Triceratops Tri Recap and Catch Up

This race recap is LONG overdue!  I almost feel like the summary I posted previously is about all I remember I am so far behind.  We have been working on getting moved (which we are no where near ready and I totally should be cleaning right now) and went on a fun vacation that had a lot of driving involved.  Here it goes:

The Triceratops Tri was on June 15th in the evening.  It was a crazy day.  It was Keira's LAST day of preschool for real, not just we're moving last day, but her last day of preschool for everyone.  Sniffle.  She will be a big bad kindergartener next year.  There was no gradutation, but I was thankful I got there early since I didn't workout because they did call everyone up one at a time and we got lots of pictures.  What did we do next?  Well, we went to McDonald's for lunch because it is every 5 year olds favorite place to eat once school is officially out.  It is fabulous for a pre tri meal, though.  I used restraint, and ordered the oatmeal, so that made it my second bowl of oatmeal for the day, and managed only eat 1 stray chicken nugget and no fries.  We had to eat on the run because Keira had to go to the pediatrician's office for her 5 year check up.  We thankfully finished up on time for the most part, and had plenty of time to get home and get Soren down for a nap before my mom arrived.  However, I received a call while there that my 70.3 magnet was in, and I HAD to get it.  I couldn't show up to my sprint tri without my badge of honor on Ryan's truck!  I had slapped the sticker on my car already, but was not permitted to stick one on the truck, so I had to wait for a special ordered magnet.  Seriously, could I do any more things today BEFORE my tri?  We finally arrived home and I had about an hour to get ready to leave.  My mom, who thankfully arrived right around the time I did, decided to stay home with the kids instead of trying to bring them, and this was a smart choice.   She was there to help while I got changed, loaded, and off.

It was really a crazy experience for me to get in the truck to go to a tri and find it to be the most relaxing part of the day.  It was 4:15 or so when I left, so I got to the race site by 4:30, and full 1.5 hours before the start, and since I was starting elite, I was starting at the actual start.  I usually always feel super rushed.  Not today.  It was so wonderful to just be able to not worry about the house or the kids and get ready for the tri.  I had plenty of time to run around and find my TIA teammates as well as meet Ben from Aquaphor.    I ended up racing in my TIA gear since this race in on our "home turf" and I should be able to meet my Aquaphor quota without it.  Here are a few pics from before the race.  Since my mom did not come and Ryan was in KY, I only have before and after pics.  Greg Sadler from Sadlershots.com took some amazing pictures and you can check them out here.

The swim was a wetsuit legal swim.  I am going to admit that I merely got through it.  Starting with the elites, I was WAY far behind everyone else.  There was one guy who was struggling with his wetsuit, and he was the only one from my wave that I was ahead of.  I didn't do as much legit swimming as I should and can do, and at the first bouy, it was shallow enough to stand up so I did to push off the bottom.  My swim time was acceptable, and I got passed by a few people in the wave after me towards the end.  My swim for 800m was 18:55.

My T1 was a bit long, I almost droppped by number belt with my gel on it.  I got on the bike, and I had a little trouble getting clipped in on this grass hill.  I had put my bike in the right gear for it, but since I was struggling with the pedal, it didn't really matter.  I finally got up and going.  I was pretty pleased with my bike.  Again, since I started elite, I had the course to myself.  I got passed by a few younger guys, but that was about it.  I didn't stop my Garmin at the end, so it was tricky to get my data, but I believe I averaged 18.9 mph on the bike for the 11.8ish miles.  I am going to have to hit 19 next time around.  SO CLOSE!

My T2 was really fast, fastest ever, but it probably had to do with my number more than anything because I didn't have to go out of my way at all to rack my bike or run out.  I had "rock star parking" for my bike for this leg.  My run was great.  I was very pleased with it.  I was able to pass a few people here, and sprinted really hard at the end because there was a guy trying to pass me.  He just barely did.  I am sure he was in the age group lower than me that started after and was a full 5 minutes ahead and not just a fraction of a second, but it was fun to finish that way.  I ran "naked" so to speak, as I forgot to switch my garmin from bike to run, but I did have my watch going and know the course well enough to know how I was doing.  I had a PR for the 5K run with 23:00. 

Overall, I had a PR of 1:21:38.  That is good enough to requalify for elite, provided they don't adjust the times.  Cristina had a smoking fast time of 1:08something, taking home 1st overall female, and the winner nearly broke an hour!  This is Ben and I after the race.  It was super cold and had started to rain.  Yet another perk of the elite wave, I did not get much rain on the bike!

