J and I did the Iron Soldier Sprint Tri again this year. You might remember that
last year was our first ever tri. We missed out on the spring tri (and tons of ever things) because we made a trip to KS to visit J's family. No regrets, and hey, we ran a half marathon that weekend.
So, Saturday, September 28, we got up early to make smoothies and load up. We had packed most everything the night before, so there wasn't much to get done in the morning. Which is good because I'm still not much of a morning person.
We parked and headed to set up in the transition area. The tri was at the new aquatic center this year, so a different area for us. And it was cold. Like, I should have put on warm-up pants cold. We went back to the Jeep to eat our smoothies while the sun came up and started to warm things up.
There were many more people doing the tri this year, so I was number 216. The pool didn't seem as bunched up as last year either, maybe some people learned their lesson about reporting their 400 meter time accurately.
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| The calm before the storm |
I finished the swim in 09:45. Better than last year. Woohoo! The hard part was going out into the cold after the warm pool. My first transition went faster as well since I had on tri shorts. Throw on tank, socks and shoes, helmet, and gloves. Grab bike and jog to bike area. It was a bit chilly since I was still wet, but the ride dried me off.
The bike portion was 15 miles instead of the 17 we did last year. I finished the bike in 51:16, which is a 17.6 mph average. I felt fast, and I didn't feel like I had to save energy (like last year). Although I did have jello legs at the bike dismount, but that's normal.
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| that's me in the middle |
I wobbled to the bike rack to change shoes and head out on the run. Somewhere in there I noticed that I scratched my leg on something, but didn't worry about it. Time to run. I settled into a comfortable pace and pretty soon J caught up to me, just like last year. It turns out my pace was a bit slower than last year and I finished the run in 31:19.
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| just enough breeze for extra crazy hair |
My total time, with transitions, was
1:36:38. That's 15 minutes faster than last year! In overall standings, I came in at 133 out of 265. In women's standings, I'm 23 out of 73. And in my age group (30-34), I came in first! Ok, technically I came it second, but the lady in first was first woman overall, so she got a trophy and I got first for age group. HO. LY. CRAP.
It was after the run that I saw my friend Bambi and she asked what I did to my leg. Huh? OH YEAH! I scratched it and it was suddenly hurting. Like, quite a bit. I scratched it pretty good, just shy of bleeding, I think. But whatever. I took first in my age group!
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| You can't see it, but that's my scratch |
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| matching socks were part of my anniversary gift |
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| just showing off |
We cleaned up and went to Taco Bell for lunch. I think we earned it. Then we headed out to pick up our packets for the next day's bike ride.
J's version of the Tri will come when he has time to sit and write. Unfortunately, the MWR photographers did not get a single pic of him. I got a few to work with. Pensive Perspiration
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