Desert Tri

I felt the need to cover up that Vegas post with something triathlon related. I swear, I really do train & race ;)

This weekend was the Desert Olympic out in Palm Springs- it was my first triathlon of the season and I'm always very glad I do these local races before jumping into 70.3s, where I thoroughly expect to be in top form.

The race went a lot better for me than I anticipated- not in terms of times or placement, but in "feel". Since starting up training in January my run has felt sluggish and off. But in the Palm Springs Half Marathon, despite tired legs, I felt that little bit of lightness and spark and it gave me hope. Finally in the last couple of training runs I've had that spring in my step that makes you feel like a runner and usually results in the runner's high of wanting to go on forever.

Anyway back to yesterday's race...

The swim was a s*itshow for the first 5-10min and it's my fault for not remembering what I promised myself after my good swim in Cozumel: line up as the FIRST swimmer. Our wave was elite M&F and M25&U, and I had a couple of people in front of me when they said "go", so when I dove into the little lake I didnt go out far enough and basically stayed in place getting jumped on for what seemed like forever while the group of faster swimmers that I planned to be with- & honestly should be with after what I'm consistently producing in the pool- was off and away :(
So I got a bit beat up, at one point my goggles loaded with water thanks to a kind elbow, but once we turned that first bouey I found some good feet and got into a nice rythm back to shore.

From there all else was good- nothing to complain about. The bike is pancake flat and I just rode as hard as I could. It took me about 30min to get rid of stiff legs and get rolling, and found my way into transition chomping at the bit to put on my Newtons!

The run was the best part of the day :)! I came out in 2nd and held that for about a mile. Meanwhile, Erin S tucked behind me until a spectator said "good job ladies" and blew her cover (the whole time I heard breathing right behind me, I was like "please be a dude") haha...and that's when she passed me. I couldn't hang and she got me by about 40sec. So it was 3rd for me, and I'm psyched about probably one of my best runs in an Oly since I can remember. I'll take it so early in the year :)!

That's it. More training and 5 wks left for Galveston 70.3!!!