Icebreaker Triathlon

I can say that I love races. What I particularly love about them is the scene, the people, the energy. I love the camaraderie that accompanies each race no matter how different they are, no matter what level you race at. There is something about that early morning rising anticipating the day that really appeals to me. This race was no different. This was my first "real" triathlon. I have done multisport events before and even did the Turkey tri last November - but that one was backward so it doesnt count as a "real" tri. What is real? Swim - Bike - Run.
Good friends Eli and Eddie did the race as well. Actually, I can blame Eli for getting me into all this craziness! :-) What a great thing to have friends at the races who are supportive and encouraging and who you can laugh with and celebrate with. I would also like to give a big thanks to Kathy for all her support and her awesome photos that allowed me to chronicle the experience. And of course love to Rich, who was on call so couldnt be there, but he was greatly helpful and supportive, and of course bought me some really fast new wheels! heehee. :-)

Early rising - but not too early as the race had a generally late start - 9:00 am. Contemplating the amount of coffee I should drink, the amount of water and trying to settle my nerves. My nerves are not in my head, I am feeling calm and ready, but my body is telling me otherwise... my stomach gurgles and I have to use the bathroom too many times to count... yep, definitely nerves. We arrive at the venue and enjoy an amazingly beautiful morning. The sun is rising over the mountains, there is a hot air balloon floating effortlessly... a good sign indeed. After setting up my transition area I head off to get my timing chip and body marking. There's something really cool about having those numbers written on your arm and leg.

I head to the pool to get some warm up in, knowing that I will have to warm my lungs so I dont get asthmatic in the pool or get my heartrate up too high so that I have difficultly breathing (something that happens to me when I exercise)... after warming up and waiting, waiting, waiting, freezing, freezing ... for the race to begin we are finally lining up for the swim start. I notice that I am surrounded by a bunch of big guys, and I'm feeling a little nervous! (check out the photo of "me and the guys") We get in and I am literally swarmed by big, clumsy men swimming all around me! They were like bulls in a china shop and were swimming up over my legs, smacking me along the sides, and then getting in front and kicking up the water like crazy - definitely not finesse swimmers! then one starts swimming breast stroke, taking up the whole lane! Grrrrrrrrr. Needless to say, I was so uncomfortable that my heartrate started rising, I couldnt catch my breath and my swim was awful. I ended up stopping at the end of the lane to let them all get past me because they were
such a nuisance! I'll be curious to see what my swim time ended up to be (official results are not on line yet). I'm sure it wasnt the 7:00 - 7:20 time I log in the pool all by myself!!

Well, having survived the swim, I made my way out into the cold to the transition area. It was around 35 degrees at this point, but my adrenaline and warmth from the swim carried over and I didnt feel cold. I added layers, took the time to actually put on two shirts, a jacket, a pair of tights, a cap, gloves, socks and shoes! Riding it sub 40 degree weather is COLD, especially when you're wet, and I didnt want my time jeopardized because I wasnt warm. A warm body functions much more efficiently. Although, I'm not sure wearing one's tights backward helps! Of course, in my haste, I put on my tights backward, which I didnt happen to notice til the run... oh well, I dont think it slowed down my bike any. I love the bike. I am a bike rider, and it felt like freedom getting on that bike after that ridiculous swim. As soon as my legs started turning the pedals I felt joy and normalcy and that made me smile. I feel so out of place in the water that this was like coming home and I needed it at that point. The course was pretty easy, only one long hill up and the rest was flat or with a bit of a downward slope - made for a fast and fun ride.

The run was just as great, the transition was smooth and my legs felt strong. By now, it's sunny and quite pleasant, although still probably only 40 or so degrees. Finished strong and feeling great in one hour, nineteen minutes. 1:19 - good enough for first place in my age group. Now.... what am I going to do about that open water swim in June?? :-)

March Madness

No, not basketball - just a very busy month! :-) Have been enjoying the spring weather, as Rich said, watching the flowers bloom, but the poor things, every time they get happy, they get snowed on which is going to be the case again tomorrow! Ah well, that's March for ya!
The early part of the month brought visitors! First, Beatrix came out for a 10 day stay - we headed down to Moab for the first weekend, just a quickie getaway, but makes it seem more vacation-like. We did a little hiking and a little biking, but mostly took it easy and relaxed - beautiful there, of course. I had to work some during the following week, but we managed a couple of hikes and a movie in between. The next weekend, Dad and Jane came out - a quick visit, but really nice. Dad has been watching the "Diners and Dives" program on the Food Network so we took him to a couple of places that he saw: The Red Iguana, Blue Plate Diner and the Buger Bar, but that was closed! Also on the list - for you SLC'ers - are Lone Star Tacoria, Cotton Bottom, Ruth's Diner and more. We all went cross country skiing at Sundance on a gorgeous sunny day - well, all except Rich who was being diligent and getting his training in.
Friday, Kathy and I enjoyed a day at the spa, courtesy of Mom and John, who sent us gift certificate long ago that we finally got to use. The Avenues Day Spa was VERY nice... oh so relaxing! We then went to an awesome dinner at the Oasis Cafe - a perfect girls day!
Yesterday was a record breaking 74 degrees - we both had a great workout and did some spring yard work and ran some errands, of course including a trip to the DQ! Rich bought me some new wheels for my bike and they are AWESOME. Felt like my riding was effortless (of course the 10 mph back wind helped! haha) sooooooooo smooth and quiet and really great! I had such a great ride, I doubled my planned distance, then had to do a 3 mile run right after - that was killer! :-) Rich cooked an amazing dinner of lobster and shrip on the grill to cap off a perfect day!
Today, rain, tomorrow, snow.... March Madness for sure!

Spring has sprung

As today is the first day of spring, it was only fitting that it was nice.  Since I had the day off I went for a run in the am and ride in the pm. Nice little cruise up to Ruth's and back. Some wheel sucker from porcupine sat on for the ride, until I turned off to come home. Strange how some people will ride any pace, change gears to go slower and NEVER come around for a pull. Timid? just followers? or maybe stalking tendancies? Anyway, I had a nice easy ride in the beautiful wasatch. It will be short lived for the shorts, but hopefully not more than a week, until it is warm again. After a swim and long ride tomorrow, maybe Dairy Queen? Yum!!!

Snow, glorious snow!!

Wow, what lame arses we have been. No updates since Feb 23? Must be getting too busy with other stuff. Anyway, have had some good ski days in the last couple weeks. A perfect day at Alta with old friends from Boston this weekend. Had a great time touring around the mountain in the bright blue powderbird day. Good snow to be found everywhere.

Lots of visitors coming in the next week. Bea is here now, with Bill and Jane arriving on Thursday. Should be a great time with all of them here. Not sure what the plan is for things to do, but I'm sure we'll figure out something.

Will try to update this week, again!!