Two Triathlons And A Birthday

This week I raced in two short sprint triathlons and celebrated my "25th" birthday. Okay, well maybe double that number and subtract two to get my real age, but what's a number, right? I feel better and am stronger now than I ever was in my twenties.

Let me tell you I had the best birthday I've ever had and I mean EVER! How could it not be good when I'm at the beach with my wonderful husband, all my cats, on a gorgeous day, racing in a triathlon and eating cake afterward.

Perfect! 

On Thursday evening I raced in the Portofino Sunset Series triathlon and this morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon. Both races are sprints meaning short and fast as opposed to long and slower.

Portofino Sunset Series Triathlon - Thursday Evening

Team MPI, a multisport coaching organization, puts on a series of super short sprint races at Portofino Island Resort in Pensacola Beach. They do around 6 to 8 of these from April until August or September. The maximum number of participants is around 60, but there were only about 25 of us last Thursday.

It is a perfect race for beginners who have never done a triathlon or for racers looking for a fast workout. The swim is 300 yds in the Santa Rosa Sound, 7.5 mile bike ride and 1.5 mile run. All fast and flat. It was a lot of fun. I did the race as my cardio for the day instead of my usual "brick" indoor workout at the gym.

It's time to get outside now!

After the race, the Murph and I had dinner and then birthday cake. The Murph told me he wasn't going to eat any of it but changed his mind after he saw me shoveling spoonfuls of it in my mouth. We got the cake at Walmart during our grocery shopping expedition and he was telling the cashier that it was a "one person cake".  I thought he meant me since I was the only one who was going to eat it, but now I'm not so sure who that "one person" was since he was the one who finished it off the other day before I could get another piece of it!

He even ate the other rose! This size cake clearly isn't big enough for the Murph and I.

 Pensacola Beach Triathlon - Saturday morning

This morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon which was much bigger, but also great for beginners since the swim is only 400 yds and was also in the Santa Rosa Sound behind the restaurant, Flounders instead of being in ocean waters which can sometimes be a little rough.

Transition area for the bikes was across the street from Flounders in the Casino Beach parking lot. The bike was 10 miles heading east going a little past Portofino Island Resort and back. The run was a little over 3 miles.

Pictures in the transition area.

Pictures behind Flounders Restaurant.

The run from Flounders back across the street to Casino Beach was a little tricky since I was running barefoot. I noticed when I got out of the water that the smart people had left flip flops over there to run back in. Oh well, they might not have stumped a toe, but I'm pretty sure it slowed them down!

I'm fumbling around in transition trying to get my running shoes on. I need to work on this!

I placed second in my age group. See the first place finisher in the middle? She looks fast! Four minutes faster than me! She did the race in less than an hour. No way could I have done that at this point. It's too early in training for me!

Overall, I was very happy with my times in both races especially considering my lack of swim training and time on my tri bike.

Right now I'm tired, happy and a year older!

Last Workout Of The Year

 The Murph and I just got back from workout of the day number 2 at the gym.  As we were leaving, I realized that this was our very last workout of the year.  I mentioned this to The Murph and he mumbled, "Yes, that's why I did such a terrible one."  I guess he means that tomorrow starts a new year with some serious gut busting workouts, not these little sissy workouts we've been doing for the past month or two. With all the holiday foods and easier, shorter workouts, I've gained six pounds since the Chickamauga marathon in November.

As I sit here typing on the computer, eating cookies and drinking sweet tea full of high fructose corn syrup and saturated fats, you can see I'm really concerned.  Not!

Tomorrow is a new day!

I already have my 2013 race schedule planned out, but I'm not doing the early registration so they could fill up before I register. I'm still going to take the chance of the races filling up and sign up for most of them at the last minute.  I figure that's better than registering now at the lower rate and then not being able to do the race.  The lower fees are not that much lower anyway.

My race schedule for 2013 looks like a half marathon in January and one in February, a marathon in March, one or two sprint triathlon races in May and June, an Olympic distance triathlon in July, USAT Nationals in August which is a sprint triathlon that I qualified for last summer at the Coastal triathlon, a sprint in September and a sprint in October and maybe, just maybe a 70.3 half Ironman triathlon at the end of October.  Then a marathon in November or December.  The marathon I really want to do is in December if I can make it out there.  It's sort of far from here and I don't know where we will be living.

