Did you have a nice weekend Bloggy friends? I did. Friday night Gina came over and we ran 9 miles. It was great. It had been awhile since I have ran over an hour and was glad to know I could still do it and with little issue. Gina is always a pleasure to be around and Big G even joined us for the last 3 miles. Sat. I was planning on going to the GTC training session but accidently overslept. Woops. I finally woke up at 9 and we got ready to go meet G’s mom for a bike ride. I dusted off my hybrid b/c the MIL is a bit slower than us. I forgot how different it is to ride on a big old bike like that; the huge seat actually hurt my butt after awhile! And the position didn’t feel natural anymore. We rode 20 miles on the bike path out in Chardon, it was a nice day. Then we took her out to lunch for her b-day. From there, we rushed home and got cleaned up and headed to a house warming party for our friends out in Willowick. We were there from like 5-8:30 and I ate a bunch of stupid stuff and had a margarita, not the best pre tri meal. But we had a nice time and I was so stinking exhausted by the time we got to sleep.

On Sunday morning I got up dark and early and 4:45. I made myself some coffee and 2 Kashi waffles. I had packed everything up the night before so there was little I needed to do and I was out of the house by 5:10 headed for Munroe Falls for the Summi Sprint Tri. It was a little cold out and had rained the night before. I was worried the water would be an ice bath! I was heading down solo and I am horrible with directions, so I was nervous I wouldn’t find the place. But I did, it’s a very nice park that I think would be fun to visit sometime for a hike. I got parked around 6 and checked in and had plenty of time to get my transition set up. I was sandwiched between some really nice gals from the Steel Valley Tri Club. My stomach was no behaving, at all. I had several bathroom trips before the start of the race and was very very worried as I got into my wetsuit. How was the day going to go? Was I going to puke? Was I going to poo myself on the run! Around 6:55 we went down to the water and listened to the race directions. The swim was in a small lake, but it was a little confusing. You basically started on the beach and had a wide area to swim out to a white buoy, then you had to cross under a rope lane and swim back to shore between 2 ropes. There was one wave before mine and we had to swim out a little to where we were supposed to start. The water was really cold, I’m glad I had a wetsuit, as soon as I got neck deep I could feel my chest tightening and the panic starting. I tried to calm down while I treaded water, but then the horn and it was time to go. I started off with a side stroke, trying to calm myself down, but every time I put my face in the water I sucked up a nose full of water. I just kept side stroking and was making decent time. I was in the back of my pack, but there were plenty of gals around me dealing with the same swim in the same way. Once I crossed over to the lane I tried to convince myself to just do it, freestyle the whole way back. But I just couldn’t. It’s all mental, and it’s really FING annoying. I got to shore in like 12 mins, it was fine, but I could have done it in 6 if I could have just swam it. I just can’t seem to calm myself down and there is nothing to do about it but practice. Out of the water we had about a 200 yard run to the transition area. I had no trouble getting out of my wetsuit, but my breathing was very labored and I took my time putting on my shirt, strapping on my garmin, my helmet and my shoes and then ran with my bike to the road.

The bike was only 11 miles. It started in the park and then went out into the roads, but the traffic wasn’t bad and they had plenty of cops at the intersections. Last time on the bike my legs really hurt, and I thought it might have been lactic acid build up. They hurt again this time, but not nearly as bad and I was able to shake it quickly. I tried to pull as large of a gear as I could and really hammered on the bike. I got passed by a ton of guys (b/c their swim was after the gals), but not too many girls passed me. I was done with the bike in 36 mins per my garmin. It was a hilly course, but just rollers, nothing too steep, but enough incline that you could get into the 30mph zone coming down. Coming into T2 I felt good. I thought that I really wanted to eat a GU, but was afraid my stomach would rebel, so I decided to chance the run without any fuel.

Last tri I had to walk on the run, my legs were just spent (it was also 20 degree warmer). This time I didn’t walk at all and finished the run in 29 mins. The run was 2 loops of 1.55 miles. It was all in the park. There was one decent sized hill, but it actually felt nice after the bike to be able to stretch out my calves. My stomach really started kicking about halfway through the run. But luckily I was able to finish the race without any major stomach troubles. I passed through the shoot around 1:28. Not sure of my exact time. All in all I would say my second tri went better than my first on the bike/run and worse on the swim. I actually got 3rd in my age group, but I honestly think there were only 4 or 5 of us. I am interested to see the official results, they aren’t up yet. Champ usually takes awhile to get them posted. I am not happy with my performance. But the thing I like about tris is there is a lot to learn, they are very technical and there are lots and lots of ways I can improve. With running a 5K, I can really only run so fast. But with a tri, there are a lot of things I can do to get better. Work on my swimming, shorten my transition times, get stronger on the bike to run legs…etc. I am looking forward to improving.

I started this morning off with a 1000 yard swim and it felt like I had never swam before. I am making a vow that I will get in the pool 2-4 times a week from now on. I will try and swim OW every week and a master’s class every week. I will become a better swimmer!