Fresh Intentions

Milton Triathlon Relay Race Recap

Team Roadkill: Heather, Steph and Tom

You may have read that I did two triathlons last year (one try-a-tri and one sprint tri). This year I decided to kick of the summer race season with something new: a triathlon relay! I recruited two very talented friends to join my team and we entered the Milton triathlon with the Trisport Subaru Triathlon Series.

I’ve neglected cycling because I’ve been really focused on Booty Camp and my 10K training clinic with the Running Room. Also, as much as I love riding my road bike, it still terrifies me. I am scared of traffic, I’m scared of hills (going up and down) and I’m scared of riding alone (especially if no one is home for me to call if there’s a problem). I don’t really know anyone in my town to call for help let alone anyone to ride with so it’s pretty easy to skip workouts.

This morning that all came to a head while we drove through the pouring rain to the race site. Over the past couple weeks I’ve heard that this race course is very challenging, especially the cycling, because it’s situated in the Niagara Escarpment. The fear grew and I knew I was the weakest link on my team. I’m not naturally athletic and I’ve never really competed in anything until I started the running and triathlons last year. I don’t excel at any of the disciplines and my goal is always just to finish.

Exploding with nervous energy while waiting for the race to begin.

I’m proud to say that I faced my fears today! I climbed hills slowly but surely, cars passed me on the road and I did my most challenging ride to date all by myself. The infamous “Sixth Line Hill” was about 3 km into the race and definitely set me back mentally. It was a grueling 1.4 km climb. I made it halfway up but there was a big clump of riders  teetering, tottering and wobbling over the road (myself included) as they slowly chugged along. I didn’t feel safe so I hopped off and walked the last stretch. I felt okay about my decision because  a lot of others were walking too. I gathered my thoughts, took some deep breaths at the top and hopped back on where I stayed for the next 25 km!

I got to ride back down that same hill on the second half of the race and I reached my all-time top speed of 50 km/hr with my brakes on. It was a terrifying to go so fast but exhilarating at the same time!

Just heard Heather is out of the water and on her way to hand over the timing chip. More nervous energy turned into silliness!

What I learned:

• Even if I’m not fully prepared, I can still accomplish amazing things and feel extremely proud.
• I’m stronger than I think and I need to work on my mental strength so I can capitalize on that. I think it will come with more training and comfort on the bike.
• I may have been the weakest link on our team by coming 10th out of 10 cyclists in the relay but what matters is I showed up and I got the job done. Most people I know were still in bed, not ahead of me on the course. I had some stiff competition; most of these guys (mainly men) were serious cyclists who flew through the course at speeds I’m still afraid to dream of.
  

  Clipping in to get my 30 km ride started.

What got me through:

• Focusing on my cadence while I was climbing. Thanks to my friend Dean for this tip!
  • I kept repeating “cadence cadence cadence” in my head when I was losing it on the hills.
• “Ride hard. Ride Fast. Ride Strong.” and “I’ve seen you ride. You’ve got strength in spades.” from amazing indoor cycling instructor Chris. I tried to harness my spinning strength for the outdoors!
• Instead of looking to the top of the hill during the climbs I looked at the road just ahead of me so I couldn’t see the incline. One pedal stroke at a time.

Cruising to the finish 30 km later. I DID IT!

How we did:

• 7th out of 10 teams!
  • 3rd in swimming
  • 10th in cycling
  • 1st in running

Finished! Poor Tom had just crossed the finish line following his epic run.

I also had the pleasure of meeting and cheering on Angela (Oh She Glows) and her husband Eric because they were in the try-a-tri before our race. I’m SO proud of them for completing their first tri and having big smiles on their faces when they finished. They deserve major props because it was cold, raining and the water was choppy. Not an ideal day for your first race! Check out Angela’s race recap here. She’s every bit as sweet and adorable in person as she is on her blog.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement!

PS – Sorry for the lack of posts! I’m in the middle of a major transition but I’ve got lots of recipes to share in the coming days and weeks.