Actually, four of the races I want to do are not close by.  It will require flying or a really long drive and I've only flown with my bike one time and it was tough getting it into that little box.  The other times I've either driven to the races or used Tribike Transport which is a really great service.  They pick up your bike at a designated bike shop near you and have it at your race all put together and ready to go.  They did not offer this for Hawaii, but I did use them when I competed in Ironman Canada.  It was great.  I just left my bike at the local bike shop and picked it up at the race venue, did the triathlon, then turned the bike over to Tribike transport after the race and a few days later picked it up at my local bike shop ready to go.

I think I'll let the bike shop take my bike apart and pack it in the bike box next time.  I could use Tribike Transport again, but now I have the bike box so I should probably use the box.  When I tried to pack the bike up for Hawaii, I left gaps in the box and some bike parts slipped out in transit.  I ended up having to purchase replacements parts.  This meant I had to go into town in Kona, Hawaii to find the bike shop and buy the part.  Then we had to take it back to the guy at the race expo who was putting my bike together because he couldn't leave the expo.  They were very busy putting bikes together.

This would not have been a problem if my bike and luggage hadn't arrived two days after I did and on the day it arrived I had a little mishap while doing a warm up swim that required stitches.  I got into a fight with some coral and the coral won.  Something that could only happen to me!  The Murph and I had to find the hospital, which was on one end of the island, so I could get stitches in my hand and elbow and then rush to the other end of the island to find the bike shop and then bring the part to the bike guy so he could have my bike put together and race ready in time for me to get it checked into transition in time.

This is me getting out of water with my hand and elbow cut up and bleeding,
 but The Murph doesn't realize it yet as he snaps away

I barely got the bike checked in transition in time and didn't get to test ride it except for the 20 minutes that it took me to ride from the hotel to the race start.  The seat was too low and my hand hurt, but there wasn't much I could do about it at that point.  I will say the Hawaii 70.3 was an awesome race in the most beautiful place in the world and I can't wait to go back and hopefully one day do the full Ironman.  Hopefully, without stitches in my hand and with plenty of time to ride my bike and test everything out on the course before race morning.

I don't know if I will actually do a 70.3 in 2013 or wait until 2014, but it keeps calling me.  I'm nuts!    I'm addicted!  What can I say...

Happy New Year!

Triathlon Race Photos And The Beach Trip

Last Saturday The Murph and I drove over to Orange Beach, Alabama from Pensacola Beach, Florida so I could do the Alabama Coastal Triathlon.  We got up at 4:30 am to make the hour and 1/2 drive.  It doesn't seem like it would be that far, but we had to go up and over and stop and go through some small towns to get there.

There were two distances offered.  One was a full Olympic distance and the other was a very short sprint distance.  I did the very short sprint since I haven't been bike and swim training very much this year.

Okay, I confess!  I have done zero swim training since Ironman Canada 2010 and most of the biking I've been doing has been on the exercise bike at the gym instead of my road bike.  The Murph is my true, very loyal athletic supporter!

This is us right before the race start.  You can see from the waves behind us that the ocean was not very calm that day.  I was a little worried, but I have had to swim in much rougher water and this was a very, very short 300 yd swim.  No Ironman distance swim here!  Thank God!

It was cloudy in the beginning, but by the time I crossed the finish line the sun was out and it was clearing up.  Also, it was getting hot.  I was glad to be finished in less than an hour.  I love short triathlons right now.

This is me coming out of transition after getting off the bike.  Now it was time to do the run which was very, very short.   Only two miles.  That's it!

I'm thinking that my butt looks fat here in these shorts.  I doubt I will wear them again.  I may need to cut back on all those cookies I've been eating too.

Despite the lack of swim training and the big butt, I place third in the masters category and was the 10th overall woman.  I was very happy with that!

The night before the race, The Murph and I went to eat dinner at Jackson's in Pensacola, Florida.  I ate tons of bread with fresh butter and the most delicious steak and crab cake ever.  

This probably contributed to the bigness of my butt the next morning....

Oh well, it was worth it!

This is The Murph about to go in the water the other day.  He didn't know I was taking pictures of him.

I added our baby pictures to our wedding website last night.  This is The Murph's baby picture.   He's such a cutie!

I tried to scan this picture in and post it on his birthday post in July, but I couldn't get the scanner to work.  I have been trying to scan things and print for two months now and couldn't get the dang printer to work.  Then right out of the blue it just decided to start working last night.

Go figure!