Cocktails & Cupcakes . . .

That is what I am renaming the Santa Barbara Triathlon. I know it doesn't convey the sense of a triathlon with the name "Cocktails & Cupcakes"(C&C), but it might attract more people???

Well, in my head (scary place to be), that is what I call it!

Yesterday was the C&C Triathlon, which I did for the first time in 2008.

Back then it was called the S.B. Triathlon. Well I am happy to announce that this year I managed to shave approximately 10-11 minutes off my time from 2 yrs. ago!!! It would have been more, if not for the yucky swim conditions & the resulting ultra-long T1 time.

It was a foggy morning, air temp in the upper 50s. There were three of us there to race: me, Vit. & H.R. Pufnstuf. And, we had the wonderful spousal support of my hubby & Lola . . . and a new "jock strap", The Queen! She was über-excited to be there to see the throngs of people who thought it was fun to get up at the crack o'stupid, swim in cold water for a mile, ride hills for 34 miles & then run 10 miles!

I think she was excited to NOT be doing it. Please note that The Queen has done a few sprint tri's & is still a newbie. We are working on her . . . Mwahahahahaha!

Vit started his wave at 7:15. Between that time & my wave - 7:45 - the wind picked up & it was nasty cold. When it was my turn in the water, I was really more concerned with being so cold out of the swim that I would not be able to function. I should have been more concerned with the choppy, nasty, ucky waves that were slapping me in the face for the entire swim!! O.K., I am slightly dramatic . . . it was really only 2/3 to 3/4 of the swim! Seriously, it was a difficult swim & definitely was more demanding of my energy. I was 6 mins. slower on the swim. And it wasn't just me: everyone of my peeps - Vit, H.R. and me - was slower!

When I got out of the water, I felt beat up . . . not really tired, but like, "Who the hell pissed off the ocean god" - Oceanus is his name . . . I think - "& made that swim a churning stew of hell?"

I got over that & made it to T1 . . . where I was FREEZING my ass off. I had a lovely time wrestling with my arm warmers and socks to get them on my body. My hands were little icicles. I actually had a really fun time with Lola & The Queen looking on & taking a ton of pictures of every facial expression imaginable. I kept thinking that my time in transition must be bordering on "way too friggin' long." As it turns out, it was!! Like 5 mins. or so. Hilarious! I love that.

The bike was as wonderful a roller coaster of ups & downs as I remember from last time. I did take extra care on the downhills & rode strong in the saddle on the ups. I managed to shave off 2 mins. from before. Not as much as I'd hoped for, but I felt strong. And, that is really all I can ask for. Well, I would like some diamond solitaire earrings!!

Off the bike onto my favorite part - the run. My T2 time was about the same, no biggie.

The special thing on the run for me . . . a first of firsts . . . I ran - RAN - all my miles!

I have never, ever, ever done that. Never ran 10 miles. Never ran 6 miles. Never really ran consecutive miles without walking some of them. Never. Ever.

And, I felt mostly pretty good.

I was quite thrilled to see Vit early on in the run, which meant he was hauling ass. He was having a great day & I was happy to see that he was almost done!

Son of a bitch!


I mean - I love that guy!!!!!!

H.R. was a bit further back, but he looked happy & strong.

All in all, I took 15 mins. off my running time from 2008. w00t w000t!

Now if we can get back the extra-long time from the swim & T1 . . .

My final time has not been posted, but I know I was somewhere around 4:43-and-change-ish.

Happy to be done with all this mishigas - it was time for . . . say it with me . . .

COCKTAILS & CUPCAKES!!!





That's right. On to lunch with everyone & then dessert, baby.

For now, I am resting after a 500-yd. swim this morning & a rest day tomorrow - then back to the Ironman training. I believe we have 12 weeks to go!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

So for now, keep on keeping on . . . wear your helmets when you ride & remember to always laugh at your friends in front of their face! Not in a mean way, but in a "life is too short, let's have some G-D fun!!" way.

Much Peace & Love,
TracerX

Vineman Aquabike 7/24 . . .

Yeah I get it, it's been about a month since I did this race, but I must tell you how I did. And, how much fun I had. I think I had fun because I knew I did not have to run 26.2 miles after the 2.4 mile swim & 112 mile bike ride!!! Not that it wasn't nerve-wracking for me! And not to say that it wasn't difficult - only it was kinda nice to know that when I got off that bike - I was DONE, baby!

So, here is a little race report:

Got up nice & early, had a bit of coffee & a peanut butter sandwich with agave sweetener. Made sure I had all my gear ready & we headed down to the Russian River.

It was a kinda cold, muggy & misty morning. I get into transition and set up - the usual - except for the running gear!! Then it was time for the Porta-Potty line . . . more than once. I hate that freaking line. I would love my own private bathroom with aromatherapy candles & running water with nice-smelling soap! Right? I know, I would never come out - the race would start & I would be on the pot, sitting there reading Triathlete magazine!!

Anywho, the water temp was supposedly around 68 degrees & I had decided on a sleeveless wetsuit. My wave went at 6:55 a.m., and let me tell you . . . my wave went @ 6:55 a.m. The race organizers really were on the mark with their start times. We got in the water & off we went!! Everyone was hootin' & hollerin' about, "Yeah, let's go!" and, "Go get 'em!" and then the gun goes off & we start swimming. As you know, this involves hitting, kicking & gnashing of teeth. You are gonna get hit in the face!! Deal with it!!! Apparently, no one told the guy in front of me . . . baby! And, I did apologize.

The swim went well. I felt strong, I found a nice line & just swam. There were parts of the river that were shallow & people were walking. I stood up once to pee. I just can't pee & swim at the same time. I did start noticing my arms getting cold on the 2nd loop of the swim. But other than that I was good.

Out of the water, I ran into transition & I was absolutely freezing! Shaking, teeth chattering, frozen-to-the-bone COLD. I managed to get my wetsuit down to my ankles, but I had to get my arm warmers on 1st! Then off came the rest of my wetsuit. I was able to put all my gear into a bag & pass it off to my hubby, so I did that. On the bike, we were able to mount at the bottom of the hill. No way that was gonna happen for me without falling over. I was way too cold. So, I walked up the hill, got on & off I rode.

Not much to say about the bike. Nice scenery. Rolling hills. Roads that were not that great. A couple of hills - Chalk Hill - two times. And some rolling hills just for fun. It did start to warm up, but never got really hot. I did, at times, feel like getting off the bike & asking someone to give me a neck massage. That's normal, right?

I also felt like getting off my bike & putting on ten layers of chamois. My girlie bits just needed a break. But, I pressed on & finished strong. In fact, coming down the finish "chute" I was up out of my saddle because I was excited to be done & I wanted out of my saddle. There was a woman in front of me on her bike & my husband thought I was trying to beat her to the finish line. I did not even see her!!

The only issue I had with this Aquabike was we had to dismount 20 feet before the finish line and run across with the bike. After all, there was a full Ironman going on & others had to do the run! So it felt a bit "uneventful" crossing the finish line. On the other hand . . . I was done.

And that felt good. As a matter of fact, I felt good. Not too beat up. I even tried to do a bit of running back to the car . . . eh, not so much.

Overall, the race went well. The support along the course was fantastic & luckily the day was not terribly hot.

Overall, very happy to have this under my belt. Very happy to have my hubby there along the way to support me - and, of course, the support from friends & family back at home.

OH, let's not forget the best part of the day . . . the 32-oz. beer at the end!

CHEERS.

Much Peace & Love,
TracerX