teabelly: big lick tri

this year, for my birthday, i decided i wanted to do the big lick triathlon with some friends. i could only convince two people to do it with me :) tho i did convince ali to come out to cheer us on.

the big lick was my first triathlon. i was super untrained and didn't know what i was doing. i changed my clothes, completely, between each sport. rented a bike and a wetsuit. etc. i made a myriad of rookie mistakes. that was 2002.

in 2009, i own a couple of race bikes, have a tri suit, 3 wetsuits, and a lot more experience. and still i can't break the 3:00:00 mark. i am doing big lick next year, and i will most definitely break 3:00:00!

on our way to the tri
early in the morn
i am obviously, not very organized

the swim was super cold
it was kinda misty rain
when we first started to swim, i had a hard time breathing
you know how when water is cold and you struggle to breathe
that is how i felt for the first 600 yards
i am pretty sure i swam an extra 100 yards at least
i hadn't practiced in open water and i forgot to look up as often as i need to
i would find myself really far away from the buoys

my transition from swim to bike was okay
i just got tied up in my wetsuit
and then my hands were cold so there wasn't heaps
of fine motor skills

thanks to jon for taking all these photos!
here i am coming in from the ride

lizzy

the bike.run transition was a disaster
mostly because of my shoes
those five fingers are really tough to get on
i might have to get a pair of newtons for next season
to improve my transition time

coming up the first hill
on the run
please note that this is a LONG hill
for some reason, i started the run doing 7:30 miles
i had to slow myself to 8:30 or i would have burnt out.
i still don't know my average pace, but i am guessing not 8:30

decent form,
tho i am concerned that my arms are crossing so much of my body
and it looks like i am not running on my whole foot

also, i am turtling my neck when i run
so i have to strengthen my deep neck muscles so my head isn't tilting like that

here is sara
she was getting close
which was good
it reminded me i was in a race
for some reason, the whole time, i was just having a nice peaceful training ride
and then i saw sara are remembered
i didn't want her to beat me
so i tried to pick up the pace a bit

here i am turtling my way to the finish line
not that i was necessarily going slow,
but i am doing that thing with my neck

please note how wet it is
once i stopped running, i got SUPER DUPER cold
i think i needed a warm bath

i think we all did
everyone had a good time
i think everyone is pumped for next season
and we also know where we will stay for the
smith mountain sprint and the big lick next year

so we left the tri and went to our new found
huddleston haven:

sara and jon BOLTED out
sara wanted to get the drive over and they weren't spending the night.

the rest of us TOTALLY lazed around all day
and ate ALL DAY.
i am not sure how many calories i consumed but it was significant
we watched some television
read some books
and mostly just talked
it was SUPER relaxing

sunday the weather was PERFECT

ali went for a run
while liz and i did yoga on the dock

ate and amazing breakfast with tomatoes and zucchini from the garden

ali tried to be a mermaid

and we kinda just vegged out looking at the beginning of fall

then packed up to leave
and a guest came
he was super cute
and seriously wanted me to take him home
he just walked in our house and made himself comfortable
it was pretty crazy
but also kinda cute how fast he attached to me

but in the end i knew i had to leave him

he tried to keep us from leaving

and even jumped in the car to try and keep us from going
finally liz got out of the car and coaxed him to follow her
it was sad to say good-bye to this little guy
but i am pretty sure he is better off in huddleston

as we left i decided i wanted a photo of us near the
entrance of the smith mountain lake state park

when we got to the sign we found this guy hanging out