The Challenge for me starts now.

[})i({RunnerGirl]

But not my Bfit bday challenge... yet!

This year, being a huge year in my life, is a milestone year.

I never really thought about what that meant when I signed up for this challenge months ago. I mean months ago, I hadn't even completed one multisport race let alone a triathlon. A few months ago I was 35lbs heavier and a smoker. A few months ago I was depressed, burnt out and very very unhappy.

Now it is August. I am embarking on turning 30, on becoming a for real, no excuses to hide behind anymore adult. Ugh. An adult. Already? I have shed 35lbs and am on my way to dropping another 30. I quite smoking as soon as the pool demanded it (do you know how hard it is to swim laps when you can barely breath ABOVE water?). I learned how to swim. I bought a bike and now am on my way to riding in the 20's consistently. I have fallen back in love with running.

With health.

With myself.


This milestone year ended up being a TRUE milestone year many times over.

So with that - this weekend starts my ultimate challenge.

The TRIfecta for 30, in addition to my bfit bday challenge.

It goes down like this:

8/10 - Lansing Legislator triathlon
8/11 - I turn..... 29 plus 1 year experience? Ok ok! I turn 30. Fine. Be that way. *hmph* I start my 3 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 10 mile run challenge.
8/13 - Trex Triathlon (miles NOT being included in the Bfit Bday challenge)
8/14 - I complete my bfit bday challenge
8/17 - Island Lake of Novi Triathlon

That is three triathlons (all sprints I am not THAT crazy!) and my milestone challenge.

I am so excited you have no idea. I am a true believer that embracing a challenge like this can start out being novel, sort of crazy in a doable way, and somethign to brag about at training sessions with your clubs and friends... but in the end, if you embrace this as a lifestyle change, you start to see that the REAL finish line has no medal at the end... the real finish line is where you have lived each day without regret, and always moved forward regardless of what obstacles you have to overcome.

I will be documenting my TRIfecta as well as Bfit Bday challenge on this thread and in my blog.


I am kissing my 20's goodbye. Like an old friend that has lost touch and commonality - I too must say goodbye to that era. No more looking back - onward and upward my friends!

[romanmica]

WOW that's a big week.

Get plenty of sleep and have fun.

Oh Yea...Happy B-day!

I can't wait to read about how you go.

[})i({RunnerGirl]

So today I am 30! Holy cow. I did my first part of the TRIfecta yesterday and I kicked some major biking tushy!

Pre-race routine:
We camped at Sleepy Hollow campground to save time driving in the AM. It was myself, Lana, Al, Melissa, Dave and Jason. We grilled, jammed by the campfire (Al and Dave can play guitar well!) and hung out in the freezing cold tent. Oh did I mention the rain? Because it rained a lot! For a few hours on Saturday, then in spurts after the race on Sunday. I kid yo unot - the weather swung a good 10* quite a few times during the day on Sunday.

It was a great idea to camp out and so convinient as we were 5 minutes away from the transition area!

I strongly suggest camping out with a group of people before races.



Event warmup:

We woke up at 6:00AM (but also midnight, 1AM, 2AM, 3AM, 4AM, 5AM... etc. due to campmates *cough*Al*cough* and noisy neighbors), and then I ate a quick breakfast of 1.5 Cups of fat free milk mixed with 2oz of whey protein powder (unflavored). I tried an Apricot Clif Bar... but holy heck the Apricot flavor made me sick. YUCK. I nixed the bar and stuck with liquid nutrition. Smart move!

We then went down to get our numbers and to pick up our goodies. Then I came back up to the campsite and showered, got dressed, and headed back down to the area with bike and transition gear. Set up my transition in all of 5 minutes, got marked and headed to the water.

Given that there was an Oly in addition to the sprint, Male Olys went off at 8AM, female and relay Olys went off at 8:10 or so, and the waves of sprint started after 8:30AM. The water was chilly and WEEDY. I knew this but made the decision to NOT wear my wetsuit. Another smart move.

Swim

I am a slow swimmer! HOWEVER - I SWAM THIS FREESTYLE THE WHOLE WAY!!!! I am happy with that. We took off at 8:37AM and the start was a little rough. There were weeds... a lot of them. I made my way to the first double bouy in no time, and rounded it with no issue.

