Ok, race report, finally. You'd think with a snow day I'd have completed all those "I never have time" house tasks, but no dice.
I did manage to trudge over to the JCC gym (across the street, thankfully) and get a run in on the treadmill, then spent about 2 hours shoveling (ouch...back). And of course the snow is still falling, so good thing I did all that work. Sigh.
Anyhooo, race report.
So they have 24 spots for this indoor tri, and divide up the groups into three. I got there early with my friend so we could get first dibs on the order of events (and we did...went swim/bike/run). I did not want to have swim in the middle and have to get in and out of sweaty clothes/bathing suit twice.
I paid $25 for this event and I have to say, although the organizers at the JCC were very nice, they weren't really on top of things. I gather that the organizer who used to run the thing for many years left, so this was the first time for the new person. She's a lovely young woman (runs the youth fitness gym so I know her). But triathlon issues are not her thing apparently.
First off when they were making announcements of course there was the one curmudgeon (always is at least one) who complained that he didn't get swim/bike/run and that he HAD TO HAVE that order blah blah. No one would switch with him because he was being such a tool. He was this older guy. (back to him later)
Each 'team' was assigned one 'manger' who timed the event and counted laps/etc. So for the swim this one guy was counting everyone's laps. I know I counted that I did 60 (because I do it in sets of 19 with a breast stroke lap finishing off so I can keep track) but he had it at 55. Whatever. I didn't really care but it was annoying. Dh brought the kids to watch me swim and cheer, so that was nice. They didn't stay for the rest (spinning room is no-extra-space and fitness gym is no-kids).
Transition was fine, other than the two naked ladies prowling around the locker room making conversation while hanging out for all the world to see. I mean, I know it's a locker room and that's where people change, but I have never understood the appeal of literally hanging out naked, wandering around, laying down on benches and lounging there with a towel on your head but no where else...and not even in the sauna or something. In the changing areas by the lockers. Weird and disconcerting, and my friend Donna and I who are not prudes but are also not 'let it all hang out' types were really sort of freaked. One of the women was lying naked on the bench right in front of where we had our transition bags and we didn't know how to get around her to get to them. Sigh. Finally I just said, "excuse me can you please move? we need our bags and room to change." She looked at me with this weird look on her face and said, "oh, ok. Fine."
Um.
Anyway, the cycle part was low key because they can't measure the distance, so they just require you to pedal for 30 mins straight. I must say that despite my nifty new bike capris with the diaper cushion thing, the lady bits were not so happy. Maybe it's less annoying when you're outside and can at least enjoy the scenery?
Transition 2 -- quick. But not quick enough. Because when we got to the fitness gym, they had only reserved 4 treadmills and 2 ellipticals for the triathlon. It was 11:30 on a Sunday morning and all the treadmills were taken, and everyone else seemingly had a quicker transition. At this point I must admit I did not act as graciously as I should have (and I had just taken a caffeinated Gu so was revved also).
and I kind of said roughly to the team 'coach' that I NEED A TREADMILL NOT AN ELLIPTICAL BECAUSE THIS IS A TRIATHLON AND I NEED TO RUN. Yikes. Also, I fall off ellipticals. So Donna (friend) who is ever the gracious and kind person, took the elliptical (which she was also not happy about but would never be as crude as I was) and I got one of the old treadmills on the other side. I was pissed. I mean, really -- it's a TRIATHLON. They have NO OVERHEAD for this event. Reserve 6 damn treadmills for crying out loud for the event!!! Ack. You can bet I did make that 'suggestion' later on.
I had a good run, kept the pace up around 6.9/7/7.0/7.1 the whole time (30 mns.) and knocked out 3.44 miles. By the end I was barely hanging on to the pace and was just zonked but it was fine.
So anyway we all gathered back in the game room where they had some water, apples, bagels. They tallied results all together (hello, no experience?!) so three men won. there was a tie for first place, among whom the curmudgeon (see above) was one -- and he got pissy because they decided the tie breaker was the swim component not the run, and of course he had more run distance. Eventually they came out with results broken down, and I came in 9th overall, which isn't too bad...by age group I think I was first out of one or two.
Anyway it was a taste enough to see that I'd probably like to do an out door one. I'm still scared of the biking part (pain in the parts, and people knocking me over/falling over) and the open water swim (people swimming over me/knocking into me) but I think it is worth trying.