My Mama Rides an Upright Bike (and) God Bless America Triathlon Race Report

My mother headed back to Ohio this morning after her annual visit...with a beautiful new Raleigh Detour 3.0 loaded in her trunk. Oh, yeah!

Mom accompanied me to the God Bless America Triathlon on July 4 (her first tri experience) and later that day bought this yummy new bike. My last two training runs have benefited from her companionship on the bike. I jog along and she keeps saying "I love my bike." I run ahead to see if the intersections are clear, and run back if they aren't because she's a little wobbly in the stopping department because she likes her saddle high.

What a delight to be out running around next to my mother on a lovely Wisconsin day. I am sorry to see her head back to Ohio, but am glad that bike is going with her. Next year, she'll be dropping me on the hills, no doubt!

As for the God Bless America Triathlon---well...last year, the thing was Over the Top: there was a doughnut aid station after the 200 meter swim; there were extra wide transition spaces whose numbers lined up with our race numbers; there were well-trained spectators; there were huge mile marker signs on the bike course, and there was a fabulous feed after. All of these elements were missing this year. In addition, there were no volunteers at the timing mats, and the mats seemed to be "strips," so it was hard to tell where each leg began and ended. People were allowed to ride up to the transition gate w/o being DQ'ed. Mom saw folks ducking under the transition flags to take shortcuts to get to their bikes--God Bless America!---without being DQ'ed. So--the lake was still clear and the courses still fine, but this wasn't the Amazing event it had been last year. I guess the economy is affecting us all!

I shaved seven minutes off of my overall time, even with adding a minute to my swim. WTF? Last year I swam with my head above water the whole way; this year I actually swam...I didn't wear a wetsuit, but you would think that would be irrelevant, given how slowly I went last year...maybe this year's focus on relaxing in the water introduces this element of drag! The worrisome thing is that if I keep that pace at IM MOO, I won't make the swim finish. Maybe I've become a little too relaxed!

I haven't done an open water workout since last week's Thunderstorm Swim, and my swim coach is nowhere to be found. I guess this is all part of the Mental Training....

Off to the pool.