Hello everyone!! Hope everyone had a great weekend and guess what? I have another race recap for you from the San Diego Triathlon Classic this weekend! This season started off slow with some clumsy accidents, but glad I’m getting into the rhythm of triathlon racing. Can’t believe there are just a couple more months of the 2016 triathlon season. Then time to eat a lot of donuts and get ready for 2017 race season ;) 
Friday morning started off with an hour bike ride before work just to spin out my legs and to make sure my chain was properly lubed (dry chain = THE WORST). Left work early to pick up my race packet because the race was on a Saturday this time around and took Elle on a run. She ran her first mile on Friday!! We are so excited for many more miles to come.
I went into this race with very, very, very low expectations. I started off the week with a sinus infection that still hasn’t fully cleared, and didn’t know how that was going to affect my race performance. Not to mention, the bike course was pretty killer and probably the most climbing I’ve done in a race to date. My expectations were so low to the point where I didn’t even bring a Breakaway Training shirt to change into after because I figured I would go home straight after the race. Because of the low expectations, I started the race super calm, which is extremely out of character for me. 
Woke up Saturday morning coughing up my lungs, clogged sinuses that were keeping me from breathing, changed into my tri kit, packed up some oatmeal to eat in the car, and we were off to Liberty Station for the race! I was racing the sprint and for some reason, they thought it would be a good idea to have all 100+ women starting the swim together. From where Elle and Anthony are watching, you can see all of our hot pink swim caps bobbing together in the water. 
The swim… was brutal. I am definitely not a strong swimmer and those 750 meters felt like a 1000. Plus, having so many women start at the same time did not help- it resulted in a lot of salt water intake, veering off course, and losing a lot of time going back on course and trying to sight. Needless to say, after this race and a good talk with Jason… I will most definitely be needing a swim coach!! 
Once I was out of the water, it was time to start the extremely hilly bike course! The course goes through Cabrillo National Monument as well as the Point Loma Naval base. So many riders were hopping off their bike to push it up some of the hills. Even though the course was tough, that was probably the most fun I’ve had during the bike portion of any duathlon and triathlon. There was constant winding and turning, nice rolling hills, great descents that helped me make up some time, and for once, it was nice passing people on hills instead of them passing me! Not to mention the beautiful views of San Diego at the top of every climb. 
The 5K was through a lot of dirt and trail, but after climbing a small bridge, it was flat the rest of the way! This reminded me that I need to run trail a lot more often- Dirt is a lot harder to run in than pavement. To be perfectly honest, I felt like I was doing this entire race in slow motion. From being sleep deprived, sick, and delirious, I really do not know how I got from start to finish. Finished in an hr and 43 minutes with a whole lot of motivation to ride a lot more. Cycling when you’re not breaking things is kind of fun. 
Shout out to these two for running along side me at some points to take all the great photos above and waking up at an ungodly hour on Saturday to come watch me race. Elle told me I owe her a new toy and like 5 extra hours at the dog park this week. 
Had a lot of fun running into my two teammates above. Brent did the Olympic distance and finished 4th in his age group and Gunnar finished third overall in the Sprint!!! We are so grateful for the constant support from the BT coaches (Felipe, Luke, Adam, and Chris), our sponsors, and our tri community. Being part of the Orange Family is 90% why I am starting to like triathlon a lot more than just running, despite being the worst swimmer and cyclist in the world. Need a coach? Breakaway Training is the way to go! 
Oh, remember how I had zero expectations? I told Anthony before we were about to leave that I wanted to see what my time was. Found out I somehow placed second in my age group and top 20 in females. I guess none of us really knew how to climb that hill that day! Instead of leaving, we stayed for the award ceremony. With 12 girls in my age group this time around, it finally felt like a real podium… but where are number 1 and 3?! C’mon ladies! 
A really big fan of the podium medals. All in all, I felt like this is one of the best races I’ve been to in the multisport world. It was extremely well organized, had a designated parking lot for athletes that was less than a block away from the transition area, and really awesome swag- trucker hats for the win! Despite the tough course, this is definitely a race I’m coming back for.
Biggest takeaways from this race:
– BIKE BIKE BIKE BIKE AND THEN BIKE SOME MORE
– Climb some hills
– Don’t get sick and bring a jacket everywhere you go just in case
– I need a swim coach ASAP 
After the race, I had to head to the airport in two hours to visit my best friends in San Francisco but before we left.. these two really needed to squeeze in a power nap. Spectating is exhausting business ;)
Well ladies and gents. That “one day” is here. In 24 days to be exact, but whose counting? I graduated from college, bought my first bike, joined the best triathlon team there is in San Diego (Breakaway Training woohoo!), and finished countless numbers of running races, including a Ragnar Relay. All the while, I had the goal of racing a triathlon in the back of my mind and one of my biggest post graduation plans. While I had little to no running background, I had even less swimming and cycling experience. Unless you count pretending to be a mermaid in the pool every summer growing up in Florida and crashing a beach cruiser my freshman year of college… But what’s the fun of training for something without the challenge?
It’s been quite the adventure, to say the least. One- cycling is really hard. Two- swimming is really hard. And cold. Three- it has been the best decision I’ve made between January to now. I’ve made some incredible friends on the Breakaway Training team who lift me up when training gets hard, who make me laugh after long days at work, and who continue to make me love this sport more and more everyday. I love weekly girl talks during Turbo Tuesday sweatfests, Thursday Track Heart Attacks, Sunday morning long runs, and hopefully sometime in the next year, I’ll be able to keep up with Saturday morning rides. 
Not to mention an awesome coach, Felipe!! I don’t know many people who would put up with me constantly texting them my irrational fears of cycling downhills, who is the first person I can cry to after a tough ride (seriously bike, why do you hate me so much?!), and who is our fearless leader on our team. Thank you coach! Not only has he been preparing me to be the best athlete I can be for this sport going forward, but now I even have a sick new tri bike thanks to him:) 
No matter what happens on May 1st for my first triathlon, I can say that I am stronger, happier, and really addicted to this sport. Like to the point where all my podcasts are triathlon and running related… And I’ve watched all versions of Ironman Konas on Youtube… and my Instagram feed is just of cycling, running, and swimming. Oh, and I’m trying to convince Mirinda Carfrae and Gwen Jorgensen to be my best friends. I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going ;) 
And to close out this long love letter to starting triathlon, I figured I would show the entire internet world the photo below. The first time I tried on a wetsuit, I put it on inside out. Thank goodness for Jackie for taking me to get fitted for a wetsuit that fits me and made sure I put it on the correct side in. The Spring Sprint on May 1st, 2016 will definitely be an interesting race. 
RunMileswithSmiles 