The Search for a Tri-Bike

Since my bike got stolen (prior post) I needed to quickly find a new bike because Barb's Race Half Ironman was quickly approaching and I needed to continue my training.

I debated between a road bike and a tri bike, and decided to go with the a tri bike. When I did my last half ironman, my hamstrings were really tired, so I hope to avoid that feeling with a tri bike.

Now finding a size was difficult. I'm 5'2 and petite. Its hard to find a bike small enough to fit me, and with a top tube short enough for my torso. Also I want to get a good deal on a bike too. Of course you can spend $$$$ on a bike, but I decided my limit was $2000-$3000. Closer to $2000 would be best.

I visited a few triathlon stores to get fitted for a bike. I didn't know how a tri bike should feel and it was my first time riding one.
I tried a QintanaRoo, Fuji, Cervelo, and Felt.

It took a couple weeks of searching and researching. Also it was hard to take the time out to drive to stores to try the bikes out.

My local bike store had a GREAT deal on a Cervelo P2 and P3. They looked so pretty, but the smallest size would not fit me.

My last stop was at Triathlon Lab where I saw a good deal on a Felt B16W. I really needed to find a women specific bike because those were the ones small enough to fit me. The workers at TriLab were so helpful, and they set up 3 different bikes for me to try out so I could feel the difference. They didn't force me to get the expensive bike, because I was really drawn to the Cervelo. They recommended the B16 because it fit me really well.

after a few test rides, I fell in love with my Felt B16W. It was comfortable and a great deal! I ended up getting it for $1700 a full carbon and full ultgera bike.

Here's a picture of my new 'Mint-Chip' (its light green and black, but it looks blue in the pictures)

Special Thanks to State Farm for making this happen.

70.3 70.3 70.3!!!

I just signed up for my first 70.3 I'm really excited. I hope to finish in 7-8 hours. It'll be a summer of hard training. Looking forward to it!!

Superfrogtriathlon.com

2011 SuperSeal International Triathlon review

this weekend, I finished my first Olympic distance Tri. the SuperSeal - http://www.superfrogtriathlon.com/

It was tough, but so great to finish it. My goal was really to just survive it. I didn't care about times or transitions. Maybe next year, I'll aim for time. Surprisingly, the day after, I'm NOT sore at all. Very strange.

Coronado island is really pretty, and the weather was perfect! For a few days the heavy rains was threatening our triathlon to be changed to a duathlon, but luckily our Tri was able to go on.

We stayed at the Loews hotel, which hosted the expo for the race. It was so convenient to check into the race and into your hotel at the same time! then the race was just right out side the hotel too. Not having to drive and find parking is fantastic!!
Loew hotel was amazing. Pet friendly, very clean, great amenities the staff was super friendly, and we got an awesome rate being participants of the event!

The most stress free I've EVER been on a race morning.

The Swim part of the race starts out in the Bay, which I was really relieved, because the waves in the ocean were huge!

Before the race began, my fellow OC-Tri-Meetup buddy gave me some very useful advice. Put water inside your wetsuit which helps insulate you from the cold. and it really worked. It was really cold but it made the swim portion much better.  As we were dipping ourselves in the water, a boat goes out and outlines the course. Then the First waves starts. A few minutes later it was my wave, and we were off. Swimming in the bay wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. I actually didn't need to take any breaks, and was able to swim the whole course. I had to stop a few times to sight because I'm terrible at sighting, (even on land!)

The 1 bad thing about the course is the transition areas seemed a little far away, but maybe that is normal?
You have to go under a tunnel that crosses a 4 lane highway, then curve up to get your bikes. and walking on the rocky pavement is painful! ouch!!

I was so tired from the swim, I walked over to the bike and took my sweet time. People are cheering, and I didn't care. I wasn't rushing, LOL I think i took about 15 mins in transition 1. I ate some of my cliff bar, drank my protein shake, hydrated - I was very dehydrated - went to the bathroom, then put on my cycling gear to head off.

The Biking course was 2 loops back and forth down the highway. So its like 6 miles each length that you go back and forth on. At times i hate loops because the turns sharp and you have to slow down, and you get bored. I kept myself entertained by memoring debris I saw on the road. I would think, "Oh hey i saw that dropped bottle, that means I'm 10 mins away from the roadkill"

The last 5 miles of the 24.6 mile biking part was the hardest. My Hamstrings were so tired, and my butt hurt!

