Time for an update - Las Vegas and Sylvan Lake - a couple sprints!

It's been awhile, I have been neglecting this. So here you go, 2 for the price of 1.

At the end of April I did the Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas sprint triathlon.

This was a few firsts for me...first time flying with a bike, first girls only trip, first time trial start in a a lake swim. I will keep it short and sweet, this trip/race was so much fun! I had such a good time being with my teammates and getting to know them better and cheering them on in the race. I hope I am able to do it again next year, because it was great!

The race itself went well. Swim was ok, not great. Bike was good, hilly and windy so not terribly fast but I watched my hr to make sure I was putting in a solid effort at all times. The run was so cool! The whole time I was running (well except for the hill at the end) I was thinking "I'm running in the desert!". I wasn't really sure if I could actually do the run as I had a bad ankle sprain 10 days before (yep, only me...stepped on a dog toy while running in my own driveway). There was even some smack talk at the race expo by a certain coach (not naming names) so no pressure....LOL.

End result....

I won a jar of peanut butter...oh yeah!! I was first overall!! I also won some Iron Girl merchandise.

KGH Sprint....

So for this one I was really hoping to duplicate what I can do in the pool for training in a race...but it wasn't to be this day. A good swim, but not as fast I wanted. Out on the bike it was...Windy!! You guessed it!! A good solid bike, not much to comment on except I came into T2 a little hot...and couldn't hold the corner while trying to take my feet out of my shoes (duh!!) and layed the bike down with me on it. Embarassing, but no injury! My run here was smoking! It was a great course, flat and fast! As soon as I crossed the line and looked at my watch I went to RD SCott McDermott to confirm the race course was accurate because I ran the 5km in 20:02!! Woop woop!!! End result....1st place overall and second fastest run out of the men!!

For you people considering this early sprint, I would highly recommend it! Very well organized and supported!!

Stay tuned...2 more olympic and 1 sprint to report on!

Smile!

A couple nights ago I hopped on my bike for an 1:40 ride to be followed up by a 20 min brick run. I had been feeling kind of off all day, sluggish and tired. I thought if I waited for my hubby to get home and I had someone to tackle the ride with it might make it better/easier. Well....by the time he got home and we both climbed onto our bikes it was 8pm! And, to make it worse the main set of the ride was absolutely cruel...in an awesome kick butt kind of a way. It was 3 x 15 minute zone 4 intervals with 8 second bursts at 4, 8, and 12 minutes. Just looking at this workout made me want to groan. Dear Marty had hurt his hammstring the weekend before snowboarding (hammy versus tree...tree won) so he got off after the first 15 minute interval. So, there I was alone, in my basement, 9pm, cranky, tired and unmotivated to work hard. I was in the middle of the 2nd interval feeling very sorry for myself and trying to come up with a good reason to get the heck off my bike. I was hanging my head (not even watching a very hot Brad Pitt in Troy) when I glanced over at the water bottle still on Marty's bike. It was one of those bright orange ones from Tri-It. It had all these great inspirational words on it, like "courage", "determination", "commitment". I seriously scoffed at these words. I wasn't in the mood to be inspired. I WANTED OFF MY BIKE!!!!!!!!!!! And then, out of the corner of my eye I caught this one word, smaller than all the others..."smile". Wow, one word changed the rest of that workout. I put a smile on face and it all went uphill from there (uphill not a good analogy when taking about a bike workout, but for lack of a better word....). I began with a smile and from there, my nasty mood improved. I was thankful that I had the time to spin that night, that I was healthy and not injured, that I have a bike and a trainer! Thankful that I am able to participate in a sport like triathlon, that I have wonderful people around me supporting me! My husband, kids, coach, athletes and teammates! Now don't get me wrong, the rest of the workout still hurt, but my head was in the right place and that made all the difference. So, next time you are having a bad workout, day at work, kids frustrating you....just take a moment...and SMILE!