Triathlete

I finally did my first triathlon since getting married and having kids on October 9th.  It was a little sprint down in Richmond, VA that I went to sans family but with the triathlon group I'd been training with.  It was an exhausting trip but in a self sufficient way not a mom way and that made for a wonderful change.  The event itself was great.  400m outdoor pool, snake swim (my first), 11mi bike over rolling terrain, and a 5k run through neighborhood trails including a little pond and forested area.  The swim was wonderful as almost all swims are for me. One person passed me and I passed a few people but didn't knock into anyone and no one knocked into me.  The bike was cold in the shade of the tall trees and my hands went numb (need to work on my position) so I pretended I had tri-bars for a mile or so while they regained feeling. It was more painful than anticipated but that helped my run just by making me look forward to it.  I had been most intimidated by the 5k but it ended up being enjoyable and I jogged the whole thing.  It wound downhill to a trail going around a pond, though a forested area to neighborhood streets back up the hill to the grass field finish.  The little hills were painful at first but easy to handle by the end and I made 2 of my major goals for the event: jogging the whole run and doing it in under 1hr30min.

Event    Time   Rank of 351
Swim    7:58          65
T1         1:15          60
Bike     41:37        204
T2         1:15         178
Run      35:48        314
Total   1:27:50      238

I'd like to find 2 sprints and an olympic to do next summer but have a long way to go to be in that kind of shape to make them fun and to not make the training be a strain on the family.  Luckily, I've got all winter to work on it and have already started.  I've just been doing weights twice a week for 3 weeks but have already noticed a difference when I rough housed with Shayna this morning.  It used to be difficult to throw her around.  This morning I was finally able to have fun with it making both of us happy.

The other thing I like about triathlons: It brings out the deeply hidden extrovert in me.  I love talking to all the other people around me.  I wore my CU tri shorts so met another CU grad who studied Aerospace Engineering at the same time I was in the Civil Engineering program. We even graduated the same year and are both now stay-at-home moms.

I'm in the middle with the gold cap.  There were only 3 other adults in our group.  The kids were 10-15 years old.

Finishing strong.

Watching the kids come in off the bike with one of the coaches Kelly (the lady who reminds me of Tristen) and her 8yo daughter Molly.