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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

My Very First (mini) Tri!

Jenn and I competed in our first Tri this past Saturday at the Anderson Mill Community Center Pool.  This Tri consisted of a 300 yd swim, 2 mile bike, 1 mile run.  We only gave ourselves 1 week to train!  A big THANK YOU to Moni for showing us how to set up our equipment and walk us through how a Tri works.  :)  I even learned how to program my Garmin for a Tri.  Freakn' awesome!

My first time swimming laps was earlier in the week, I made it to the pool twice to make sure I wouldn't drown. It wasn't pretty, but I could do it. We only practiced the swim to bike transition once. Too bad we never tried the bike to run transition...that was the killer. 
7/14/2012.  Uh yeah...I need a new sports bra, mine is not flattering in the least...especially when standing next to Mrs Boobalicious!

The race started at 8am on Saturday. We got there early to set-up, check in and review the course. Moni showed up to cheer us on and took pictures.  I wasn't too worried about biking or running...it was the swim I was most anxious about.  We placed ourselves at the end as we weren't sure what to expect. We probably should have been up a little further in line (3min swimmers) as we ended up having to pass some of the swimmers in front of us.

The Swim

I started my swim 15 mins into the race, they let the swimmers go one at a time with a 10 second delay in between. Once I hit the water all my training (yeah all 2 times worth) went out the window. My head was mostly out of the water and there were a couple times I went to a side stroke. I swallowed more water than I'd like to admit. I also stood up at the end of each lap (in the shallow end) before beginning the next lap. Surprisingly enough I finished in under 8 mins (7:57)!  Thanks Moni for timing us!  Jenn was right behind me.

Onto our first transition and the bike portion!

The Bike

I made it to transition a few seconds before Jenn. However I took longer than her to get ready as I put on socks, my garmin and glasses.  Jenn decided to forgo socks and her watch, so she was out the gate a few seconds before me.
The biking was not bad at all, it was supposed to be a 2 mile course but my watch measured it at 1.48 miles.  I caught up to Jenn at the end of the street, only because she crashed into the curb on her u-turn.  Jenn's OK, she didn't fall off the bike, she just hit an abrupt stop. We finished the biking portion at the same time. 
Avg pace - 13.6 mph :)

Onto the next transition!!



Ridin' side by side  ;)

The Run

Dismounting the bike went well for me, however it looked like Jenn threw her bike down after jumping off.  Not a good day for Jenn's bike.  I didn't rack my bike as my handle bars were too tall to fit under the rack and I didn't want to mess with it.  So I used the kickstand and left it next to my equipment.  Bad Tina.

I threw off my helmet, grabbed my hat and Jenn & I hit the running path together.

OMG! The pain! My legs (and feet) were killing me. Everyone told us that the bike to run was the hardest part, your legs feel like lead. I honestly didn't think it would be that bad...I was wrong. Not to mention my heart rate was still up from the swim and bike so I felt really out of breath. Jenn's faster than me so she took off (yay Jenn!). I struggled a bit more but still managed to pass some runners and come in with a 9:18 pace. It was supposed to be a 1 mile run but ended up a bit shy at 0.88 miles.

Jenn coming in hot - I was about a minute behind her

I completed the entire Tri in ~24:25, Jenn finished in ~23:25. There were no official chip timers, it was all done manually. Overall I enjoyed the mini Tri, but I'm not really interested in competing in the bigger/longer Tri's or investing the $$ in it (at least not at this time).  I would need to buy a better road bike (mine's just a cruiser and heavy) and I would need to take adult swim lessons.  Plus I'd have to buy the right outfits for a Tri, I skated by this time with just my running gear.

Anderson Mill will have another mini Tri in Sept, which I'm thinking about registering for as it's super close and super affordable (only $10!).  I will definitely need to fit in more training and focus more on the bike/run transition. ;)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Beach!

This year we decided to take an extended weekend family vacation to Port Aransas with my parents.  We rented a beach house (Starfish) with boardwalk access to the beach and a fenced in yard for the doggies.  The kids had a blast.  Ry loved playing in the water and the sand, although he wasn't too thrilled to have salt water splashed in his eyes.  He especially loved rinsing off under the hose at the house after returning from the beach and playing in the sprinklers.  I wish I had snapped more pictures.  I managed to miss many photo opportunities on this trip, or maybe I was just having too much fun to bother with the camera.  ;)  I even forgot to take pictures of the fabulous meals we enjoyed at Castaways, mom's homemade shrimp tempura and the insanely delicious mac and cheese.  Our last night there we went to Sharkey's.  The bar was blasting 80's music for the Port Aransas class of 1986 reunion.  We found it odd that they were celebrating their 26th reunion...not to mention Sharkey's had some interesting billboards on the walls (see pic below).  All in all we had a nice, relaxing vacation at the beach, which also made for a great Father's day weekend.  :D
Day 1 - first time on the beach! 6/14/2012

Evan and Emma venturing into the sea









rinsed off and happy
rubbing the baby buda belly 
Day 2 - family pictures 6/15/2012









super windy on the boardwalk

Perfect! 6/15/2012
kiddos
fun in the sun 6/15/2012

having fun with daddy's hat 6/16/2012

Day 3 - heading out to the beach cooler style 6/16/2012



making sand castles...then Ry would smash them 6/16/2012

skim boarding



view of the beach 6/16/2012
Day 4 - such a ham 6/17/2012
Breakfast at Island Cafe - Happy Father's day!  6/17/2012
sleep beach baby - on the way home 6/17/2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Deutschen Pfest 5k Pfun Run

PR Baby!  What an awesome morning for a run - 70 degrees and 87% humidity.  437 people ran the race this year, a fairly large group for a local race.  I forgot how awesome this course is, mostly flat and shaded and only a 7 min drive from home.  Not to mention they serve beer and pizza at the finish line!  

My official race time was 25:26, 8:09 pace.  I came in 4th place in my age group and 13th female overall!!!   
Based on my Garmin:  Avg pace - 8:19
Mile 1 - 8:13, Mile 2 - 8:43, Mile 3 - 8:09, last 0.6 - 0:21 (5:40 pace)

I shaved off over 2 mins from my race time of 27:34 in 2010, I didn't run in 2011 as Ry was less than a month old.  I'm very happy to say I met my goal of sub 9 min miles. :)  It was a beautiful morning for a run with family and friends.   Check out the picture from my post 2 years ago!  Boy have those kids grown!  This was also Ry's first race, the hubby graciously offered to push him in the stroller so I could go all out and run hard.

5K finishers!  5/20/2012


Ry loves pizza

What?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Pro pics galore!

I went a little overboard on professional pictures this past month.  I didn't plan it that way on purpose.  Ry's daycare offered us a free 11x13 canvas portrait in April and we decided why not!  It was free.  We were only there for 5 mins and in that short time span they managed to take multiple poses of us, so we had plenty to choose from.  I'm such a sucker for pictures, surprisingly we narrowed it down to the 2 poses below.

4/26/2012

kiddos 4/26/2012
*** UPDATED *** 
I can't believe I forgot to post this school picture!  I love the TX flair.  :)  Such a cutie!

Ry's daycare picture from 4/03/2012

We also scheduled Ry's 12 month photo session at the end of April with Luxe Photography, and because it was his birthday session we included the entire family.  I'm glad my family can 'deal' with my photo habit.  ;)

Butler Park photo session with Luxe Photography

Great view of downtown ATX 4/29/2012
Bears oh my!





mommy and me 4/29/2012


Time for cake!



Evan 4/29/2012


Emma 4/29/2012