Me with my trusty bike!
close up of my pink and silver glitter streamers
and the shark horn!
Ormond Y Tri
I haven’t biked in a year. Just got in the pool last week after an 8 month absence. So when my friend Kristia called me Wednesday and said, “hey lets do the Y tri-just for fun”, naturally, I paused. For about a nanosecond. Kristia is the person who introduced me to triathlon in 2003. I was one of her clients, and she was the one person who was CONFIDENT that I could overcome a lifelong fear of swimming and become a triathlete. And she was the person who encouraged me to seek therapy to look into my food issues. At that time, I weighed 194. Not my heaviest (228) but certainly on my way back there. So I took my 6 private swim lessons at the Y, and Joelle taught me how to put my face in the water and taught me how to swim freestyle. And I did my first tri at Danskin in May 2003, with Kristia there at the finish cheering me on like a pround mama duck.
So much of who I am today, I owe to Kristia. She saw the athlete within me, and helped me find the tools I needed to heal. She is a big reason why I am so fit and strong today.
And now she is going to be mama duck to a real child! At 38 years old, she is expecting her first child, Soleil. She is 20 weeks pregnant. Kristia makes her living as an actor and fitness model. In fact, you can see her on this months Oxygen magazine (July). As you can imagine, pregnancy has been quite the adjustment, and she was hoping that racing together would help her get her fitness groove back.
I was at the race site about an hour before race time, and was horrified to realize that somehow my brakes were effed up. The back was locked and the front was detached. I tried to figure it out myself, but couldn’t. tried to find a bike shop guy, but there were none. So I called Kristia and Mark and went to their house to pick up mark’s mountain bike. Unfortunately, he is 6 feet tall, and we couldn’t find his seat tool to adjust. Oh well. When I returned to the race site, I found the bike shop guy and within about 10 seconds he had my bike fixed and showed me how to fix it next time—minor cable disconnect in transit. No biggie. But I was hoping to have lots of photo taking time with my friends. NOT. Managed to set up transition in record time and walk down to the ocean for the start. Sure glad this was my 20th tri and not my first.
Ok, so last year, this race was turned into a duathlon because of rough seas. They should have called it this year too. OMG, many of the experienced triathletes said it was the roughest water ever. Kristia and her husband Mark are surfers, so they tried to teach me with words how to get out past a rough break, but putting it into practice was quite another matter. It took me forever to get out to the first buoy past the huge powerful breaking waves. Once I was out there, the waves didn’t bother me and I settled into my groove.
Swim time 17:21 (1/4 mile swim---my slowest since my first—eeeek) the winner who is a pro triathlete was 7:53, so that tells you how tough the conditions.
Kristia waited nearly 4 minutes for me in transition! I felt fortunate to have made it-many were rescued and were pulled in by the kayakers and jet skiers. Some finished a full 6 minutes after me!
We then started our leisurely 10 mile bike. Kristia on her mountain bike, and me on my big ole heavy steel hybrid. We chatted and caught up with all things life as we biked. I sipped lime flavored gatorade rain. So fun, when you are not racing you can do new foods in a race, lol! On the way out, we had a pretty tough headwind, but we kept at a pace that her heart rate monitor was set so she stayed aerobic for little Soleil! On the way back, we had a tailwind, so we continued the chat. We sailed into T1 no problem. 10 mile bike 41:16. T1 2:44
We knew the run would be challenging for kristia-this is where her heartrate really climbs when she has tried to run before. Another thing you need to know about Kristia, is that she has been a nationally ranked obstacle course racer. So I had to work VERY VERY hard to slow her down when her heartrate monitor alarm would sound—she really wanted to push it, lol. She carried ice water with her and would pour it on periodically to keep from overheating. There was one water stop where we both stopped and reupped. Very occasionally we would have to walk briefly, but she is in such good shape that the alarm would quickly stop as soon as we walked. We had a total blast on the run. In fact, the only picture of the tri that is up is one of us on the run: http://www.bbactionphoto.com/
We had so much fun!!!
During the run, we toyed with the idea of faking that she was sick at the finish to mess with her husband, who is also a physician. But we decided that would be too cruel, especially given the fact that a helicopter was searching for one competitor who they thought was lost in the surf, but it turned out that she abandoned the race early, walked to shore and was peacefully and safely watching the race unfold.
So we finished in a respectable 33:13 for the 3 mile run. The crazy thing?? Last time this race was a tri in 2006, I did a 33:20 and it felt like I was dying the whole time. This time felt like I was walking fast. Amazing what a little fitness can do for a girl!
We crossed the finish line together in 1:36:21, definitely my slowest time at this race, but this was definitely the most fun that I have ever had at any triathlon.
Afterwards, we hung out, watched the awards and chatted with everyone. Ed found me an iced venti nonfat latte at starbucks, YAY!.
Ed and I returned Mark’s bike to their house, and then went to CUVEE for champagne brunch (JM, this is the wine and tapas place that we went to during your visit!)
Can I just say YUM! I had a hibiscus (champagne and cranberry), Ed had a mimosa. I ate the BEST hazelnut french toast with tunisian honey. Ed had eggs and chorizo and yummy sourdough toast.
