Thoughts About The Race

Official time of 2010 Dam ‘09: 1:09:33
Class position: 8
400 meter swim: 9:18
Transition 1: 1:42
10 meter bike: 30:31, pace 19.7 MPH.
Transition2: 2:12 (I left my bike helmet on and had to go back to take it off.)
4K run: 25:48

My age marks my calf with a permanent black marker and my bib number remains marked on my arm. Never before have I proudly worn my age. I purposefully wear a skirt so that someone would ask what the number is. I want to tell them I did my first TRI. Sadly, no one asks. Still, I tell everyone who listens.

After riding 2220 miles across America, there is something inside me that thinks I can do anything I set my mind to. There are no limits and the possibilities are endless no matter the obstacles in front of me.

The days before the TRI, there were lots of reason to not participate. I could even make some up. My knee hurts. I’m not a strong runner. I’m gonna choke and swallow the pool during my swim. The list goes on.

There are all these “what if” questions that are barriers that block me from finishing. All I can do is step over them and keeping doing what I know how to do. I stick by what I learned on my ride. Your body will do anything you train it to do. Your body is really that amazing of a machine.

Aside from all the bickering between the ladies in my family regarding the quinceanera taking place in 2 weeks, a rather large obstacle popped up the day before the race. My mom is sick, yet again. A doctor’s appointment advised her to go straight to the hospital. She doesn’t want to go and I don’t blame her. She hates being poked, pricked, and tested.

I begged her. I cried. I told her she was important to me and that I wanted her to get better- soon. It didn’t work. She didn’t go to the hospital until last Sunday night.

One day at a time. One race at a time, I try to keep my sanity. The craziness of life is a whirlwind around me and the peace I find is on the road.

Next on my list is to train for time trials. Tour de Gruene is on my list and if I’m lucky, Lance will show up.

2010 Dam '09

This being my first triathlon, I am totally pleased with my performance. Many organized rides under my belt kept my nerves in check and I was surprisingly calm before I entered the pool. My unofficial time, thanks to Robert's stop watch on his blackberry, has me at 1:09.



The swim was easier then I expected and I kept a steady pace. Without sucking in a bunch of water, I passed a few swimmers. Thankfully, there was a nice man to lend me a hand out of the pool because it was hard to find the step, remove my cap and gargles, and then head to the transition spot. I don’t have my offical time, as of yet, on my swim. I am guessing it is around 10 minutes or so with a distance of 400 meters.



The bike, now that’s my sport. I expected to get my breath and slow my heart rate down on the decants, but that never happened. I was having fun and wanted to keep pedaling. There is a climb that is 4-7% grade but I used my gears to get my over the bumps. Pedal on the turns and breathe, that’s what I kept telling myself. Time: 30:21 with an average speed of 17.1 for a 10 mile loop of about 3 miles for each loop.



Running is not my sport and thought that with my slow pace, I would catch my breath. Here again, that never happened. But, I kept running, smiling and having a good time. Time: 25:52 for a 2.5 mile run.



The adrenaline kept me moving and all the training paid off. Crossing the finish line felt GREAT! I was too excited that I didn't notice my heart pounding out of my chest, I felt dizzy, and quickly sat on the ground. It took me about 30 minutes to fully recover and get my heart rate back to normal. Don't let the beer and banana fool you, I felt like crap in this picture.

Thanks to Kim who took awesome pictures for me!

Trying and TRI

The flags that waved proudly on my bike are now are magnetized to my refrigerator. They are a daily reminder to me that I can do anything. I have these moments where I say to myself, “Self, you rode 2220 miles across America. You’re pretty freakin’ awesome."

With endless possibilities in front of me, this Saturday I will be participating in my very first triathlon. Something deep inside me is yelling to me that this will also be my last. Though it has been fun taking on this new challenge, my body does not like the running part.

After this TRI, there is an individual time trial and/or a team time trial at the end of October. This will be the next training goal that I shoot for.

Just going down the list and checking things off. Things are good.

Mini Me

It's kinda a big deal right now with my family. We are planning my niece’s quinceanera. For you non Mexicans out there, she is turning fifteen and we are throwing a BIG birthday party for her.

Alexis is fair skinned with reddish brown hair. Our personalities are similar but never saw a physical resemblance until this past weekend when she was photographed in her quinceanera dress.

Check out our pictures. Its like a mini-me is running around out there.

Brick Training

Recently, my blogs have been limited and short. There is not much to blog about other than training. Something tells me that not too many readers are sucked into my training routine.

My days consist of waking up at 5AM to swim, run, or ride my bike. Monday through Thursday I have been doing brick training. Brick training is back to back workouts of a run and bike ride to get your leg muscles used to the transition between the two sports.

Once this TRI is finished on August 28, I will never run again. Mark my words. I have taken a vow to never ever, never ever, ever, ever, ever again run another day in my life. My knees and feet hurt way too much. I have gotten this running stuff out of my system and it will be back to more dedicated time on my bike.

The Ride In

Yes, I know that you are sitting on the edge of your seats with your face so close to your monitor that you many injure your eye sight long term, all in anticipation of reading about my commutes to work.

The things I love the most about riding to work are 1.) Getting miles in 2.) Two work outs a day 3.) The company 4.) My fan club along the way that consists of: nice honks, waves, and yells of “hello” by friends (as opposed to the mean honks and flips of the middle finger). 5.) Riding my bike.

After multiple tries of forgetting my Garmin or forgetting to turn it on I have finally accumulated the stats from the commute. Drum roll please….

Commute to work:
Miles- 8.98
Calories- 492
Average- 14.3
Total accent- 397
Time: 35 minutes. Plus or minus 5 minutes depending on the traffic and lights.

Hills include:
2- 2-4% climbs on Hueber Road
3% climb up the parking garage ramp
A few other bumps in the road that range from 2-3%, but nothing really note worthy.

Commute home:
Miles- 10.81
Calories- 510
Average- ummmm… Why didn’t I write this down???
Total accent- 413
Time: 45 minutes. Plus or minus 5 minutes depending on the traffic and lights.

Hills include:
2- 2-4% climbs up Vance Jackson
3-2-4% climbs on 1604 access road.
5-7% climb up to Blanco

Total commute:
Miles- 19.79
Calories- 1002
Average- 13.8
Total accent- 810
Total time: about 80 minutes

Three Best Friends

As Bill, Brian and I rode in to work today I couldn’t help but sing the “Three Best Friends” song that Stu sings in the movie “The Hangover”.

We're the Three Best Friends
That Anyone Could Have
We're the Three Best Friends
That Anyone Could Have

We're the Three Best Friends
That Anyone Could Have
And We'll Never ever ever ever
Leave Eachother

We're the Three Best Friends
That Anyone Could Have
We're the Three Best Friends
That Anyone Could Have

The three of us take the right lane. We ride in a triangle formation, rotating around. Bill does most of the talking. I am thankful for Bill being as alert as he is because at the ungodly hour of 5:45 in the morning, I am barley awake.

What topped off the ride is when Bill said, “I was drinking when I saw “The Hangover”. Maybe I need to watch it again.”