3 for 1

It's been a busy couple of days around the trimama household, so today is a triple blog day, yes a 3 for 1, how appropriate for a triathlon blog.



As far as 3 events in 1 race go, it's hard to believe the season ends for me this Saturday at Castaway Club. This will be the longest tri I've competed in, with a 2/3 mi swim, 20 mi bike and 5 mi run. I'm sort of relieved as this distance officially flips the speed switch in my brain to endurance. Those sprints are tough namely because the very term sprint implies anaerobic, move like lightning speed. I am ready to relax a little and arrive at the finish line in one piece. Particularly because someone "tagged" me with a lovely knee problem. I was fine until the 1/2 marathon, but now my left knee is giving me all kinds of business. The quad muscle above the lateral ligament just seizes after about an hour. Any ideas?

Last night was the final real workout for the week so I did a run, bike, run, bike brick- 10, 20, 30, 40, 40 (it was supposed to be 50 minutes but the knee was done) So 2:20 straight aerobic with HR 135-180. Then 20 min weights, core and stretching. I pounded out a lot of stress in the first hour and took it slightly easiser in the second block.

A few observations:

1) If it looks like a white maidenform bra, it probably is and that means it's not a sports bra, and even if it is, you probably need a shirt with it, whether your 50 something, pasty and overweight or 20 something tight and tan, please wear one.

2) That skin on your inner thigh is soft and a little spot that rubbed against the towel on the seat for 10-15,000 revolutions is going to hurt in the morning-running shorts are not good for biking

3) It quite literally stinks to inhale someone elses perfume for a 2:20 run/bike, let alone other body odors, please leave them at home

4) "Remember the Titans" is a good workout movie.



Taxes are done!! I don't mind paying to Caesar what is Caesars, I just wish paying didn't entail 65 million pages of code and instruction and endless forms and worksheets. Even with software like Turbotax the whole process is tedious. Irony, as a small business owner only about a 1/3 of our income is tangibly accounted for as 1099 income from contractors, the other 2/3 is all from individual homeowners. What we pay is contingent on our honesty, as it is with most small business owners. It's an amazing country when 240 or so million people generate hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue, that's a lot of honesty. No altruism here though, I do overtime to ensure we pay neither a penny more nor a penny less.


Now for the fun part:



Soapinator our 8 year old had her first ever swim meet this Saturday. The most grueling part was getting her to compete, for in spite of being quite athletic, she hates competition. I used every ounce of parental influence and sports psychology I had at my disposal to get her to this meet. I knew she would like it if she just tried one meet.
The pool was a 50 meter outdoor pool, so that meant the little kids had to start in the middle for the 25 meter races. They used big kids as the "starting blocks" and soap was comforted to have Hyphen Girl start her out. I felt horrible for Soap just prior to the race. She cried and trembled and cried some more. Her first race was a relay, and she swam in the lane I was timing. I almost fell off the block into the water cheering for her as she brought it home.
After the second race she was doing better and by the third,
she couldn't wait to get in the water.


Hyphen Girl is a whole different story, this being her second season. She still gets nervous and she still doesn't like starting off the blocks, but once she is in the water she can move.
The most exciting moment was the final race, a 200 freestyle relay. HG swam the anchor and things weren't looking good in the first 2 legs, her team had fallen into a 25 meter distant second, to of course the girls in the lane I was timing. The 3rd leg of HG's team was a state champion last year and had been eating the competition all day, so when she mounted the block you could see a look in her eye that said, "Oh yea, finally a challenge" She was going to make up some space, and she did, about 15 meters. So, HG spotted the next lane 10 meters, she caught her at 35, at which point I gave up on looking partial and yelled like crazy, even though I was timing the girl she just passed. HG's team won by 10 meters, so I was able to cheer and see the hand touch of my lane with no problem. Oh baby, that was exciting! The season ending party is tonight, and both girls are ready to start the regular season this fall.

When all was said and done, it was a fun day with big victories and little victories, and then time to just have fun