Tuesday, June 12, 2012

My Tri

 Warning: this post will probably only be interesting to me. It is a lot of me.  I'm writing this down so that I don't forget how the race went and all the mistakes I made. I figure if I write them down, there is no way I can forget them for future races.

I can't believe it is June. In January, after years of harassing from Bill, I signed up for a triathlon. He has been bugging me to do one for a long time and I'm not sure why I haven't. I guess I've just felt the need to get my running under control, then when I was somewhat satisfied with that, then I could try some other things. So in January, I signed up for a June triathlon, that way, I could get some good spring road races in before I focused on 2 other events.
I was really nervous going into this. There was always guilt about not getting in more workouts. I felt like my scheduled bike rides got rained out every week, fitting in two a days was hard (or I was lazy), Bill tends to work a little bit later with this new job, yada yada yada. I'm full of excuses. Plus I always felt like my running was getting the shaft, which made me grumpy since I like running the most.
I felt pretty confident in my swimming and running skills. My biking is weak. I'm the first to admit it. I hate riding, I don't hate it, it just stresses me out. There is way less control, you could get a flat tire, gears aren't shifting properly, cars don't share the road, etc.  But I was as ready as I was going to get. And the morning of the race, after looking at the swim course, I was little panicked. It was 1,000 meter swim and it was really far out - in the Chesapeake Bay (waves and salt water). But I got over it all and it was really fun.
Anyway, after the first 200 meters of the swim, I felt like I got in a good rhythm and didn't feel like there was too much jostling for position and hung on for the ride. I came out of the water in 11th place (of the women's wave) and was happy with the results, especially since the 10 people in front of me were all within less than a minute.

 My transition was super slow, I fumbled around, I lost my Gu that I shoved in my pocket, and turned around to place my wetsuit out of the way. It was ridiculous. Lost lots of time on the transition.
 
  And I lost even more time on the bike. I know that cycling is my weak event. But everyone was passing me left and right and they were all on awesome/expensive triathlon bikes. I'm sure they already had a lot of skill, but I think having an amazing bike could have helped me, even just a little bit. I still would have been destroyed but maybe not quite as bad. The leading women were about 10 minutes ahead of me. And the Athena's were flying past me too.
 
Above, the home stretch, the announcer called my name and said I was looking strong - thus I gave the pose which Bill managed to catch. Below, though I dislike posting pictures of my backside, Bill wanted to document how salty I was - literally, not figuratively.

 Luckily, I'm a runner. I had yet another ridiculously slow transition from bike to run. But overall, I was feeling fine. I grabbed a Gu and my water bottle because it was getting hot and that salt water made me really thirsty. In the end, yes, it was one more thing to haul along, but I think it paid off not having to grab water at an aid station. Anyway, I flew through the 2 lap 5 miles course. Felt great and was surprised at the pace that I was able to hold through the whole thing. Passed a lot of people and made up some time.

 My run time was number 1 of all the women, by about a minute. So I guess I learned that my running wasn't suffering by having to split up my workout between swimming and biking.

Anyway, the race was awesome. Loved the distance, it was between a sprint and an olympic - with the distances being 1,000 meter swim, 20 mile bike, and 5 mile run. Bill loved it way more than watching road races. And, he was a great support. I spotted him a couple times running around to different locations with Asher in one arm and the camera in the other. Asher was a good sport kind of. He woke up at 5:30 and didn't fall asleep the night before until around 11pm. So by 9:30 after the race, he was just crying. A sippy cup full of sprite can only do so much. I definitely think I'll have to do more tris. Lots of fun and a good little challenge.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

North Face Endurance Challenge

 Tis racing season. I love it. My latest race this year has been the North Face Endurance Challenge- marathon relay. Can't think of a better way to run a marathon than in a relay. Best. idea. ever.
I had an awesome team that consisted of my sister and two good friends from church - Lindsay and Maren.  I had zero expectations for the race since it was a trail run. I usually hate trail running. It's hard and trails (non-paved) are few and far between in the greater DC area. But we all had a great time. I would definitely do it again. And of the 3 teams participating in our ward, our team won. Always an added perk. We didn't win the whole race, but we were all happy with our individual portions. Anyway, somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of our whole team, so the three of us will have to suffice. Above it the start/finish line. Sister started the race and I ended it.


 Did I mention that it rained like crazy the day before the race? The trails were a slick muddy mess. And the last 400 meters leading up to the finish line was basically a wading pool. So by the time you finish the race, you are spattered with mud and soaking wet.


It really was a perfect day. Great company, great course, smaller race, and perfect temperature with very low humidity.  All in all, it was a success!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Trains

 We were supposed to take a trip to the library this afternoon, but alas, it is pouring and the news has taken over all channels with weather/tornado warnings. So instead of the aforementioned trip, blogging will have to do. Hopefully the 5 pounds of zucchini in my kitchen can last another day until I can find some cookbook to give me ideas as to what to do with all of it.

A while ago, I took some pictures of Asher playing with his trains, per the request of my mother in-law. I think I got a few gems out of the little shoot. For example, the above picture. Asher is showing me how he smiles. I also learned a valuable lesson. Playing with trains requires lots of concentration.