Downtown Columbia Sprint Triathlon

This triathlon was close enough to home so we decided to save some $$$ and drive down the morning of the race. Jeff came with us as the babysitter, so AJ was able to come too! They were great cheerleaders! I stayed at Nicole's house and she even cleaned my bike while I was at work ... my my how the tables have turned!

4:45 am - I am blinded by my room light being turned on in an attempt to wake me up ... thanks Nicole! You're a great alarm clock =)

The drive wasn't very long, but I still managed to pass out ... that was until Jeff took a picture of me and used the flash. I remember waking up from my nice slumber and saying "you're sooo mean!" Of course that picture quickly got uploaded to Facebook. Btw, don't listen to what they said, I was not drooling!

Guess you could say it was any other normal race morning. This was my first race wearing my new On On Tri jersey! We got to transition, set everything up, got body marked, laughed with friends, tested out the bikes ... ooo... why isn't my bike shifting into the big crank. I start to panic & was not very happy. Thankfully there was bike mechanic there and he tightened up my cables for me, and then I was all good again. =)


What?!? It's already time to go into the pool?!? We start lining up in numerical order and I started to panic again. Seriously? I am #49. What if I am not fast enough for being #49 and get passed ... I don't like getting passed in the pool! They tell me to go and I take off running. Last week I walked to the edge and then dove. Well this time I was feeling a little confident and decided to run and then dive. Haha! You know you are in the air way to long when you feel like you are floating in the air and wondering what's going to happen next. And then all of the sudden I just kinda went kerplop into the water & my goggles ended up around my neck. Ooops! Gotta practice that a little more! Ok, so it turns out #49 was perfect. I didn't get passed, but I did pass 3 people! The swim felt pretty good. I ended up passing the first guy at the first wall but then it was clear sailing till the last 50 where I hit the 2 ladies. After climbing out of the pool I took off running into transition. 44 seconds baby & I was out on my bike!

The bike was a 3 loop course through downtown Columbia. This year my bike was a little faster than last year, and the course felt so much safer! I pushed hard & I only threw up once! Yes, maybe I'm on the mend! It was a technical course and you definitely needed to be alert. Every time I take a fast corner I still get nervous & feel my bike sliding out from under me (even though it's not), but at least now I don't really slow down because of it anymore. Katie whizzed by me at one point & yelled out some encouraging words. At the end of the last biggest hill, Nicole passed me and hollered at me too. Maybe one of these days I will be zooming around like them =)

Ah, the run. Hmm ... well it was slower than last year. Obviously I was not happy about this. I could chalk it up to the 55mi bike and T-run from the day before, but whatever. That's what happens when you are training for a 70.3 and are using this race as a training day. It is disappointing to see the lack of improvement in my run. Honestly its my own fault though. My coach (Nicole) tells me what I am supposed to do ... I have just had issues getting it done. Look at Katies freaking awesome running form in the picture below. I think she's even smiling! Yep, that's what I have got to work on! If anything the run this past weekend was a wake up call and helped me realign my training priorities.

Even with the slower run I was able to bring home 2nd place in my age group (25-29)!!

I am now on recovery week. Yay! Since Sunday's race I have already been working on my running drills and I will continue to work on the run as the weeks go by.

Going Local - New Racing Team

Power On!

I am racing for a new team!! This season I made the decision to support my local triathlon shop and will be racing for On On Tri. I am so very excited about this opportunity. They've got great customer service and dedicated to providing athletes with equipment, knowledge, & service to support them in obtaining their athletic goals. Al & Jamie over there are fantastic! If you need anything and are in Greenville head on down to 400 E McBee Ave, and if you're not local ... just click on their logo on my sidebar to go to their website (www.onontri.com). Check out their online store, services and don't miss the On On Tri University for some great reviews, blogs & videos. You will find great info, great gear and great prices!!

2012 Racing Season has BEGUN! - Parris Island Sprint

I am so excited for this season to start up. It seems like it has been forever since my last triathlon & weekend trip with the friends.

There is no better way to start out the triathlon season than by racing the 1st race that SetUp Events puts on - Parris Island Sprint. Yes, it's actually on the Parris Island marine base. It was my third time doing this race & I was pumped! Nicole, Jeff & I headed down there Friday afternoon. We got checked in, did our normal raiding of the BiLo to get Code Red, got food and than headed back to the hotel to clean the bikes. Tell you what, I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. We finally all got settled, Jeff conked out early, Nicole got on her phone to talk to hubby and watch her little one on video ... and I ... I got to study cardiac rhythms. Yep, that's right, I am a dedicated nursing student! Ha!

The morning came early. Thank goodness we set the alarms on our phones because the hotel wake up call did not happen. Good thing we are good friends ... we put up with A LOT from each other ... oh, so many memories that I cannot go into!! I love my friends =)

Happy St. Patties day - race day! I was wearing my stealth black uniform, but my green running shoes kept me from getting pinched. We finally made it to the race site and started to get all prepared. It was fun seeing all the familiar faces, and a few new faces too. So nice to see Orae, a highschool-er that I had met at the pool a few months ago. He had decided to do this triathlon as his senior project. When I met him, he couldn't even swim one length of the pool, but I saw him swim Friday morning he was working it! I was excited to see him here and ready to race.

The race started and people were already swimming breast stroke ... grrreat. It is finally time for me to start ... I dove in, got some great distance and came up swimming fast. I felt great! Working on my stroke technique over the winter paid off. I ended up getting stuck and having pass 7 people and I still cut 10 seconds off my swim time. My transition time would have been great, but somehow I didn't fasten my shoe and it fell off while I was running out with my bike. Woops! Guess, I'm a little rusty! I tried to keep a high cadence on the bike and continue to push it the entire time. It paid off. I cut more time off of last years bike time. Ran into transition 2 and then I was off for the run. I admit it, I am not good at pacing myself. I felt like I was pushing but don't think I was enough. About a half mile out from the finish here comes Nicole running at me. She yells for me to keep pushing and then angles towards me. I yelled for her not to come run with me so what does she do ... she runs about 2 feet behind me. I can hear her breath & I knew I had better not slow down or she would plow right into me! I finished the run with a last little surge and then dry heaved as the marine took off my timing chip. Poor guy thought he was gonna get hit!

It was a good day. I am thrilled to say I PRed & I ended up cutting almost 4 minutes off last years time. If I keep whittling off time ... soon I will get to where I want to be!!