The Last Tri

Sunday I did the last tri of the season for me, which was in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The weather turned out beautiful, which is great because Monday was windy and cold. I think God likes triathletes.

My swim took place at 7:34 a.m., and I wore a wetsuit this time. I hate being cold, and although I've never worn one in a race, I'm so glad I did this time. It was well worth the slightly longer transition time that it took to get it off to feel as comfortable as I did in the water. I totally passed people from 2 waves in front of me! I also really enjoyed using my new $35 open water goggles, because I got great peripheral vision with those puppies. The only problem is mine kept leaking, because I didn't put them on tight enough. They're awesome, they just suction to your face and don't fog. That was my error though, not an equipment failure. I vowed that I will never do another open water swim tri without a wetsuit (assuming the race is wetsuit legal according to USAT sanctioning rules).

The bike was sweet. I took around 41 and 1/2 minutes to finish the 12 1/2 miles. Not too bad, considering there were a few uphill battles. My good friend CeCe did the race with her sisters in law, and we all concurred that it doesn't matter how good you are at any event, or what other equipment you have, you MUST invest in a good bike. It TRULY makes all the difference.

It's so fun to be out there riding and passing people, and thinking, "Wow! I'm so awesome! Look at me passing this chick!" And then you check out their right leg which had their age on it and say, "Well, yah, she IS 62, crap!" And then you look at their wave number and think, "Double Crap. She probably swam with the breast cancer survivor wave and now I feel bad for passing her". And then you just yell, "On YOUR LEFT!" and keep going. Because guilty or not, it's still fun to be going 26 miles an hour on your sweet bike.

The run was eh. Really, just eh. I'm not happy with my time, but I had a touch of a stomach bug that morning (wish I could blame nerves, but since Jack was up vomiting all Saturday night, I really can't) and couldn't fuel myself properly for this race. Which means that by mile 1 of the run parts of my body were cramping and hurting, so I got myself to the first water station and grabbed some gatorade, and I took about 2 minutes to rehydrate and walk and drink it. I did that at the second aid station as well, so my run took about 4 minutes longer than I was hoping for.

All in all it was a good race. I finished in about 1 hour and 39 minutes, 20 minutes faster than last year's time, and I swear it's because of the bike. I really really love my road bike.

I really, really, loved the wetsuit. As soon as pics are available I'll post the link. And now I'm on to the next thing...a few fall inspired 5 k runs. Should be easy considering that's all I'll have to do...