Today my husband became a triathlete!
I couldn’t be prouder of Bo’s accomplishment and feel like the proudest wife in the world right now.
Those people who know Bo, realize that a triathlon is actually his perfect sport. He has been swimming for years and still to this day can hop in the pool and bust out 2 miles like it’s nothing, thanks to high school swim team practices. His strong legs get pushed on the bike in Equinox or Soul Cycle spin classes at least once per week and he’s run numerous half marathons which means the run distance, while not his strongest leg, is something he can always accomplish.
For years, Bo has been my biggest cheerleaders, pushing me through two marathons when the going got tough. Never once did he show any jealousy that I was doing something he hadn’t achieved. Therefore, this year when Theodora told me she was signing up for her hometown triathlon, I suggested it to Bo before I even considered doing it with her. While a triathlon is something I eventually want to complete, and in fact is on my Fitfluential Fitness Bucket list, I knew I wanted to cheer Bo through his first official triathlon before I toed the line for mine.
While he jumped at the opportunity to do a nearby triathlon which was longer than a sprint as his first experience, his work schedule as of late, left him a bit hesitant. His long hours don’t always allow for daily workouts and although he pushes himself anytime he’s in the gym, he was a bit unsure. In addition, he had the sheer pleasure of dealing with a wife (ahem, me) who wanted to make sure he knew everything there was to know about triathlons including transitions, open water swims, and bike repairs so his first tri would go smoothly. In the back of my mind I had this fear that something would happen and result in a negative experience, similar to Theodora’s triathlon horror story from last year. I sent him links, talked to amazing triathletes during the TEAM REFUEL run this week, and sent him links from all over the web. While he didn’t necessarily appreciate all my worry, it did help as today when he finished he had a huge smile and was already planning his next one.
Since I can’t provide a full race recap since I didn’t participate, I will provide an overview of the past few days and some awesome pictures of both Bo and Theodora, who rocked their triathlons today!
Thursday Night
Bo and I organized his gear for each of the three legs, referencing a few different posts (this one, this one, and this one). Since this was Bo’s first real triathlon, he wanted to keep the experience as inexpensive as possible in case he didn’t enjoy it. Therefore, he didn’t invest in a bike, wet suit, or tri suit. Instead, he only bought a pair of tri spin shorts which he has been using for spin the past few months.
Friday Evening
Since Bo had to work until 6pm, I used my Summer Friday afternoon to run last minute errands including picking up Luna Bars for Theodora, buying some CLIFF Shot Blocks for Bo, and picking up his bike. He rented a racing bike from Spokesman Cycles. While the customer service was horrible, the bike he rented was a racing bike and only cost $40 for 24 hours and included the helmet rental as well. After I picked up the bike, I hauled his gear to Theodora’s apartment where our friend Shannon graciously offered to pick us up. Shannon is a key portion of Theodora’s cheer squad and therefore was making the trip out to New Jersey with us for the event.
Bo arrived in New Jersey via NJ Transit around 8pm, after which we enjoyed a delicious homemade dinner with her family. While her mom was more than accommodating, looking back at the pictures I think the 3 different types of pasta may have been enough to feed an army. Ooops! (below pictures via Theodora)
Triathlon Day
This morning our group woke up at the early hour of 5am in order to get ready for the event. By 5:40 we were out the door ready to head the mile down the road to the race start. While Theodora and Bo offered to just ride their bikes to the start, it seemed difficult to haul all their gear and Shannon and I were excited to experience the triathlon as much as possible.
When we arrived, I was immediately overwhelmed. There were almost 1,000 athletes running around with bikes waiting to get marked and setup with chips. Shannon and I decided the best thing to do was get out of the way and go check out the transition areas and scope out cheer spots while Theodora and Bo took care of everything.
It was an absolutely perfect day for this event. The lake was pristine and 74 degrees while the air temperature never reached higher than 77 this morning. The sun was shining and the dew absorbed quickly as the athletes lined up on the beach, ready to splash into the water.
My cheering partners (Shannon and Theodora’s mom per the picture above) and I decided that it would be best to cheer them on from the beach area and then focus one quality spot for each leg versus trying to run around all morning. We knew that watching both Theodora and Bo added some complexity as we expected Bo to be a bit faster, at least in the beginning, due to his swimming ability.
The waves were very organized and distinguished by different color swim caps, based on age. Bo was in the orange wave which started 15 minutes before Theodora’s pink wave.
As soon as they entered we headed over to the swim exit, watching in anticipation with cameras ready. (Unfortunately the following pictures aren’t the complete collection as Theodora’s mom’s camera has about 20 more!)
I’m not going to steal Theodora’s thunder and share her times on here but I bet you can check out her blog later tonight or tomorrow morning for a full recap.
Bo definitely excelled in the swim portion and was actually one of the first in his wave to exit! He placed 157th in the swim, finishing the half mile lake swim in 17:16!
Once we saw both Bo and Theodora exit the water we headed over to the bike area, 1/4 mile from the transition area and grabbed a seat on the grass to enjoy the sunshine and watch the cyclists. This is the only area where we wish the event was more organized. As spectators, we saw numerous cars heading into the cyclists’ lane during the event, which caused us great fear. At times cyclists had to go around cars versus having a lane to themselves.
It was tough to watch for both Bo and Theodora since the cyclists fly by but luckily we had one defining marker for each of them. We knew Theodora was wearing a sleevless red tri suit (more common then you’d think) and that her bike has straight handle bars. We knew Bo was wearing a Lululemon grey technical tee and his bike had racing handle bars. These small things helped us pick them out as they approached.
The bike portion was harder than Bo anticipated due to some grueling hills and a 1.5 minute stop to fix his chain which conveniently came off during a hill ascent. It’s handy things like this that allow him to excel in a triathlon while causing other people to panic. (Note to self, take a bike repair class before next year’s triathlon.)
Bo completed the 17 mile bike portion in 57:56, placing him 402nd for the bike portion.
After we waved to both Bo and Theodora we headed over to the finish line, about an 1/8 mile from the finish to cheer them on to the end. Due to some confusion, we were only there for 5 minutes before Bo came running by us. He caught me off guard and therefore I was only able to snap an after picture versus a running picture of him. The run was the toughest part of the race today for him due to two things: his knee and the hills. The race course is known for it’s grueling hills, each of which is in line with Harlem Hill. Therefore, Bo wanted to err on the side of caution versus damaging something during this first triathlon. I have a great deal of respect for that and as his wife, am very pleased to see him being “smart.”
Check out that one climb between mile 3 and 3.5!
The run portion is where he slowed his pace versus Theodora, which we all expected. He finished the 5 miles in 48:27, or a 9:41 pace which put him 458th for the run portion.
2:09:07 (382nd out of 661 finishers) later this TRIATHLETE was nothing but smiles! He finished injury free, had a blast and is already looking into nearby Olympic distance triathlons this summer.
I’m so proud of both Bo and Theodora’s efforts today and am already excited to train for this event next year!
Now it’s time to enjoy a nap before celebratory double date!
