Real ale ride-80 miles O' fun!

Allthough I felt awful at first, about 40 miles in I finally felt good and ready to ride!!!

Held a good pace and hydrated and ate enough...it still took me about 5 hours to finish AND I stopped at every rest stop. Not in a hurry though, just enjoying life...

I also drank a gallon of pickle juice....that stuff is excellent!!!!

Good times and the beer and swimming at the end made it worth it!!! Danskin Tri next weekend...those hills at Decker Lake got NOTHING on the Real Ale hills!

Cap tex Tri!!!

First Tri of the season!!!! Didn't have the best swim, but felt strong on an easy bike course! My run was awesome despite a tight it band.

Happy overall but have a lot to build on...more later!

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So overall, although I was pretty dissapointed with my swim initially, now that I think of it, a 10 minute PR on the swim ain’t so bad!! (that’s right, I had a 10 MINUTE PR on my 750 meter swim! That’s pretty big!) So I really did have great reason to celebrate my race! Yes, I was slow to get started on my swim, but a couple of my T3 buddies saw me finish and said I looked really strong, which I DID feel awesome at the end. I just need to keep working on it. Getting stronger…mentally push from the beginning. NO PANICKING…ughh, too bad other people kept swimming into me ¾ of the swim…urgh.

My transition times weren’t great, but MAN, that is a long tranisition area! Anyone who has done CapTex or Austin Tri knows this! I didn’t bother with a wetsuit so that saved a little time. THAT WATER WAS COOOOLLLD though! Swimming in Barton springs without a wetsuit did NOT prepare me at 9 in the morning for 70 degrees!

My bike time was decent. I could have pushed a LOT harder I think. I felt my heartrate was pretty high for about 6 miles though so I just cruised a little. The course was crowded and the roads were downtown-bumpy. I got passed on the Right (WTF?!) more than what made me comfortable, and I tried to stay as far right as possible! I lost my rear waterbottle very early on the course, and it almost caused me to crash as it feel into my drivechain! Luckily, my cat-like reflexes helped me there and also when some guy deadstopped RIGHT in front of me after the turn-around on S 1st street! UGH, surely that would have been the end of the race for both of us had I hit him. Anyhow, still an Austin bike PR for me. My best race PR is 18.3 mph which I accomplished in Houston last year. My bike goal is to average AT LEAST 18 mph in the Austin races!

My run, is as usual, where I shine. Even feeling sluggish and slow, I ran a 24:34 5K. That’s not too shabby after all that ‘other stuff’ before hand. Overall, I felt confident and picked people off left and right. It’s very clear that running is where triathlon is won. I mean, I passed SOOO many people. I think I got passed twice by some really strong elite-looking guys. Eghh, no skin off my back. I would like to bring my run down to 7:30/mile, so that’s another goal to go for this summer, which might be a challenge since I haven’t been training hard on my running.

Happy to be done and have another race to train for in 2 weeks! Gotta bring that swim time down. Placing 15 out of 63 in my age group (good enough to put me in top ¼ of my age group) feels great…but literally only 2 minutes seperated me from a top 10 finish. Time to continue to focus and train hard, knowing I have goals to accomplish. And this next race is on a TOUGH course…the 70.3 course…!

The STATS:
750m swim, 12.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

21:19s
3:43 T1
41:43b (17.8 mph)
2:24 T2
24:34 r (7:52/mile)

=1:33.44 total time

15th out of 63, sprint female, ages 25-29

my manic workout day! 10k race and then a Street bike race!!!

I need to take a nap!!!

48 minutes and some change in a 10k this morning in my hometown of copperas cove (not a pr though) and then a street bike race this afternoon! (on a fixed gear bike!!!)

Placed 4th overall 10k female and who knows in the alleycat (probably 4 from the bottom!!) but it was good times and a greatttttt workout!!

I'm so tired, but a short nap and then a rock show and then midnite bike riding!! Can't wait.
Life in Austin is grand on so many levels. Wish kiki was here to share it with me...
Tomorrow is rest and a cold open water swim. I cAn't wait.

oh and here is a pic of me from the race...yes, kiddies, look both ways before you cross the street. There are other pics but in attempt to not be vain (cause you know, i sooo am-ha), this is the only one i'm putting up.

Thanks Les.

Finished my first adult criterium!!!!!

and guess what, I wasn't last! It was a lot of fun. I was pretty nervous going into it. Not knowing what to expect...how fast the peleton would be going...how agressive the pack would be...overtaking people...planning strategies on when to attack and all that other roadie jargon...

the sprint out of the front gate is sadly what got me (as an amatuer racer...i didn't know!!!) but it was great picking people off the front pack. I averaged 19.3 mph...which *IS* slow in bike racing circles...but the front pack probably was at 23-24mph so I wasn't terribly far behind.

I did get lapped at the end and those girls were GETTING it! it was inspiring!

and in the end, it was great to race! i enjoyed it so much i think i will HAVE TO come to the next one. hopefully if I really get into this race thing (you know, not that i PLAN to), i can do more of these and actually stay with the pack!

now on towards saturday, a little hilly 10k race to warmup the legs for the afternoon's alleycat...yes it will be fun and yes i plan to place. Win...ehhhh, but i would definetely like to be in the top.

OH...and i am doing it on my fixie:)

PS: proof i 'look' like a cyclist:
http://dcmphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/8140612_z5VWV/1/531107321_Uvd9U#P-89-12 pg 82 and 89. rawr. i look great in pink, i have realized this!