I had no idea how long it had been since I last posted. I can't believe it was 2015. Time is flying. I can't lie, life has been busy. Between work, family, holidays and a little fun I really just lost track of time.
I was lucky enough to get some cross training in via skiing. I was introduced to skate skiing which I picked up pretty quick and fell in love with this great cardio workout.
We also got away with the family to get some good old fashion downhill skiing. The true love of my life.
I can't tell you how much fun it was teaching my girls how to ski.
Today couldn't have been a better day to get back to the blog world. Yesterday was my first triathlon of the season. Keep in mind this was a last minute coach says do it. I just signed up for the Westshore Tirathlon Thursday and raced it Sunday. Nothing like a last minute throw in. I knew I'd be there regardless because my daughter really wanted to do it. This race is a super low key fun race. It's also a KOS race. My daughter was the youngest one there.
Pool swim was short and sweet.
It was very cold and windy so we made sure she had lots of clothes to put on. The volunteers were great and helped get her going.
Despite the course being hilly she still did awesome. I do need to teach how her to shift gears a little more efficiently.
Off on the run.
First person to cross the finish line. She was thrilled.
Everyone is happy with a medal.
I am so proud of this kid. She is always so keen to try new things and just loves to race. Great job S!!!
I have not done a sprint in over 4 years. As I'm waiting around my coach shows up... ready to race. Unfortunately she's in my age group. Gulp! Nothing like a little friendly competition except that she is so friggin AWESOME!!!
I kept things simple and decided to try out my new wheels and go without socks.
So as my family is filling up on easter treats I'm getting seeded for the pool swim.
I hate pool swim triathlons. I've noticed that the majority of people don't know how to seed themselves properly in a pool swim tri. Because I swim a lot I know my pacing and I know exactly what I should be able to pull off in a 700m swim. However in pool swims if your foot get taped you have to stop at the end of the pool and let the person behind you pass. Unfortunately I got stuck in-between 2 buddies that were being a little competitive with each other. The one in front didn't go out fast enough and the one behind went out too fast. So the three of us played passing games for at least 3 lengths. After I just got fed up and just breast stroked for 2 lengths because we were wasting too much time at the ends. Finally I had had enough and I got ahead of them both and ended up getting over 2 lengths ahead of them but we waisted so much time to get there.
Exiting from the pool was a shocker. It was so cold out and super windy. I was freezing so that meant I had to get working on the bike to warm myself up.
It didn't take long to warm up. The hill climbing back up out of the lagoon was a bit of a slog.
It was a great bike route. It was 2 laps and of course because I'm so used to longer distances that when they told me to turn around I kept asking if they were sure.
After a great bike ride I pulled into transitions and got right into the run.
I could feel my heart rate raising pretty high so I had to bring myself back down and relax. I only saw 2 ladies ahead of me (my coach and another lady) so I thought that maybe I was 3rd female over all. I tried to hold my pace as best as I could despite the nasty hills and brutal headwind.
Coming in to the finish line was tough. The headwinds had shifted and it was torture trying to sprint through the finish. I felt like I was running on a treadmill. Man, I forgot how tough sprints are.
So it turned out there were 3 young wiper snappers that kicked our old lady butts. Coach was 4th female overall and myself 6th.
I can't tell you how awesome it was to stand on the podium with my coach as 1st and 2nd in our age group. It's not very often you see that.
A nice family photo with the medal holders.
So despite the lack of short distance training I was thrilled with my race. Swim and transitions could have been better but I'm happy with the bike and run.
My season is just getting started. Next weekend I'll be doing a half marathon, end of April I'll be doing a fun run with the kids I coach at school.
May I have a 100km bike, another half marathon and then June will be the start of triathlon racing. I'm really looking forward to this year. I've been working hard without letting triathlon run my life. A fine balance that seems to be working so far.
