Tri Girl Tri- Napa Valley Saturday September 30, 2006


Well friends- its done. I have sucessfully completed my first ever sprint triathlon this past weekend. I faired quite well, especially considering I was in London last week, not training very hard and eating especially delicious, yet not nutritious meals. Plus the fact that I was completely jet lagged from the 8 hr time difference, i was not sure i would even finish the race without puking.

The event was composed of the following segments:

1/2 mile open water swim in freezing cold lake berryessa
15 mile bike ride on rolling hills
4 mile run on rolling hills

The swim was hard. I've never swam open water before, and I had a really hard time swimming straight. I kept looking up and saw that I was way off course everytime, so i would have to waste time swimming back... i lost alot of time here. Plus the water was really cold, so it was hard to get a full breath- as my lungs felt like there was a cement block on them. ANyhooo-- i pretty much sucked at the swim portion. Its my own fault though, as I only swam once in all of september- next yr i'll do better at this.

THe bike ride was awesome. I passed at least 15-20 people on the ride. I guess all of my spin classes and mountain bike rides paid off here. I definatly gained some time in this leg. Plus it was Really fun! I love speeding down hills- it is such a rush!

The run was also hard. Mainly bc my body was tired- as i have trained for this using the dish at Stanford, which is full of really steep inclines. My pace was slow though. I could probably improve here if i do the following 1) dont spill your gu all over your bike during transition and 2) Dont drink soo much water at the transition point that you have stomach cramps from overload.
Lessons learned for next year!

I finished with a time of 1hr46 min. 3rd place in my age division was 1hr 42 min, so I think I was in the top 10 in my age group- but ill have to wait until the offical results are posted before I am sure.

This event has inspired me to do more athletic type events. I am thinking of doing a half marathon in SF on saturday Dec 9th- anyone want to join in the fun?

XOXO

Eve