watching the women that had their bikes next to mine come and go. He secretly was worried because he knows that swimming is a weak point of mine. He also knew if I didn't finish the swim then my race day was over. What he didn't know is that wasn't going to be me today. I was motiviated to finish the swim!While he was waiting I was using that Mental Mantra that I had been practicing over the past couple of months. You can be physically strong, but if you didn't bring your mental game, you might as well go home. The bottom line is the mental game is a huge part of triathlon! So my Mantra was Dory from the Disney Movie Nemo...."just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." I was thinking that to myself. Finally the second Red Buoy and the orange ones that bring us to the end of the swim. From the 2nd Red Buoy to the 3rd Red Buoy it was awesome. Totally in my groove, back to swimming a 3 to 1 and bilateral breathing. Of course I noted more colorful swim caps around me. The other waves of age groupers passing me. I am okay with this....I get around the red buoy and can see the swim finish. A huge smile appears on my face and I know I am totally there. I look at my watch, yeah I'm slow, but I am almost there. I figured an hour for my swim. It took me a little longer. Doesn't matter....just keep swimming, just keep swimming....
I get upto where I can touch on the boat ramp and try to walk. Wow I am a little wobbly. The crowd is roaring...oh what a feeling! I spot my brother and sister in-law in the crowd and they are yelling my name. I felt like a rockstar. Run up the hill a bit to the wetsuit strippers....which by the way is totally cool.....run to my bike. Start my transition. I didn't have the under 2 minute transition like the elites, but it didn't take me forever either. Something I can work on in the future.
"Clean transition" doesn't allow you to lay everything out. You have a bag and you pull from the bag what you are going to need. In addition, you need to
put everything from the swim into the bag and leave it on the ground next to where your bike was. Since this was my first triathlon and first real transition, I had nothing to compare it to. It seemed pretty easy.Helmet...check, bike shoes...check, Garmin watch with heart rate monitor...check, everything back in the bag...check. Hustle out with bike to the bike mount area and start my bike portion. I passed my husband and shared a few quick words with him. It was something along the lines of...."I didn't drown!" of course with a smile.
To be continued.....
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