Happy Mother's Day!

When I woke up this morning I just wasn't ready to get on my bike yet. Jeff had to go into work at Noon so I wanted to spend some time with him and I really just wanted to get the paper and eat my oatmeal. I finally went downstairs and got on my bike when Jeff left for work. I am so spoiled by my Computrainer! Soon I will venture outdoors but everything is still setup for my riding pleasure in the basement. It just seems wrong to mess with it and besides it was really windy and a bit chilly out. By the time I got in my 2.5 hour ride + 15 min easy run it was almost 3. I was going to go to Lawrence to spend some time with my Mom, but she was enjoying just puttering around and suggested I use the time to get stuff done and we'll get together another time. I certainly have stuff to do.

Last weekend at the last minute I decided to sign up for and do The Race For Sight in Columbia, MO. It is a sprint triathlon with a pool swim. I had thought about just going up to watch, but after talking to a couple of friends doing the race I really wanted to play too! Once I entered, I was absolutely giddy. I had no idea what my body would think of a hard effort 3 weeks out from IM, but I was going to find out. Going to Columbia was also a good test to see how I would handle traveling and racing on my own without Jeff along since he had stay home and work.

Jennifer Meyer, a triathlon coach in St. Louis (www.trismartusa.com) was also making the trip alone so we met up at packet-pickup. This race always has an elite division that in the past has done the race 2 or 3 times in a row while the age-groupers go once. This year we found out that the elite's were only going once. Well, this got Jennifer's attention and for some silly reason she turned to me and said “If you do it, I'll do it”. Say what?!?!?! I'm 3 weeks out from IM and have not done a speed workout since before Du Worlds last October. I've got none, nada, zippo, zero, zilch speed in my legs! Jennifer has been training hard and has been getting stronger and faster over the last few years, so yes, she should go elite. But me? That would be nuts! Jennifer scoped out the other elite entrants and she thought there was a shot at the $ that paid 5 deep. There were a few 16-17 year olds in the division and her logic was that even if they could swim and run they wouldn't have the bike legs that take a few years to develop. I followed her logic but pointed out they could be young blazingly fast phenoms.

I gave in and into the elite division we went. The real advantage of being in the elite division is that you get to start first and split a lane instead of having to swim the pool serpentine and duck under the lane lines like the age groupers. That also meant that it would not have a chance to warm up any outside before we had to run out and get on our bikes.

At least Jennifer did buy me dinner (the traditional Subway sandwich) as payment for roping me into this. Throughout the night I found myself breaking out in spontaneous giggles at the absurdity of the move to elite. No matter what happened in the race I would have a story to tell!

Race morning it was 45 degrees which I was not that thrilled about. I had a jacket and gloves at the ready in T1 and my toe warmers were on my shoes. The pool at the University of Missouri is absolutely gorgeous (it almost makes me want to swim). Waiting for the race to start we notice the youngster phenoms. They are from Chicago and are all wearing sleek 2XU trisuits with their names on their butts. They even had a team cheer before hand which we quietly countered with our own 'Go older women!' since the rest of us were in our 30's and 40's.

The race favorite was definitely Kristin Moore. It has been so fun to watch her develop into the rock solid racer she has become. With Jennifer Harrison as her coach now...watch out!
The swim was a long course 400 so I only had to count to 8. I was surprised that I didn't get left behind right away but after the first 200 I was dropping back a bit. The hardest part was climbing out of the pool and trying not to look like an idiot in front of the other 600+ athletes waiting for their turn to swim. It is a long run to transition but luckily the effort disguised the cold. As I was pulling on my jacket, Jennifer Meyer was leaving transition yelling “I'm going to freeze!” and I noticed she had opted not to put on the shirt she had planned to. Poop, I suppose I am in the elite wave and should tough it out too. I threw the jacket down and just went with the gloves which I put on while I was riding. I had no idea what it would feel like to try to ride hard but I knew it would be short. When my legs started to burn I panicked a bit but then remembered that's what it is supposed to feel like. During IM when I felt any burn I backed off.

I was actually able to pick off a couple of names on butts and just barely made it back to transition before Jennifer. Starting the run I was in 5th but I knew Jennifer was faster so it was a matter of time. Once Jennifer passed me there was a name on butt ahead that she caught and I was hoping I would catch too, but she went with Jennifer and I didn't have any more gears. I ended up 6th just out of the $ but Jennifer got 5th and $100! Kristin dominated the field and won easily.

I was very surprised that I was able to stay as close as I did. There definitely is something to having a very large base. IM gave me the base and now I just need to add in some speed and find those gears that I just don't have quite yet.

After the race Jennifer graciously offered to buy me one of the fat free vanilla cappuccinos that I had been raving about. Luckily Columbia has a QT, so we headed there before she went East and I went West. I had to get home as fast as I could so I could get online and enter Memphis in May!

Another reason Mom put off having me come over for Mother's Day is that she is going to come with me to Memphis! Jeff has to work next weekend so Mom and I will hit the road. On the way home we are going to detour to Hot Springs Village, AR to see my Grandpa who recently turned 90! It should be an interesting trip.