A Family Who Tri's Together

Today was our Family Relay Tri event. I can not even begin to tell you how proud I am of my Dad and Sister. They truly competed their hearts out today, and we finished with an amazing One Hour and Forty Four Minute total time! My sister ran a 5k in 33 minutes and my dad did his bike leg in 53 minutes! Personal bests for both of them. I am still just so unbelievably impressed with both of them and how hard their trained for this event. I unfortunately probably could have done better if I'm really being honest with my self. Start to finish in the POOL was nine minutes... the Chip time says 11 minutes - so I'm assuming that it took me two minutes to get from the pool to the timing pad that started the transition time. Considering it took me fifteen minutes to swim a 750 it should have taken me 7 1/2 to do a 400 since it's just under half the distance. I should have trained harder and not been so lax- I'm always the first one to tell you that you're swimming stamina falters quickly - I know I should still be proud of my nine minute time, but somehow I feel like I was the half flat wheel on the truck - moving along but not at it's most efficient pace.

I will say though, that this Triathlon was so much different from the one in June. My dad and sister had to stay in the transition area. Once the first group was in the water- all relay participants that weren't swimming had to hang out in transition and weren't allowed to watch the race. - which was a bit odd-

Then, this race was self-paced so you could pretty much just decide where to seed yourself based on how fast you thought you could finish. I put myself in the 10-12 minute group, because I wanted to delay as much as possible, since we had people coming to watch us. They released swimmers in groups of four every 20 seconds or so. I think that doing it this way made the water much, much choppier than it was during the women's tri. One of the ladies in the transition area (who did a half iron man in Minnesota last weekend) and was part of another relay group that became besties with my sister and dad while they hung out in transition, told my sister that the water was much choppier than any of the other races she had done there (at Centennial Beach)

So, while I'm not making excuses for my 9 minutes, I think it may at least be a contributing factor. :-/

The other thing totally not the same as the Women's Tri: the people that did this race laid out their run much different than the run for the womens Tri- and apparently by laying out a different path, shortened (unintentionally) the run course by .2 so it was 3 miles instead of 3.2 - that .2 was added onto the swim leg (in my head I though "Running!?! Me- But I'm here for the SWIM- I didn't practice RUNNING"

So, when I exited the water and made my way to the transition area, I had a nice little jog that needed to be completed before making it to transition. I "jogged" enough to make it to the timing mat- then, I walked

After mulling on these things all day, and accepting that this was my first year of "Tri"ing - I have laid out my goals for next year.

Goal 1. Finish the Women's Tri at or under the 2 hour mark.
I plan to accomplish this by doing the following:
a.) joining a walk to run club through a local running company- and making it my personal goal to RUN the entire 5k next year
b.) Taking Spin Classes in the Winter Months, to strengthen my leg muscles and increase my biking stamina
c.) Obviously, lose weight- the more I lose, the lighter I am, the lighter I am the faster I travel.

I had a "sponsor" provide me with the funds to get the Metabolic Calorie point test done- so I will soon be armed at least with the calorie information that I need. The Cardio Point Test will have to wait until next month- as this Triathlete's funds have been depleted with 2 tuition bills and books for both myself and the husband (see last years rant on the cost of books - same goes for this semester)

I think I am going to have a large group competing with me for either the Naperville Tri or the Naperville Women's Tri as there are many people who have expressed a desire to compete next year- which thrills me! It still hasn't quite sunk in that anyone would draw inspiration from me but I will be glad to have the company participating with me!

The following races have made my shortlist for next year- I wont make an actual decision on which ones Im doing until we get closer:

1. Naperville Women's Tri
2. Naperville Tri
3. Chicago Triathlon - I'm hoping to do this one.. open water swim, lots of running in the sand, and hills- three things that may work against me- but it is on my radar
4. Minnesota's Sharkfest - 1 mile open water swim
5. Bangs Lake Sprint Triathlon - Wauconda Illinois
6. Big Foot Triathlon Lake Geneva Wisconsin


So- those are my shortlist contenders.. Obviously doing all six would be impossible but they are the ones I will be considering next year. 1 and 2 are obvious musts- 3-6 we'll have to be wait and see's.

Anyhow, I sincerely hope from here forward to next summer will be truly transformative. Hopefully, you will stick around for the ride

~Millie :)