Danskin Tri 2008

This years Danskin Tri can be summed up in two words: Kick Ass! I felt good going into the swim, confident and relaxed. The fact that the last few days have been in the upper 80's low 90's also made the swim much more enjoyable as the water temp was lovely for an early morning swim. However, knowing there were several hundred women set to swim behind me makes one swim rather quickly. In fact, I did several things rather quickly this morning:

• Swim: 22:03
• 1st Transition: 5:52 (not so good but we were .13 miles away from the main entrance with our bikes in the way back!)
• Bike: 51:55
• 2nd Transition: 2:08 (much better!)
• Run: 34:46
• Total Time: 1 hour 56 min - my best time ever and four minutes off of last years tri!

I have to say I'm very proud of myself and Darcy (2 hours) and Mara (kick ass 1:37!) I had said earlier that this was going to be my third and last tri, now, um, I thinking I could come back for a fourth. However, this will be my last one on my extremely heavy mountain bike - I'm so getting a road bike!

Rebecca was there with her camera to capture all of the moments! Here are some of her great pics!

Time to carbo load!

The body marking is on. The bikes are racked. And the homemade spaghetti sauce is cooking on the stove (despite the 90 degree heat!)! The best part about this years Danskin Tri? Is this:

Mara, Darcy and I are all in the same bike section and our transition areas are right next to each other! In fact, they are in the same race heat and start 3 minutes after I hit the water! We all have been working really hard this summer and I'm proud of all of us! Stay tuned for tomorrow's race result posting. My goal for my third tri was 1 hour 45 minutes - that's 15 minutes off of last years time. Although now I'm thinking it's more of a guideline and if I'm under 2 hours, I'll be happy!

Yeah, that's a lot of bikes. And once again, I am in the freakin' last bike rack of 5,000 racers! I have to run past all of these bikes after my swim just to get to my bike and transition area!!! Oh well.

It's race week!

And racer #2839 (that's me) is ready to go! My third Danskin Sprint Triathlon is Sunday - that's a 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and a 5 k. I'm planning on channeling my inner Dara Torres for a strong swim, my inner Kristin Armstrong for a good bike ride (she's a cyclist from Boise who's in the Olympics and she's an Idaho Vandal!), and for a good run, I'll channel....well, the only strong female runner I can think of right now is Marion Jones. And since she's in jail for doping and then lying about it, perhaps I'll just try to run fast on my own.

Time to get serious

My third Danskin Sprint Triathlon is less than a month away. My fabulous training partner Darcy has been a great inspiration to workout with. We push each other, give encouragement and vent frustrations when a workout is very, very tough. Since this is my third tri, I'm really hoping to do well and push myself farther and harder than in the past. My goal is to do the 1/2 mile swim; 13 mile bike ride and 5k run in 1hour 45 minutes.

Better get back to training.

Tri Training, Knitting & One Less Car On The Road

In an effort to get in some triathlon training where ever I can, and to keep up with my goal of using my car less, I decided to ride my bike up to the Fiber Gallery after work to pick up my new sock book. I figured it'd be about 3 miles each way. Easy-peasy, right? Well, as you savvy Seattle knitters know, the Fiber Gallery is on Phinney Ridge. That's ridge as in big fat freakin' steep hill.

Not to be deterred, but rather challenged, I figured, why not. So I rode from my place up Fremont Ave to the zoo, then cut across to the main drag along Phinney Ridge. At about 39th and Fremont, I'm sucking wind big time. Muscles in my legs (and ass) were aching that I didn't know ever existed. So, having no shame what-so-ever, I got off and walked my bike up and even steeper part of the road. Now the thing about this road is, it's not as crazy steep as many hills in Seattle, it's a slight incline that just goes on and on (OK, maybe it's 2.1 miles, but it seemed like eternity.)

About halfway up the hill, I did get back on and power through. It was worth it. It was a beautiful afternoon and Jessica was working and greeted me with a smile. She didn't even mind that I was totally sweaty, panting, and slightly ditzy. I even couldn't remember if I needed a skein of Manos or Malibrego for a scarf I want to make.

Here's a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains! You don't always see that when you're whizzing by in a car!

Danskin Triathlon 2008

Registration opened an closed within a few hours for this years Danskin Triathlon and I'm happy to say myself and my friends all made it in! This will be my third year in a row for the race and this years goal is:

1 hour 45 mins

I better get to work!