Another fabulous day in florida paradise.
I haven’t biked in a year. Just got in the pool last week after an 8 month absence. So when my friend Kristia called me Wednesday and said, “hey lets do the Y tri-just for fun”, naturally, I paused. For about a nanosecond. Kristia is the person who introduced me to triathlon in 2003. I was one of her clients, and she was the one person who was CONFIDENT that I could overcome a lifelong fear of swimming and become a triathlete. And she was the person who encouraged me to seek therapy to look into my food issues. At that time, I weighed 194. Not my heaviest (228) but certainly on my way back there. So I took my 6 private swim lessons at the Y, and Joelle taught me how to put my face in the water and taught me how to swim freestyle. And I did my first tri at Danskin in May 2003, with Kristia there at the finish cheering me on like a pround mama duck.
So much of who I am today, I owe to Kristia. She saw the athlete within me, and helped me find the tools I needed to heal. She is a big reason why I am so fit and strong today.
And now she is going to be mama duck to a real child! At 38 years old, she is expecting her first child, Soleil. She is 20 weeks pregnant. Kristia makes her living as an actor and fitness model. In fact, you can see her on this months Oxygen magazine (July). As you can imagine, pregnancy has been quite the adjustment, and she was hoping that racing together would help her get her fitness groove back.
I was at the race site about an hour before race time, and was horrified to realize that somehow my brakes were effed up. The back was locked and the front was detached. I tried to figure it out myself, but couldn’t. tried to find a bike shop guy, but there were none. So I called Kristia and Mark and went to their house to pick up mark’s mountain bike. Unfortunately, he is 6 feet tall, and we couldn’t find his seat tool to adjust. Oh well. When I returned to the race site, I found the bike shop guy and within about 10 seconds he had my bike fixed and showed me how to fix it next time—minor cable disconnect in transit. No biggie. But I was hoping to have lots of photo taking time with my friends. NOT. Managed to set up transition in record time and walk down to the ocean for the start. Sure glad this was my 20th tri and not my first.
Ok, so last year, this race was turned into a duathlon because of rough seas. They should have called it this year too. OMG, many of the experienced triathletes said it was the roughest water ever. Kristia and her husband Mark are surfers, so they tried to teach me with words how to get out past a rough break, but putting it into practice was quite another matter. It took me forever to get out to the first buoy past the huge powerful breaking waves. Once I was out there, the waves didn’t bother me and I settled into my groove.
Swim time 17:21 (1/4 mile swim---my slowest since my first—eeeek) the winner who is a pro triathlete was 7:53, so that tells you how tough the conditions.
Kristia waited nearly 4 minutes for me in transition! I felt fortunate to have made it-many were rescued and were pulled in by the kayakers and jet skiers. Some finished a full 6 minutes after me!
We then started our leisurely 10 mile bike. Kristia on her mountain bike, and me on my big ole heavy steel hybrid. We chatted and caught up with all things life as we biked. I sipped lime flavored gatorade rain. So fun, when you are not racing you can do new foods in a race, lol! On the way out, we had a pretty tough headwind, but we kept at a pace that her heart rate monitor was set so she stayed aerobic for little Soleil! On the way back, we had a tailwind, so we continued the chat. We sailed into T1 no problem. 10 mile bike 41:16. T1 2:44
We knew the run would be challenging for kristia-this is where her heartrate really climbs when she has tried to run before. Another thing you need to know about Kristia, is that she has been a nationally ranked obstacle course racer. So I had to work VERY VERY hard to slow her down when her heartrate monitor alarm would sound—she really wanted to push it, lol. She carried ice water with her and would pour it on periodically to keep from overheating. There was one water stop where we both stopped and reupped. Very occasionally we would have to walk briefly, but she is in such good shape that the alarm would quickly stop as soon as we walked. We had a total blast on the run. In fact, the only picture of the tri that is up is one of us on the run: http://www.bbactionphoto.com/
We had so much fun!!!
During the run, we toyed with the idea of faking that she was sick at the finish to mess with her husband, who is also a physician. But we decided that would be too cruel, especially given the fact that a helicopter was searching for one competitor who they thought was lost in the surf, but it turned out that she abandoned the race early, walked to shore and was peacefully and safely watching the race unfold.
So we finished in a respectable 33:13 for the 3 mile run. The crazy thing?? Last time this race was a tri in 2006, I did a 33:20 and it felt like I was dying the whole time. This time felt like I was walking fast. Amazing what a little fitness can do for a girl!
We crossed the finish line together in 1:36:21, definitely my slowest time at this race, but this was definitely the most fun that I have ever had at any triathlon.
Afterwards, we hung out, watched the awards and chatted with everyone. Ed found me an iced venti nonfat latte at starbucks, YAY!.
Ed and I returned Mark’s bike to their house, and then went to CUVEE for champagne brunch (JM, this is the wine and tapas place that we went to during your visit!)
Can I just say YUM! I had a hibiscus (champagne and cranberry), Ed had a mimosa. I ate the BEST hazelnut french toast with tunisian honey. Ed had eggs and chorizo and yummy sourdough toast.
Another fabulous day in florida paradise.
posted by Wendy @ 10:27 AM
2 comments
