Rec Plex Fall Triathlon

Now is the official end of my first triathlon season. It's been a weird season, with breaking my wrist, and missing some races, but it all came out fine, with me finishing 5 multisport events. Now it's time to plan out my next season and get even buffer over the winter. I joined 24 hour fitness, and dropped my membership at the rec center cuz they over recruited and it's too crowded now. But first let me tell you about the triathlon I did yesterday.
First of all, it was a total blast! I am fitter than ever, so it all felt good (no suffering, yay! Training paid off!!). There were a lot of folks from my tri club Columbia Multisport Club participating, and they are so much fun, and really supportive! All throughout the race, we were waving and woo-hooing to each other. We all had on our club jerseys. :) I also had some other friends participating, so it was a very social race.
I stayed overnight at my parents' house, so in the morning I only had a 9 minute commute to the race site. It was still dark when i got there at 6:30am. I set up my transition area, after finding a spot next to the edge where my family could come talk to me during transition. It was verrrry chilly, so I kept my bike pants and jacket on over my tri outfit for a while. Once my swim time got closer, I was forced to strip down, and my teeth were chattering. I quickly made my way to the rec plex natorium, where the beautiful olympic size swimming pool is. Once again, I wished I lived in St. Peters. Oh well. It was nice and warm in there. I found some tri club members and chatted with them for a while. My friend Herb was also there waiting for his swim time. Our friend Bob had an early swim time. That pic is Herb and me, watching Bob with his really nice smooth swim stroke. At about 7:40, my family showed up in the bleachers, along with the paparazzi (my friend Tyson). I goofed around the pool area, talking to my parents, and friends until I finally leisurely strolled around to the line of triathletes waiting to jump into the pool. By the time I got there, it was almost my turn! A nice lady who had a much later swim time said, "you are 111, you need to be in line now!" Yikes! I almost missed it. But the triathlon gods were shining on me yesterday, and I got in and had a nice relaxing swim. The time was 14 mins 11 secs. I can swim faster, but I really wanted to conserve my energy for things to come. As I swam along, I thought about how nice it felt to swim, and how it's so much easier than biking and running. I could do this all day. hahahaha I got to the end of the swim and tried hopping out the end of the pool. No dice! Not enough strength in the right wrist yet. A volunteer told me to come out the ladder. Duh, everyone had come out the ladder, I just hadn't noticed during all my socializing. LOL Fortunately, my family had left the bleachers to see me at transition, so they didn't see the awkward attempt to flee the pool. I thought i would be freezing coming out into the cool weather, but I was all warmed up, so it was fine. The paparazzi was there to capture my loveliness coming out of the natorium.

At T1, I changed quickly for the bike. My daughter "A White Stripe" said, "aren't you going to put on something warmer?" I guess it was still chilly, but my adrenaline was going! I didn't even notice. The sun was shining warmly, and I headed out on the bike. :)

This bike course is 20 miles of (almost) pure flatness! It's so awesome! I had practiced on it a few weeks ago with Herb and company, and had gone pretty fast that day. Yesterday, I decided to sacrifice some speed for ensurance of hydration. I drank water and Ultima throughout much of the bike leg. I went between 16 and 20mph. And my cadence was between 85 and 100. I know this because two of my wonderful friends pitched in for a bike computer for my birthday! Thanks, Guys!!

It was really gorgeous weather by the middle of the bike leg and I just kept smiling and riding and waving to my tri club people! My legs felt great, and I thought the run should be a piece of cake. Ha! I got back to the bike dismount where my family was cheering. I hopped off and HELLO, legs!! Wow, my legs were really fatigued.

I got back into T2 and did some ballet. No, not really, the pic is of me putting my helmet back on my new bullhorns. That reminds me. Recently, I went to Maplewood bike shop to have Stewart (bike fitter extraordinaire) adjust my aerobars. He and I decided bullhorns would be best for my wrist, and he put new shifters on the ends of my aerobars. I can't tell you how much easier shifting is now! Thanks, Stew!

The first 2 miles of the run I felt like my body forgot how to run. My feet were asleep from the bike, and my right shin was on fire.

As long as I ignored my shin, tho, I had fun. I saw lots of people I knew out there, so every few mins were words of encouragement and comraderie. After the two mile mark, my feet were awake, and my shin pain died down, then it was pure fun! I just ran along smiling and thanking the gods for a great day and a great race. The paparazzi was then zipping around the course on bike, taking lots of pix of everything...then reporting to my parents what I was doing. My mom was grateful for the play by play. By the 4th mile, I was really feeling strong and hitting my stride. I came in with a burst of energy. "A white stripe" ran across the finish line with me! That was great!!! I got hugs from all my friends and family. Terrific end to the season!

Here I am crossing the line with my daughter. She says she wants to do triathlon some day. She has started with running.

Bob and Herb had great races too! Congrats, guys and best of luck in Vegas!