Hello Triathletes:
I feel terrible because it has been ages since I have been on the blog. I feel a bit like I have abandoned all of you but it has been difficult to get to technology while I have been travelling. It has been available but I feel rude emailing when I am with people that I am visiting and it is tough to email from the beach. We had a fabulous trip to Hawaii and we got out before all of the tsunami warnings...thank goodness. We just completed a gorgeous day in California and I have officially done my first "Left Coast" Tri and my very first tri in February. I have to say that the 55 degree water gave me an initial brain freeze but I adjusted and had a great race.....all on borrowed equipment. Speaking of borrowed equipment...that brings me to my first topic....the discussion that we have had about the bike. I read an article talking about doing your first tri and they said.....if you are getting into your the sport and doing your local tri sprint race (which you are), it can be your beach cruiser or a mountain bike. Any bike will do unless you are bit by the triathlon bug. Simply take it to your local bike shop to make sure that it is safe, ensure the tires are pumped up and that the chain is lubed. Do not worry about feeling fast just yet, that will come later. Today on the triathlon I saw several people on mountain bikes and they were doing just fine. I even saw two ladies riding side by side cheering each other on....it made me think of you ladies. I chatted with a gal back and forth as we kept passing each other....she is a 23 year survivor of very aggressive melanoma....that had spread to her lymph nodes and they removed part of her intestine. She was out there making it happen...because life is short so go ahead and TRI.
With the help of my brother, my sister-in-law and Maggie I was able to take some video that I will show at our next get together so I can go over some of the finer points of prepping for the race and transition. Today's race was the exact same size as the Riverwood and it was a lovely set up but it was not as smoothly run as the Riverwood race is run. I will admit that there was not a hill to be seen on the course and we have established that there are a few minor hills on the Riverwood. I was very happy to hear that Adrienne and Kristin did a 5k run together and finished under 40 minutes. That reminded me that we need to talk about signing up for the Komen Race in June. I know that it is a very special race for Kristin and it comes at a great time for a training run for the Kure Beach Double Sprint Tri. I will be signing up for the Komen Race since I lost my grandmother and my Aunt Carol Ann to breast cancer and simply to support a great cause. As we talk about calendars I would like you all to look at yours so that we can decide when we can do our two mock triathlons and get maximum participation. Dan will be coming back in mid March so that will free up many of my weekends.....except of course for kids sports. There are limited days due to availability of facilities and because of the Easter holidays in the mix. I was thinking of the 21 or 22 of March...early mornings and possible Good Friday morning very early since many folks may not be working that day. Another option could be 27 Mar or 19 Apr but the 19 Apr would be almost a true dress rehearsal since it is so close to the big event. I will be looking for feedback on this since I will not make the effort without at least 75 percent participation since it takes a bit of work to make it happen and I want us all to get some bang for our buck.
I do hope that Julie worked you all good and hard in spite of the fact that I did hear that the weather was not really cooperating....AGAIN. I truly enjoyed running on the beach and swimming in the ocean. I did try to sell my roommate from college on doing a tri but not sure if she bought into it without me being there to push her. I also lucked out and made it to a master's swim practice and had my brother (the coach) give me some feedback on my stroke. That was great and so I have some work to do on my own stroke. It is critical to remember that we can all get better....no matter what our level. I read Dara Torres' book, Age is Just a Number on the plane and I was intrigued by many points that she brought up. I will share some of them with you as they apply. One critical thing that she mentioned was how important stretching was to keeping her 40 something body in the game with the youngsters. She had two personal stretchers that she hired and took everywhere with her including Beijing. Now I know we can't have our own stretchers but it would be well worth going to yoga classes or at least tivoing some yoga from tv or buying a 15 minute yoga CD to enhance your training.
OK enough from me for the evening. I am missing all of you and hope all is well. I am learning a great deal about nutrition from my very fit sister-in-law Lesley here in California so I will have to pass her info on to all of you. She is a huge fan of Tosca Reno and her books on "Clean Living". It is sad to say that sugar is not a triathlete's friend :-)
Have fun working out tomorrow and I will see you bright and early Wednesday morning the 3rd of March
CA
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