Razor City Splash and Dash Triathlon Recap

We completed our first triathlon! Here’s a recap of our first sprint triathlon, the Razor City Splash and Dash Triathlon in Gillette, Wyoming

Big news: my husband and I completed our first triathlon on May 3rd! We completed our town’s 2014 Razor City Splash and Dash triathlon: 900 yard indoor swim, 12 mile bike, and a 5K run.

My husband Zach has wanted to do the local triathlon for several years, so this year we decided to do it. And we decided to complete the entire triathlon together instead of trying to create a team.

For the swim, we swam in our local school district’s aquatic center. There was over 100 people competing in the event, so there were about 4-5 people per swim lane. It was messy at first, but we worked through it and found a rhythm. Well, everyone else did…I had to keep stopping to adjust my cap, my goggle strap came apart, I inhaled some water (yuck), so it took me a while to find my rhythm.

My swim time improved 4 minutes over my training times which is awesome! But I was still one of the last people to leave the pool. Then I HAD to stop and use the bathroom during transition – thanks to my ridiculous bladder I lost a minute or 2!

The bike took me longer than I would have liked, there were some pretty big hills in our 12-mile route! I was freezing too. The weather was nice but the breeze was chilly and the clouds started covering up the sun so I got pretty cold on the bike even though I was working hard on the hills.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a split time for my run so I’m not sure where I was at with that one. I ran well, except that the tendinitis in my knee started flaring up. I am pretty happy with my transitions (minus the bathroom break): I wore my Altra shoes for the bike and run, so I saved tons of time in T2 since I only had to swap my helmet for a ball cap and I was off and running.

I felt great during the race (except for the swim), and my official time was 1:50:11 (last in my age group). It was slower than I would have liked, but I am proud of myself for doing the whole thing! Now I have a goal to reach for next time. I turn 30 in July so I’ll be in a new age bracket, so I know what I should be aiming for time-wise.

But ultimately, I really wanted to just enjoy my time at the race, and we did! We are already planning for more triathlons in our area. We really enjoyed it and my husband is now hooked 🙂

All in all, I felt ready for the triathlon – I was a bit nervous just because it was my first one but I felt ready to conquer it. I had planned out my transitions, had all my gear ready, and felt physically prepared for the race. I felt pretty good at the end, except that the tendinitis in my knee started kicking up again during my run.

I’m going to have to get physical therapy for it starting next week since it just won’t go away, and I have more races to do! 🙂 Doing this race has reignited my passion for fitness and has given me more motivation in my blogging as well. Sometimes we need a good challenge to keep things fresh and to remind ourselves what we are capable of – not only physically but mentally as well!

Sarah Jane Parker

Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and allergy friendly food blogger of 12 years based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist