Vancouver Mock Tri

I finished it...as in...completed it. My actual plan going into Saturday's "Mock Tri" was to skip out on the run - or only do a mile out and back, but I did it all :-)

Every year, The Portland Tri Club puts on a Mock Tri for everyone to get their feet a little wet before their actual first race of the season. This is of great benefit to people new to the sport to be in a race setting without actually having the stress of worrying about things like a full distance swim or timing chips (which aren't a part of this practice tri) - but gives abundant opportunity to get out in their wetsuits, practice transitions and maybe even get to change their first flat.

I was a little nervous going into Saturday only because I do have an annual freakout with my first open water swim - or more likely my first yearly encounter with my wetsuit is what initiates the freak in me. I tried to resolve this issue by wearing my wetsuit in bed the other night for a few minutes, but then just gave up when I started to sweat.

Saturday dawned bright and early and I arrived in Washington way ahead of schedule and actually got a spot on a rack this year instead of leaning my bike up against a tree (which looking back...worked out quite fine for me last year) and then I set out to find friends. After sunbathing for a bit...

... I made my way back to the crowd to hear our mission moment from Coach Jane. Her mom was a long time runner and participant with TNT and she passed away several years ago. Jane brought along her mom's license plate that has her motto imprinted on it: Awhynot

Jane said people used to ask her mom all the time why she did all the crazy things and runs and traveling she did and her mom would just say "Ah...why not?!" and continue on with her zest for life.

Shortly after our mission moment, we headed out to the water...

...where I found a friend who had also not done an OWS yet this season. As we headed on out side by side, I realized that I was breathing to the right while she was breathing to the left so with each breath we took we could see each others faces. This kept me entertained enough to squelch any anxiety until someone swam over me and I took in no less than a gallon of swampy lake water. I couldn't catch my breath and the anxiety swelled over me until suddenly I realized that I was all alone in my part of the lake. I had just rounded a buoy and could see the next one, but the masses were all swimming wide for some reason. I assume one person swam wide and everyone followed, but it worked well for me as I had absolutely no traffic and I was able to bring my anxiety back down in my solitude. I came out of the water about 34th out of 120ish, so not too bad. Since I've only been swimming once a week this season...for about a half hour at a time due to my shoulder, I know it was not because I was speedy. I simply can swim straight :p

Onto the bike for a quick 28 miles with no issues other than I had to pee horribly from mile 3 onward. I had tried to pee in the lake but I guess I had performance anxiety with it being my first swim of the year - and it was only a 1/3 mile long so no time to work it out. I pulled into T2 unsure if I could hold it in before I got to the restroom which was shortly into the start of the run. At this point, I saw one of my coaches and I told her I probably wouldn't run all of leg three, but after a 37 second pee in the ladies room (TMI...hahahaha...I timed it!) I settled into a nice pace with little heel issues after about a half mile, so when I hit my first turn around option, I opted to keep going and made it all the way!! Talk about making my day! The last 1-2 miles I had some heel and arch pain, but not enough to stop me...and the best part was I was no worse for wear the next day (well...no worse for wear as far as my foot went).

So...at the finish line, I was served an amazing burger that immediately went all over and into my face just as my name was called as a raffle winner from Upper Echelon Fitness for a bike fitting. My friend had been anxiously waiting for her number to be called for this particular prize so I handed it over to her. I know that my bike is not suitable for me from the get go, so a bike fitting at this point would be a waste for me and a win for her. I called it a day and headed home to fall into some pizza and apparently a little too much wine as we watched Super 8 (LOVED this movie and the music in particular). We always make fun of Jack's one disco dance move that he knows, so he broke down and did some robot for us at the end of the movie:

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Sunday morning arrived way too early and even the 2 am intake of multiple nuun tablets did not help me enough to make it all the way through our 50-70 mile bike ride. I followed these sweet cheeks...

...up some pretty long hills before deciding at the bottom of Larch Mountain that I was going to give a mothers day present to myself and end the misery of the headache, dehydration and heartburn at 40 miles. There will be plenty of other days to ride 70 miles in the heat. This particular day was better spent with my kids!

So...the deal with the foot? I'm stretching, rolling, and icing like it's nobodies business. I'm pretty excited about The Wild Canyon Games coming up in just a couple of weeks, so I need to get this foot in good shape by then.