The Rookie Tri 2016 Recap

Recapping my experience of The Rookie Tri that I completed this weekend!

Hi friends! I just completed my first triathlon yesterday!!! Granted, it was a rookie one and less distance than most, but it was still a triathlon. If you know me, you know I like run. I also bike on occasion (just for fun). But I haven’t tried to swim for exercise since freshman year of college. I took a GenEd gym class and it was a swimming class where we were in the classroom one day a week and then swam laps the other two classes in the week. So yeah, haven’t really done the swimming thing recently. My friend at CrossFit told me about The Rookie Tri and said I should try it. I looked into it and it looked pretty sweet so decided to give it a go. It was a 300m swim, 11.2 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Perfect distance for a rookie. Let’s get into recapping!

Rise and shine at 6am! I got everything ready the night before and only had to grab a few things that morning. I ate a couple egg muffins since I wasn’t going to start until almost 9am. Woke up the bf (who was out late drinking the night before at our 4 year anniversary party for CrossFit). Took a little for him to get up, but we were heading on our way by 6:30.

Not gonna like, getting there and getting setup was kind of stressful. The transition station closed at 7:30 and we had 30 mins by the time we got there, but since I had never done anything like that I was super nervous. I got my number and age marked on my body and then headed into transition. I found an open spot and set out my towel, sneakers, and clothes I was going to run in. Little did I know the lanes were marked for your age group, which my friend let me know after the fact haha. After the race I looked around and turned out I somehow put my bike in the right spot even know I had no idea they were marked! Below is a pic of my feet. I had to walk around barefoot since I forgot an extra pair of shoes/sandals. A true rookie!

I didn’t get a strap for my timer when I picked up my packet so I headed over to registration to get one. I also got a different shirt that was smaller. I magically saw my friend and we all headed down to the water. They made the opening announcements, sang the national anthem, and then we waited. The first heat went at 8am and I didn’t start until 8:45. We were hearing that people were finishing before we even started haha! They were going by divisions and age groups, and only 1 person in the water at a time (besides the open division). I was grateful about that since I hear it can get rough when everyone goes.

The water was super choppy (even though the pic doesn’t look like it!). In no way was it like swimming in Barton Springs. Thankfully it was warm though. I ended up doing backstroke most of the time since it was the easiest. I just tried to relax, breathe, and focus on getting to the end. I didn’t have to stop at all and finished in 8:36. I ran to the transition station, dried off, put on some shorts and a tank, and was off!

The bike was fun. My friend Lena let me borrow her bike which I am so thankful for. The bike I have is a fixie and only one speed. The course was pretty hilly and I would have died with that. I think I did pretty well on the bike. It was weird cause I would pass people going up hills, but then they would pass me on the straight aways. Downhill was super fun. I would just lean down and get aerodynamic and coast. At one point my watch said 2:00/hour! I think that is pretty fast lol.

The transition from the bike to run was easy. All you had to do was rack your bike. Then you were off! My legs felt pretty tired and heavy, but since it was only 2 miles, I knew I could do it. I thought it was going to be road running, but it ended up in the grass and more like trail. And it was super muddy from all the rain. But I averaged 7:26 a mile and was super happy with that.

Overall I finished 3rd in my age group! I didn’t really understand the scores when I pulled it up, but snapped a pic since I was so excited. I got a little trophy and some other cool race swag. Even though I was super nervous, it ended up being a really fun experience. Being my competitive self, I want to actually train for one and really compete. Below is the post race taco! Legit!!