 Me and Cristina with her very cool chainring clock award.  It is much more useful than the previous year's big giant dinosaur awards.

It was a super fun day, and I ended up with 5th in my AG!  Whoo Hoo!

After the race, I headed home and the next day got packed up to drive to KY.  Then on Saturday, we started our drive for our vacation to Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina (near Myrtle Beach).  I had planned to run before we left, but I woke up to thunderstorms.  Ryan wasn't riding, and I would have to run inside.  I didn't feel the best, so I bagged it.  It is unlike me to do this, but I was sick and I probably needed the weather to make me stop since I wasn't listening to my body very well.  We got packed up and headed out for our vacation.  We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was rainy.  We can't wait to go back and do it in the sun and/or fall.  We saw a few guys biking on it in the pouring rain.  Totally hardcore, as it was through the smoky mountains and not a bit flat! 

Monday felt like the first official day of vacation since we were there an no more driving.  I had a few days of rest and ran on the beach.  It was great to run outside!  I ran for three days on the trip, which was what I had planned.  I did end up doing my long run on Thursday instead of Friday.  We rode our bikes on Wednesday with a local group out of this small shop just off the island called Island Hoppers.  There is no website, but I head about them from a Team Aquaphor teammate, Ginger.  It was early in the morning, because it gets really hot and humid early.  It was a great ride!  I pushed hard to keep up, and we ended up doing just over 28 miles at over 19mph!  It was also the first time that Ryan and I have ridden together since my birthday last year.  He was at a conversational pace the whole time and I was just going all out.  It was fun to go fast and to ride with the group.  It was awesome that we were done by a little after 9am too!  We debated on riding with them again on Saturday, but it would mess up our plans to break up our drive home by stopping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  That is how I came to do my long 10 mile run on Thursday, just in case.  My long run was 10 miles, and I waited too long to start it.  I didn't get out the door on time and it got SUPER HOT!  I had planned to run across the causeway and back, to the park for water, and then the community center for more water, to another park for water, and then back to the community center, back to our beach house for water, and then the other way and back.  It didn't really work out that way.  I did do the causeway and back, which was not nearly as hard as I thought.  The only scary part is that the guardrail is only knee height or so.. It feels like you could just fall right over!  There are signs stating to walk bikes across for this reason.  If a car were to blow on you, you could probably fall in!  Anyway, when I got back across and to the park, there were no drinking fountains!  Oh no!  It was getting hot, and I was thirsty.  I ran to the community center which was locked!  NO!  I did notice they had a shower outside for rinsing sand from the beach.  SCORE!  I drank a bunch of shower water and rinsed myself off to cool down.  I also opted to run along the road by the beach until the end of the island and stopped at as many showers that I needed.  These saved my run.  When I got to the end and started to head to the other park I ran into my dad on bike.  He had a bunch of gatorade that he shared.  I was so thankful for that, and found another shower at the park and then headed back.  By that point, I just needed to get back to the beachhouse to get in my 10 miles.  It was not fast, but it was super hot.  Hopefully this will be good conditioning for Muncie!  It was such a blast to just run, ride, eat, and hang out on the beach!  The really interesting thing was that I usually have to ice my knees, ankle, and left hip after each run.  Running outside on the beach and even the long run on the pavement didn't seem to phase me!  I am not sure if it was just because the sand running was less impact and I got my required sleep I was OK, but it was amazing.  I had very little aches and pains.  They did come back once I got in the car, though.  Perhaps it is all the sitting in the car that is contributing to some of my pain!  I am very thankful for my parents for inviting us on this trip.  We had a great time.

Oh, and have I totally lost my mind?  I am trying to move, train, vacation, birthday party, AND race an official Half IRONMAN all at the same time!  It is a bit stressful, but by doing Muncie, I am able to build on the training I built up from R4R and then will be able to chill a bit and get situated.  I get to taper right before the movers come, race,  and then recover while they pack.  That works, right?  I  guess we will see.  I had better get back to organizing!  Here are a couple shots from the vacation, not in order:
OIB

 Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 The Appalachian Trail.  Almost 2000 miles to Maine!  We took a few steps just to say we walked on it.

 Blue Ridge Parkway:  It was pouring, but I bet this waterfall looks amazing when the sun is out.

 The kids really enjoyed the beach. 

We are sitting in a tree outside a restuarant.  Sadly, the food wasn't the greatest, but we did have fun while we waited for our table.  Keira did not want to sit with us.  It was too high for her taste.

 Ryan, Me, and my sister, Sarah

 My Dad and Keira

 Sarah and our mom.

 Keira on the beach

 Soren on the beach

Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!