Windcrest Freshman Triathlon Race Report

I thought I'd like triathlons, but I didn't know I would love my first one as much as I did. The Windcrest Freshman Tri was the most fun I've had racing in a long time. I punched that race in the face...and I'm officially addicted!

Designed for beginners, the event was made up of a 200-meter snake-style swim, a 10-mile bike ride, and a 2-mile run. It was organized beautifully by the race director, who explained all the rules before we started. He talked about how it was okay to stand up in the pool as long as you didn't move forward at the same time. He explained how you can't draft off other people on the bike, and that drafting means that you're closer than 3 bike lengths behind the bike in front of you. You can't ride your bike inside the transition area. Breaking the rules would result in time penalties and then disqualification.


Snake-style swim means we got in at the left end of the pool and swam up and down each of 4 lanes, ducking under the dividers, until we got out at the right end of the pool. One swimmer started at a time. Participants were seeded according to a time we'd indicated on our entry form. Shelly and I had both put 4 minutes as our time, and I guess that's the time that most people wrote down, because I was #38 and Shelly was #70. Everyone between us also expected to complete the swim portion in 4 minutes.

The pool swim was crazy. A swimmer left every 8 seconds. The pool was churning with bodies, and people were bumping into each other as they traveled up and down the lanes. At one point, the girl in front of me stopped, so I stopped in confusion, and the man behind me swam right over me and kept going. I finished the swim in 4:53, and walked slowly to my bike, catching my breath.

Transition area.

My transition to the bike was slow; my time of 2:33 was second-to-last in my age group. I made sure my helmet was the first thing I put on, and I got into my shoes without any issues. I pulled my bike off the rack and jogged it over to the line where I could get on the bike and start riding. Then, I followed the people in front of me, hoping that I wouldn't get lost. I didn't have to worry because there were plenty of volunteers on the course to point me in the right direction. The bike portion was 2 loops. Our training rides had been at an average pace of around 10-12 mph, so I went into the race thinking that that my bike ride would last about an hour, and that the entire race would take around an hour and 15 minutes. When I was deep into the second loop, I was totally surprised to look at my Garmin and see that only 25 minutes had passed. I finished the bike ride in 37:54.

My second transition was second fastest in my age group (36 seconds - certainly made up for the first transition!) because all I had to do was take off my helmet, hang up my bike, and start running. I felt all wobbly on jello legs running out of the transition, and I saw a few people ahead of me on the road to follow. The first mile of the run was a gradual uphill. I passed a couple of people, which gave me enormous confidence. I kept looking at my Garmin, thinking, wow, I could finish this race in one hour! I had negative splits and finished the run in 17:26.

I finished the race in 1:03:27. I came in 8th out of 18 racers in my age group and 87th out of 176 participants overall. See the full set of race results here.

I hoped to do well, and surpassed my expectations. It was amazing to get out there and really see what I could do. And we just started all this about 2 months ago! I've been smiling all day. Shelly did well too, and we're both excited to do the Capital of Texas Tri in Austin in 3 weeks.

Happy at the finish.