Tri Report

Friday night we were getting ready to go to Cape Cod for the Tri, and the excitement in the house was palpable. Mackenzies overnight bag was packed, the house was cleaned, and I was starting to pack Jack's bag. Kevin and I were trying to decide what he should do about Tri shorts. The outfit he had ordered online, had not yet arrived, so he was contemplating running out to a sporting goods store to pick up bike shorts.

That's when I checked my emails and found that the race had been cancelled due to "dangerous weather conditions" The race and safety officials decided that with the pending hurricane coming up the coast, both the swim and bike legs would place athletes in significant danger of injury or death. Sort of defeats the purpose of getting healthy, right?

But, oh boy was I dissappointed! I really just wanted to cry. I think Kenz was almost as sad as me. Kevin quickly came to the conclusion that he has no interest in swimming during a hurricane, so he was okay with the cancellation. I spent the night moping, and checking the weather channel(like that would change any thing).

Saturday morning I got up, and at some point Kenz and I went for a walk. I don't know if it's because we're both middle children, or because we're pisces, but we tend to share a desire to fix things, and seek harmony. On the walk, she told me again how sad she was that we weren't going to get to race, and that she had really wanted to cheer us on and make signs for us. That was the turning point for me. I went home, and told Kevin we should do our own Tri here, on Sunday morning. (He had suggested it the night before, but I wasn't ready to hear it then). So that's what we did. Shayna is here, and was willing to watch the kids for us, so it was a go!

Buzzards Bay was scheduled to be a 575 yard swim, 14.7 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. We mapped out a course with these totals: 600 yard swim, 15.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

We got up this morning, loaded the bikes on the car and headed to the Y. We racked the bikes there and went in for the swim. I finished the swim in 16:45, and Kev was about a minute ahead of me. I am really happy with the swim time, because I've never swum competitively, and don't really know what I'm doing! It took me a long time to get from the pool, get shoes/socks on and change my shirt, then get to my bike. I was on the bike at 22 minutes, and could see Kevin leaving the Y parking lot as I got to my bike.

The bike: Ouch! Buzzards Bay described it's course as having 1 hill. The course Kevin chose for us had 4 significant hills! Plus, I got stuck at 2 redlights, which added 4 minutes to my time! Overall, I finished the bike at 1hour, 27 minutes. That was an average speed of 14.22 MPH. If I could deduct the 4 minutes at redlights, I would have been at over 15 MPH! It's not blazing fast, but it's respectable. Kevin was ahead of me, but I'm not sure how far.

The bike course looped once past our house, and ended there, so we got to see the kids! I dropped my bike, and headed out for the run. I am embarrassed by how slow the run was for me. It was a total of 38 minutes. I had to stop and stretch my calves out twice, and I walked a little bit in 2 other spots. The run was brutal for me. Toward the end, my old foot injury was really painful, but I kept going.

My goal for a final time was 2 hours and 10 minutes. I finished at 2:08:22!! So, if We did the 14.7 ride that was scheduled, and I didn't have to stop for the red lights, I believe I would have been at just about 2 hours! So, for a first time, I'm pretty satisfied with that.

Thanks to every one who has been so encouraging over the past few months! I'm looking forward to doing an official Tri next year!

More Pics to follow!