My race schedule is coming together; although not finalized. On the plate will be tri's, trail runs, road races and more!
Coordinating family race schedules with Javelin Daddy and Little Cheetah is becoming more and more elaborate and complicated, but also more and more exciting each year! Taking turns cheering each other on, coaching and sometimes even racing together is what I live for each weekend. We each race and compete in multiple events (running, triathlon, throws, mountain biking to name a few); in multiple locations, often on the same weekend.
Planning our race year sometimes feels like coordinating a shuttle launch, but we always pull it off successfully and it always makes for wonderful family (although sometimes crazy jam-packed and insane) weekends! Running, biking, xc-skiing and more!
This past weekend kicked off our official start to racing with aquathlons for me and Little Cheetah. It's a fun low-key race series and a wonderful way to spend an early Sunday morning! Coming into this race I wasn't sure how it would all play out. The last week my training sessions had been less than spectacular (to say the least!) and I wasn't sure how my knee would like running around the tight turns of a 200m track.
Sunday morning Little Cheetah was up first and absolutely swam his little heart out! This was the first year he was swimming with the "big kids" and doing a full lap, rather than starting at the 1/2 way point. He cruised through the swim, had a wicked transition and crushed his run - I was so proud of him! Also, his first time using baby powder in his shoes ... rocked it like a season veteran!
Next up was me. My swim started out strong and I was with the lead pack for a while. Then, for whatever reason, I started to loose the rhythm in my breathing. I felt myself having to slow down to control it and at that point I could feel myself losing contact with the leaders. Grrrrr.
I do not feel swimming is a strength of mine, but I do work hard at it, so when I'm up with the "fasties", I don't want to lose it! Once I regained my breath, I tried to pick up the pace, although never caught the lead pack again. For whatever reason, I could feel my knee on the swim, not a lot, but enough for it to get me thinking that the run could be interesting ...
Out of the water, into and out of transition and onto the run I couldn't feel my knee at all - good! And, I actually felt strong on the run at a comfortably uncomfortable pace.
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| How many laps left Mama? |
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| Little Cheetah coaching me: Run MAMA! |
I felt smooth and was holding my pace; picking it up just slightly each lap (with excepting of one?!) and finishing with a PB. Seriously! I couldn't believe it. It was a 31 second PB; I had to work for it - but MAN, did it feel good!
After the race we went to our favorite post-race breakfast spot, the Sugar Bowl, for a gigantic cinnamon bun - they are dangerously good and I highly recommend them! Next race for me isn't until February, but I get to cheer on Javelin Daddy in a few weeks for some indoor throws. Love our family adventures!
