Tri #2 - "Control the Freakout"

Well this weekend marked tri #2 .... Here are the deets (details for those of you who don't follow my lingo)

Who: Me and Cayla....
What: Playtri Festival - included My First Tri, Sprint, International distances as well as swim races
When: Sunday, July 5, 2009 - 7:03am start time
Where: Las Colinas, Texas - Marriott Las Colinas
Why: Because we are dumb, crazy, and just plain stupid... but we love it...well after we are done we love it!

Sunday started off early.... 3:45am my alarm went off. As my darling friends were just going to bed after a long night of drinking games and celebrating the 4th of July - I was waking up to "Boom Boom Pow" on the radio/alarm clock.

I jumped out of bed... jumped in the shower... I know who showers before a 2 hour workout... but it's a must for me on race day for two reasons:
1. It wakes me up... did you see what time my alarm went off
2. I need my hair wet to french braid it

After my shower - I outfitted myself in my new tri-gear. Same shorts as last race but new improved and super cute top :) See to the right...

I loaded my bike rack and bike on my car on Saturday night so I wouldn't have to worry about it on Sunday morning. I still did though and checked to make sure I didn't miss a strap to secure it and make sure I had my lock, etc. etc.

I tripled checked then double checked my check list... I'm a super list person so I had to make sure I had everything from toilet paper to my race belt.... and I was out the door at 4:20am.

There is not very many people on the road at 4:20am...

I got to the race site, parked, got my gear, put in my ipod and headed to the transition line. I waited for Cayla to get there so we could rack together... supringsly she was race #59 and I was #58 so we rack together.

Cayla got there we got body marked, racked our stuff, and frolicked in the rain. Oh yes my dear friends, it started raining. As if I wasn't nervous about this enough... it started raining and continued to rain right up until we jumped into the water.

We waited in the parking garage while it rained and until we had our pre race meeting. While we were waiting we saw, not ONE but TWO cars, try to attempt to drive up the ramp and lost their bikes and racks into the rafters of the parking garage. Finally after the second person hit the rafters with their bikes the race director posted someone at the entrance to stop people from driving up the ramp if their bike was mounted on the roof. I felt so bad for these people... their thousand(s) $ bikes ripped off of their car and hanging in the balance... ugh what a way to start a race day!

We had our pre race meeting...and headed to swim the start.

CONTROL THE FREAK OUT...

I said on multiple ocassions as we overlooked the swim area... "Cayla I don't want to do this".. "Cayla why do we do this"... "Cayla are we stupid"...

500m looks alot shorter in a pool

We jumped in - heard the gun and took off...

The rest is history... but I'll explain anyway :)

The Swim was good ... I freestyled probably 80% of it... which I was proud of. I have said on multiple occasions that I DID NOT and still don't think I was prepared for this race. I should have trained harder and trained more... but I finished and that is what mattered. I hadn't been in a pool in I can't tell you how long until Saturday. I swam a quick 500m at the gym just to make sure my new googgles worked. Other than that it was about training in open water rather than for distance.
Time: 13:54 500m
Goal was under 15min
ACCOMPLISHED! :)

The bike - felt great! My bike is old and slow and heavy so I could have performed better on a new bike... which I am still contemplating buying... but overall I was proud of my performance. It rained the whole time we were on the bike so that sucked. Between getting splashed by the puddles and the constant spitting from the sky it was not the most favorable conditions but it could have been worse I guess!
Time: 46:10 - 12miles
Goal: under 53 min.
ACCOMPLISHED! :)

The Run - I hate the run...I felt like shit during the run actually.... and my time showed it. I am not even going to make excuses... it was awful
Time: 36:59
Goal: 32 min.
FAILED :(

Total Time was 1:40:09 - not to shabby I don't suppose... I wanted to be under 2hours and so my overall goal was attained!

I'll have pictures soon!