Metroplex Sprint Triathlon Race Report

A few weeks ago Shalon and I completed the Metroplex Sprint out at Joe Pool Lake. It's a 400 meter open water swim, 11 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I think this race had somewhere around 315 competitors.

I was so nervous. My first event in awhile and I was just glad to be getting to the starting line. Arrived at 5:30am and got my transition area set-up, timing chip on and body-marked. Walked around and talked to friends. It was great to know so many people at this race! I didn't really warm-up much. My wave was first at 7am so as soon as the pre-race meeting was done we were called to the water.

That's me in purple on the mid-right. Wading in and talking to my friends about where they want to line up. Shalon always goes to the front. She's a fast swimmer so she lines up closer to the fast peeps. Usually I try to stay farther to the outside so I don't get caught up in the washing machine. When the gun goes off and everyone starts, you get hit, kicked, people swim right over your back. So at first it's a little hard to 'swim'. Then it was time so ready, set, GO!

This is my wave start, it's Men and Women 30-34. There are boats and kayaks in case anyone gets into trouble. Yes, this happens and people get pulled from the race if needed (no one did at this race).

Within a minute or so the faster swimmers pull ahead. We're swimming from right to left in the picture above towards a yellow buoy that can't be seen to the far left outside of this shot. Yes, the water really is kind of a brown color. It's also the drinking water for the city. Yuck.

A little further progress. Luckily, the waves weren't too bad at all. Even the smallest chop can make your breathing difficult. It's much different than swimming laps. Of course, like any Texas lake you can't even see the end of your hand so sighting (looking up to see where you are going) is important. Sometime in here my right goggle started to leak. I stopped to fix it since I had my contacts in, plus it's annoying. At some point I got a mouthful of water and flipped over to try and burp that up. Worst part of the race.

Here is the swim course. It begins to the right beyond this photo and out to the left around the yellow bouy and back paralell to shore until you turn in to the end. I estimate I'm somewhere in the yellow circle at this point. I didn't care about my swim time at all during this. I just wanted to stay calm (I tend to think negatively while swimming) and keep making forward progress. I finally felt warmed up just when it was time to get out!

Finally I exited the swim. This guy in the pink cap passed me in the swim (he was in the wave behind me which started 3 minutes after us) but I ran past him on the ramp :). Swim Time: 11:35 for 400 meters. Terrible but done. For comparison, I swim this distance in about 8:40 in a pool.

Ran into transition and threw down the cap and goggles. Put on socks, bike shoes, race belt (number is required on this race bike leg), sunglasses, helmet, and ran to the mount line. I heard Jeff in transition yell out for me loudly like it was a football game, 'Let's go Sabin!' It made me laugh. Best case time for me. T1 time: 1:35

Glenn (Shalon's DH), my Mom, Dad, Liz, and hubs all hung out under the tent Glenn brought. Here they are lounging before the race. A big thanks to all my family who came out at the crack of dawn to see the race. It's fantastic to feel supported and there is no greater emotional booster on the course than to see and hear them cheer for you. And thanks for all the help so I could actually train to finish!

Here's me taking a happy point to give the camera a peace sign. The bike was flat and fast. I passed two in my AG here and don't think I got passed by anyone in my AG. But the rest of the race, the next four waves, were behind me including some super fast people on super fast bikes! So yeah, I got passed by a lot of them. It was starting to get hot here but I LOVE the bike so just enjoyed this ride and working hard. This route goes out and back over the Dam so it's slightly windy. It's closed to traffic but not walkers/runners. A guy a little in front of me actually hit a girl who was running in the middle of the road! Hello idiot girl...do not veer into the middle of a road when there is a bike race going on. He crashed and had a little bloody road rash and looked ticked as can be. Everyone asked if he was ok and he said yes. But he was fine and got up and eventually carried on - and finished in front of me I will add. Bike time: 35:23 / 11 miles, 18.65mph avg

Came back into T2 and did a regular dismount, ran bike to rack, bike shoes off, run shoes on, grab visor in hand to put on while running and run out. I dropped my left shoe when trying to put it on and actually thought for a split second 'well I don't want to bend over to pick that up.' lol. Fast T2: 0:58.

Here is me headed out on the run - yeah, way to the right. Uh, not sure why my sis cannot use this camera. ha ha, love ya sis! Again with the happy peace sign. Or maybe it's 'V for victory' because I am closer to finishing! :)

I am a slow runner. But I just kept doing my best and to tried to hold off the few gals in my AG who I could see behind me. When you get off the bike and immediately run your legs feel very heavy, like bricks. I'm very happy in this picture because I'm coming into the finish line with a best case run time for me! I saw about 10 people from my team plus a few more I knew out on the course and it was great - everyone yelling out encouragement to each other.

Yay I finished! Run time: 21:28/ 2 miles, 10:44 m/m

I was so glad to have finished this race. It took a lot of work to get me here and I didn't even feel like throwing up at the end. Afterwards I walked around and talked to all our friends and my teammates who also did this race. Here's me, Shal and Coach Gayle. My goal was to come in under 1:15 and I made it. :) Total Race Time: 1:11:02

Well, it turned out that my time was good enough to win an award...I won 3rd place in the overall Athena division. The timing company prints results near the finish and my friends came over to tell me 'hey I think you placed in your division'. So I went to check and sure enough I did! Thanks for teling me guys - I wouldn't have stayed for the awards and would have missed it! If you don't know, you can race one of two divisions in USAT - either in your Age Group or in the Athena division (which is anyone above a certain weight...because it's harder for larger gals in case you didn't know). So I won third in my class in the entire race (1st in Athena W30-34) and all those skinny gals can suck it! ha ha. Here's me and hubs with my 'major award'. It's Fra-gee-lay. lol. This was a fun course and I would definitely do this one again.