Valley Girl Triathlon...

It's official...I finished my first triathlon of the season yesterday!  It was a great day, beautiful weather and perfect race conditions.  The water was a bit cold, but since the swim was a short one, the temperature didn't make too much of a difference.
My swim was thrown off a little because I got hit in the head by a canoe.  I was on the outside of the pack, and veering off the course, so as I was correcting I swam into the canoe paddled into me.  It was early in the swim and I have decided to rethink my starting position in the next swim.

 
My transition time to the bike was pretty fast and I headed onto the bike course feeling strong.  See me behind the bar, #425 in the turquoise jersey? The bike course starts on a hill, so it can be a tricky transition but I felt great all the way through the bike ride.  Since I am also training for an Olympic length triathlon later in the summer, I was also thoughtful of nutrition during this shorter race.  I had a Hammer gel at the end of the ride and it was the perfect boost to get through the run.  I also have Hammer Heed in my bike water bottle, it's perfect!

 I definitely have home-field advantage on this bike course as I ride it frequently.  I finished the ride several minutes faster this year than last year and really felt strong at the end.

 My kids love that the finish line is adjacent to a skate board park.  They had a great time "waiting" for me to finish the race.

 Last year, when I ran this race, I hit a huge wall on the run.  I was all done at about 1 1/2 miles!  My primary goal this year was to finish the run and feel strong at the end.  This goal I definitely achieved...I took 5 minutes off my run over last year!  In both the bike and the run I had "Personal Best" times.

 It was a good race.  I found places that I need to boost my training a bit, and I realized that the training I have already done has paid off too!

One triathlon down and two to go!