Cal Poly Triathlon

I competed in the Cal Poly Triathlon on Saturday, April 4. This is a recap of that race.

Cal Poly was my first race, and to make it even better, it was close to home! I grew up 30 minutes away from Lopez Lake and I've been there a few times in years past, so it was awesome to return for my first ever triathlon.

Pre-Race: This being my first triathlon, I didn't quite know how to warm up. Decided to jog around between the transition area, swim start, and campsite to get a feel for the course and grab the rest of the stuff I needed for transition. Saw my parents right before the race (they came to watch) and snapped some pictures with my mom before immersing myself in the water and taking a warmup swim.


Swim: This is the part I was most worried about going into raceday. The lake was a lot more temperate than I was expecting, which was nice. Saw my way to the back of the pack for the start and tried to keep a steady pace, keep an eye on the buoys, and not stress out that pretty much the entire girls field was passing me by the end even though I had a 5 minute head start. Felt pretty dang good for myself when I got back to shore and the swim was all done.


Transition 1: Got out of the water and ran down the sandy dirt trail to the transition area. I'm Gonna Be (that songs that goes "and I would walk 500 miles") was blasting from the speakers, so I was rocking out as I took off my wetsuit and prepped myself for the bike. Probably would've been a faster transition if they were playing something else.

Bike: Beautiful ride! I made up for the slow swim by passing some riders on the first uphill, and cruised by the lake trying to focus on the race and not the view. Enjoyed the long downhill, passed some familiar places (i.e., the site of one of my high school cross country races), and powered (well, at least it felt like I was powering) up the big uphill on the way back. Cruised back into the camp area, feeling all cool for having competed in my first bike "race."


Transition 2: Forgot to grab my new race belt. Stressed about it most of the run, but turns out it didn't matter.

Run: Coming from a running background, a triathlon run was a new experience. Instead of being the main event, now the 5k is just the thing tagged on to the end of the race. Again, a gorgeous course with plenty of sun. Had to turn down 20 people offering me gatorade and water. Had some energy going into the last few hundred meters, so I did as close as I could to a sprint to the finish, to much cheering from the team. Gave my dad a hi-five right after I crossed the finish line, then joined the team to cheer in everybody else.