Pewaukee Triathlon

3 10 2014

This year I promised a friend I would do a triathlon with her. Now I have done several triathlons in the past so what was the big deal about this one?? Well, all of the triathlons I have done in the past have been women’s only events; the Danskin Triathlon… Trek Triathlon…

But the Pewaukee Tri?? Co-ed.

Men are competitive. Now I’m not saying that women aren’t… but by taking part in women-only races I have observed friendliness, camaraderie, encouragement and support. But when men are involved…come the egos, muscles, cut-throat attitudes and testosterone.

Actually, the muscles were ok.

But I digress.

It has been a couple years since I’ve done a triathlon…my last one was the Trek Women’s tri in 2011. I took a year off in 2012 to pursue writing and where God was leading me on that path, while my friend Andrea, whom I met originally at my first sprint tri – the Danskin Women’s Triathlon and who has done all of the other tri’s right along with me, continued to race and ask me to join her.

Last year in 2013, I told her I wouldn’t race but that I would come cheer her on. I had pretty much accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be taking on any more tri’s… well gosh, they’re hard!! Plus I was turning 40, they’re expensive, it just probably wasn’t something I would continue doing any more, plus the Pewaukee Tri didn’t give out medals.

Yes seriously, that was one HUGE hang-up. I figured if I’m doing that much work for a race, I had better get more than a stinkin’ t-shirt!

Oh, I had plenty of excuses.

But after watching her race and not being able to take part…

2013 Pewaukee Tri swim leg

me & Andrea at the finish…notice something around her neck?!! #racebling

the tri bug bit and bit hard! I absolutely missed it and noticed the medal around her neck. Right then promised I would compete again in 2014. (and because she only took on the Pewaukee Tri when she returns to Wisconsin, I would have to suck it up and race with the guys.) EEK!

So I signed up, started training…

and wondered WHAT THE HECK had I gotten myself into??!!

The day came…far too quickly I might add… that it was time to head down to Pewaukee. I tried to remember what all to bring for the transition area… water bottles, wet suit, race helmet, bib belt, goggles, swim cap…

But the two most important things were…

my race posse: my Aunt Sally & my daughter Syd

Oh! And chalk. Don’t forget the chalk.

I learned long ago this is the best way to find your bike. #brilliant

When my transition area was ready, I found Andrea and headed out to the swim start.

me and Andrea!! Tri’ing together again!!

We lined up for the swim and I have to admit I was getting nervous. Like I said, it had been a couple years since I had done a triathlon, and it was apparently at that very moment that God brought all the memories rushing back into my mind about how difficult a triathlon really is.

I had been training, granted not for the swim, but I’m a swimmer and I wasn’t terribly concerned. The swim is the shortest part of a triathlon and the Pewaukee Tri had a 1/4 mile swim where all the tri’s I did before, the swim was a 1/2 mile…so I figured this would be a breeze.

Perhaps I should’ve re-thought that.

Andrea & I prayed quick before we started asking for safety and strength, and we lined up together to enter the water.

The horn sounded and we sprinted into the water.

Diving in felt fine as I started blasting through the water. But as I turned my head to take a breath, water rushed into my mouth and lungs as I gasped for air.

Pewaukee Lake was very choppy that morning…the wind was quite heavy and it made the swim very difficult. I was very pleased that I wore my wet suit – I had considered not using it for such a short swim, but praise God I brought it!

I approached the first buoy wondering if I could continue. I obviously should’ve reconsidered my swimming ability as I was training for this, but as I swam around the buoy I could hear Andrea cheering me on and thankfully turning out of the headwind helped… but boy, was I struggling.

As I swam around the final buoy the swim became much easier. At that point the wind was at my back so it wasn’t as difficult to breathe…plus I could see the swim finish, so I picked up my pace just to be done!!

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the swim finish

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so incredibly happy to be done!

I ran into transition, grabbed my shoes, bike, helmet and 5 hour energy and was off…

Now typically I am a faster swimmer than Andrea…but obviously not this year as I watched her swimming effortlessly into the sunset as I was drowning in cold, lonely, Pewaukee Lake.

And now that we were on our bikes; me on my old-school, fat-tire Raleigh…

and her on her professional, sweet-lookin’, street-tire flyin’ race bike…

I knew I was toast.

I was right.

I noticed right away the difference between women only events and co-ed events…as well as the difference in landscape between Pewaukee and Pleasant Prairie, once I met the hills of Pewaukee. Oh my word, seriously?!! Guys were flying past me…even up the stinkin’ hills!! It was a roller coaster out there!!

Yeeeaaahhh… that’s what I did. Embraced it.

Uff…now that was a bike leg.

I noticed Andrea’s bike as I returned into transition to rack my own. Not a shocker, she has always been faster on the bike.

Hmph.

As I started the run, I felt pretty good. Honestly, I think I was just happy to be done with the bike leg! I did cross Andrea’s path at one point as we were running which was a welcome sight! We exchanged a quick high-five and she encouraged me as she passed, by saying “you’re almost done!”

YESSS!! Almost done!!

Then I realize that she’s a big, fat, LIAR as I passed the 1 mile marker!