Rest Week and Washington Olympic Tri...

This past week has been ahhhh EASY! Workout wise anyways. Monday- Mountain Bike ride (which didn't happen because of storms so I did a Yoga workout instead), Tuesday - 30 min Easy Run (which I did with Scout in the morning), Wednesday- 45 min Endurance swim, Thursday- 30 min Easy Run (I took Scout again, but it was hotter and he didn't like it so much), Friday was a 20 min easy spin. Then of course the main event - Washington Olympic Distance Tri.

I drove down to Washington, NC on Friday. I stayed at the Day Inn, it was a motel. I shared the room with two friends, and it was kinda fun to hang out once they got there. We grabbed dinner, which is always hard to find in that little town, especially when they have an influx of people coming in. We did find something though, on the third try.

Saturday morning we got up at 4:30 (alarms all sounded), and of course I'm a up and at em girl, while the other two just laid there and slowly woke up. No worries, just got all my stuff in order, and headed down to the race site. We had to park about 1/4 mile away from the start. We all drove separately so we could leave at the end to go our separate ways.

Got my transition area all set up, chatted with some people around me, found my friends again, and hung out. Checked out the water. They were just putting the buoys out. So I came back and chatted some more. Then I decided to brave the porta potties and was happy to do everything that needed to be done.

The swim was good. Minus the fear of getting my toe clamped off by a crab (yes there were crabs in the water). The water was shallow, they say it wasn't more than 5 feet deep for the entire swim (I didn't test it though, because I was swimming). I did however swim over a stump or branch, that almost snagged me. I had a good swim, it wasn't to crazy, I had a little drifting in on the straight away between the turns, but it wasn't to bad. The water was salty, which is usually a good thing because it makes you more buoyant. The sun was coming up, and that made it a little hard to sight on the wiggly man on the shore. My swim time is 27 minutes and 26 seconds (for 1500 meters).

Transition 1 was not to bad. I stripped off my swim cap and goggles, wiped the sand off my feet, put on my sunglasses, helmet, socks and bike shoes...grabbed my bike and headed out of transition. My T1 time was 1 minute 43 seconds

I mounted my bike, and went out for my ride. It was a good ride. The roads were all pretty good, with one section being FANTASTIC - in that it was newly paved. I enjoyed the ride, it was pretty flat, I got down into my aero bars and felt like I was flying (until a few people flew past me). There were some WICKED fast people out for the race. There was some head wind, but I pretty much expect that at the coast so I hunkered down and got through it all. My bike time was 1 hour 8 minutes and 2 seconds. (for 23.5 miles)

Transition 2 was....well it was. I made sure I transferred my salt pills into the run pouch that my friend let me borrow, ohh yeah and a gel too. I had to wrap my head around that it was so wicked hot and I had 6.2 miles to get through. My T2 time was 1 minute and 50 seconds.

Off I went on the run, I stopped at the first water station and got water. Then I adjusted my shoe lace. Then I rolled my right foot, it hurt...and apparently was noticeable to have the people behind me ask if I was okay. Yeah, just can't seem to put one foot in front of the other. I walked a little to get through the pain and assess if my ankle was okay...it was. Glad my ankles are strong enough to deal with my mis-steps. It was a 2 loop course, I'm not a big fan of double loop courses but that's just they way it is. Up a little hill and over a little bridge (the hottest part of the race) and over the railroad tracks, around the corner, slightly up a small hill, around another corner....YAY water again, down the road, almost no shade, to the turn around with water and ice towels....then back, and then all over again. I walked a bunch of this run. I got chills, my fingers went numb, moments of goosebumps then my skin would smooth out. I wasn't the only one walking though...because it was WICKED HOT out. My run time was 1 hour 18 minutes and 43 seconds (for a 6.2 miles).

I waited after the race for the awards because I knew I was getting first in my category. I race in Athena. Athena is any age, but you have to be female and weigh 150 lbs or more. I easily fit that description, as I weighed 150 lbs in high school when I wore a size 2 and was a competitive swimmer. It's kinda silly, as anyone triathlete that has some height on them could probably race Athena, however it's known as the "Big Girl Group". The medal was cool. It's a crab. Mine was GOLD because I got first, the second place was silver, and the third place was bronze.

(Me with my medal...my 1st place award)

Casey is a AMAZING! She fell off her bike right at the end, and got some pretty brutal road rash on her right elbow and left hand, plus some nice bumps and bruises all over. Even after her fall, she still went on to complete the run! That's AWESOME!! I'm so PROUD of her. Above all that, she did in under her goal time! WOO HOO!!

Steve did awesome too! He had a great race, and was smiling every time I saw him! He and Casey are training for the Patriots Half Ironman at the beginning of September.

Here is me after the race, just hanging out and waiting for the awards! I was so ready to be done, and to go back and take a shower. The Pamlico River is super dirty (everyone who had white on, had brown on after the swim).