Here It Is

My off road tri is this weekend. It is upon me. Do I feel some anxiety- yup. Probably a good thing. But I am more nervous cause I have to go by myself, race, and then drive myself home. That is not appealing to me. I like the conversation on the way to the race...working out last minute jitters and such.

Mike and John will be racing Winter Park at the same time. I will miss out seeing Mike when I cross the finish line. I love that. And I won't get to talk about the race on the way home.

But, back to the race. It's an off road sprint....at altitude. New for me. I do the swim at 9200 feet with the water temp measuring 61 degrees. Wetsuits are mandatory. Then I have an 11 mile mt. bike ride and a 3.1 trail run. Sounds fun. But again about the altitude. That will change things I'm sure. I haven't ever swam at altitude and in water that cold. Oh- and it's a time trial start. Different again. All new things to look forward to. I can't believe it's this weekend, and I just want it to get here. My mt. bike skills have improved- I am stronger. My running and swimming are better- but any given Sunday. Anything can happen. And I guess that's what I love about this sport. The different disciplines add a leveling power. It's better to be a good biker than a super fast swimmer. But to be good at all three...ahhhh, what a combo. As I go into this tri, I will learn for next year. The harder I work, the more I understand that I have to work harder. But smarter. Whatever, whatever...the weekend will be a good test of the months of training behind me.

Over and Done

So the Danskin was two weekends ago. It was a bit of a mess. I planned to arrive at my pre-racked bike (mandatory) an hour before my wave started. The event organizers decided to have us rack our bikes the night before and bus us to the event. Duh. It was chaos. Instead of an hour before warm up time, I had about 10 minutes to get my transition area ready, pee, and start. I was able to swing my arms about 3 times to loosen up my shoulders before starting. It was tough to start that way. My swim was 2 minutes slower than last year, but I truly believe the course was marked incorrectly this year. Every swim was 1.5-4 minutes longer this year???

My bike was much better. I averaged 18.1 mph on the hilly course and came in 109th overall out of 2300 in the bike. I shaved 2 minutes off my bike time. And it was totally climbing. I felt strong. Then, I had to get off my bike and run. Ha. I felt sluggish and slow, but still shaved 4.5 minutes off my run. I moved up from 100th last year to 40th this year. My goal was top 50. Overall, I came in 261st out of 2206. My end time was 1:34:38. I have decided to get coached for each of the three sports now, so I hope this will help with my remaining tris this year. I bought a wetsuit. Good god it's tough to put on. My next tri is an off road tri and I am really looking forward to it. I just hope I don't get stuck in my wetsuit!

Anticipation

Ok- so here we are. 3 days from my first triathlon of the season. The Danskin was my first tri ever and it's finally here again- 1 year later. I had high hopes last year. When I first contemplated doing the race, 2 months pregnant with a 3 month old son in my arms, I had high hopes. I split the field, looked at things realistically and chose an ultimate goal. I wouldn't beat myself up if I didn't quite make it; it was my stretch goal. I wanted to come in at 1:40.

I stayed active through my pregnancy but put on some good feeling baby weight. I gave birth to Luke at the end of September and wanted to begin right away. Although, I had to catch up on some sleep and wait for my chest to decrease to a reasonable size. I was HUGE! So, in December, I started boot camp and did that through mid-March and then began swimming and riding. I substituted roller blading for running most times, but ran some to.

The Danskin was on July 16th 2006 and I was so excited and felt ready. I completed the race in 1:40:32. My swim was 18:20, bike was 41:13, and my run was 34:57. My transitions were good. I felt like I left everything out on the course.

And here we are- 2007. I am about 10 lbs. smaller and training harder and smarter...I think. How did I choose that time last year. Now I have a base to go by and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I hope to be 5 minutes faster on the run. I hope to be faster on the bike- I mean I am racing mt. bikes this year and did the Cherry Creek time trials. That should help. I swim with the masters now....I should be faster. I hope. Ugg. I am questioning my race wear. What about my pre-race breakfast? So silly, huh? Any advice...probably just shut up and race, right? Well, we'll see how it out shakes out. Faster hopefully.

Winter Park #3

What a great day. I got to race with Mike and my brother John. The day was hot and there was 3300 feet of climbing. I race against some pretty amazing girls. I will look for a top 10 finish next year when I am buff and super strong. For now, I am just stronger than I have ever been and that's ok for now. Everyone needs a starting point. I came in at 1:51:59- my goal was to be under 2 hours. I beat John by 6 seconds. Ha. So funny. I am quite sure that won't happen again. It was his first race in 11 years! And he had such a great attitude. Just wanting to get out there and enjoy the day and race hard. I am so fortunate to get to share this sport with my husband and brother.

I have a triathlon on Sunday. Again- not a priority race- but still important to me. This was my first tri last year and I want to see some improvement. But I get no downtime for this race. My rest week starts after the race. I will need it. I am feeling pushed to the max right now. And that is so cool.

And it between this and the last sentence, my two year old proudly dropped a matchbox car in the toilet. He wanted it to swim. Never a dull moment. I love it!