I headed towards the second double bouy and had no issues getting there either. I passed a few people on the swim which is still new to me. After rounding the second bouy I started to sight to the two beach bouys thinking that I need to go in between them, but about 150meters out I realized that I needed to go the right of the right-most bouy. Oops! Oh well I recovered and got out of the water in 14:38! This was my best swim in terms of stamina and strength.

I felt as if I could have kept on going. I know that I need to work on speed, but this race was all about just getting it done well. And I did!

What would I do differently?: Swim faster. ;) But I am working on that!

T1

This transition was quick - man I love not having to wear a wetsuit!

What would I do differently?: Not a thing. It all went as planned.

Bike

WOW! I took 1st overall bike in Athena and was 68th out of 191 in the sprint total! I am definitely a better cyclist than anything else right now. PERFECT ride.

I took off on the bike and right away passed 6 people. I then did something pretty cool - I kept passing people. I was about 2 miles into the ride when my friend Jason passed me and yelled out - I'll race you to the end. I saw him in transition and he was doing the Oly distance, so I back off a little and let him get ahead. Then it hit me - Jason is fast. He can keep up with the 20-23mph pack on our tuesday rides... I will take him up on the challenge and see how it plays out.

I kicked it up a gear and hammered past him. I yelled out to him "I will take you up on that!" I could tell that he was shocked that I was going to race him, so I just kept on hammering up the hills, down the hills and around the bend. He never once passed me again! After the race, Jason told me that he was shocked, but then he saw me hammering it pretty good so he tried to catch up, but then realized that he had twice to go than I did so he just hung back. Dang it! ;) I was really looking forward to a race!

There were two girls that I kept playing leap frog with. I was starting to think that they were getting annoyed with the game, but honestly it was because we rode similarly in technique and speed - but each of us had a stronger suit - for me it is uphills, I pass a lot of peopl up hill, for one it was the downhills, and for the third it was the straights.

On the last hill I hammered past them and they never caught back up! In fact it took them a mile in the run before I saw either of them again. Sweet!

What would I do differently?: Not a damn thing.

T2 - I am glad that I got the Synchroinfinity Pearl Izumis... made a world of difference not having to wear socks! No blisters no pain. I love it!

Run

It is sad that a girl who calls herself runnergirl has found out that running is her WORST sport of triathlon.

I worked it really hard on the bike and my legs were feeling it on the run. The good thing is that I never once felt the need to stop - I just kept on running.

When I was in the parking lot entering the finishing stretch all of a sudden my ankles were bound together! Oh yeah - my new laces had shreded and got wrapped around both of my ankles so I had to rip them apart while I ran! As I got to the finishing shoot, I picked it up to a sprint but there was no one in front of me to catch so I just ran it in strong.

I first saw Melissa, then Brickey and Clan. It was a good race.

What would I do differently?: I need to work on speed and strenght for next season. I am shocked that I finished averaging a sub 11:30 pace - my first mile was 12:22! I must have really picked it up there at the end. I know when I finished the last mile did go by really fast for me, so I think I put myself into a zone and just went with how my body felt versus any sort of pace goals.



Post race

Warm down: Walked around, talked to friends. In the food tent I caught up to SweetP and Amy Christena. I saw Hannah and we walked to her car, chatted, went back to MSUDan and wife and Melissa and we watched Dave come in from the Oly. We also caught Dan's daughter Samantha finishing the Oly run. After a bit, we walked around more, sat down stretched out and was able to catch Lana as she rocked it in for her first ever Oly finish!

Afterwards, we went back to the campsite and Trixie and my cousin came to visit and hang out! Trixie was so sweet - she brought a birthday cake, cupcakes AND a killer cherry pie for my birthday! Check out my photo album over on BT for a picture of the cake as well as pics from the race!

What limited my ability to perform faster?: My weight... duh!



Event comments: For a 3D race, it was actually well put. I think that the venue is why - a lot of people camping at the campgrounds were interested in helping out. Past 3D races have seemed to be very chaotic. I am happy overall with this race! What a wonderful birthday gift - great friends, great times, and an awesome weekend.

[TriScan]

Good luck! That is very ambitious!