The run was the hardest part of the race for me. My legs were tired but they were able to push through, but my body was tired, my lungs were tired, and my feet were numb. I walked a lot, (run a mile, walk half a mile)

During the bike there was a mean old man that yelled at me to move to the right, when I was already on the "rightish" side, and there was plenty of room on the left for him to move around me. He was just a bitter man.

On the run, I saw him, and we HAD to beat him!
That was our goal to beat the mean old man who yelled as us. hahhah

Overall we finished in just under 4 hours. If we had a shorter transition time, we would've had a better time, but overall I'm happy with my time. I estimated 4-4.5 hours, and I was glad to have come in under 4.

Its a great event, and I recommend this event to anyone looking for an olympic tri.

Turkey Tri 2010

To burn off my pre and post dinners for the past few weeks, training and competing in the local turkey tri was the plan. And I especially liked how it was only 1 exit away from my house. Score!

Having been bitten by the Tri-Bug, I've been working toward having a better performance.

The tri group that I train with had a large group of people participating as well, so it was a nice gathering.

Before I begin, there were kids participating in the race, as young as 12. It seriously was the Cutest thing. When I have kids, they are going to be triathletes.












Since I was closer I didn't need to wake up as early, I had my breakfast and got a good stretch in.











I did pretty well packing lighter this time






It was my first time swimming in a lake, and I was FREAKED out. I had nightmares the night prior of getting tangled in weeds, mud and garbage. I really didn't know what to expect and as usual, anticipated the worse.

Competing in the winter is COLD => COLD lake water.




As I entered the water, I could Not get it together. I struggled to catch my breath, I couldn't get my stroke down, It was just a mess. After the race, a group member told me because of the cold, your heart has to work harder to keep your body warm, hence making it harder for you to breathe.

I took a lot of breaks before I even made it to the 1st buoy. It was at that point I decided to just finish the race, and try to not die in the midst of it. So I did the back stroke occasionally to catch my breath and swam on. It wasn't until the 3rd buoy where we turned around before I got my rhythm back and was able to swim back to shore and finish the swim portion. I was so glad to be done with that.

The crappy thing about having a race in the park, you have to walk quite a distance, barefoot over rocks and asphalt. It was uncomfortable.. but nothing as gross as the greenish/black lake water, which I'm so desperately trying to suppress the unfortunate memories of swallowing at least 3 gulps of it.. Ew..

Trying not to cut my foot on the rocks walking up to the bikes, I suited down and rode off, the bike portion was nice, lots of hills and STRONG winds. There was one portion where my bike was being blown sideways. It was pretty creepy, so I really slowed down.

Already mentally telling myself this race isn't going as anticipated, I spotted a 51 year old lady in a neon green bike and bright green/purple jacket. She was about my pace, so I told myself to just keep up with her.



We would take turns passing each other up, until I hit the steepest incline, switched to a lower gear, and heard a terrible noise.. My bike chain falling off..
You really don't know what to do, and me, being new to biking, Really didn't know what to do. As I'm tilted at a 45 degree incline, with no chain, and a bike that isn't moving forward, I try to get out of the way and topple over.

A really nice 30 yr old guy stopped to help me up and helped put my chain back on. It was really nice of him. He said he was dying from that incline anyway and needed a break. Most people are trying to PR and can't really stop, which I understand. Quite a few people asked if i needed assistance, but that guy was helping me so I told them I was ok.

(fyi the reason why I know everyone's age is because you have to write it on your calf)

I thought at this point, I had lost the green lady for sure, but as I rode on, I found her again, and passed her, and didn't see her again til the run portion. I had beat her!!

I've been increasing my brick training, and my run portion went Much better. I was still slower than normal, but at least my legs were working.

It was So cold that I couldn't feel my toes until the 2nd mile.

Finally the race ended and I was relieved it was over.. It wasn't my most comfortable race, but I do plan to improve and train harder.


.5 mi Swim - 32 mins
14 mi Bike - 63 mins
4.5 mi Run - 52 mins

Certified Triathlete

I did it! My first Sprint Triathlon on Sept 19. 2010.. Something I've been training for, for almost 1.5 years (learning how to swim was definitely the challenge) but going from a barely doggy paddle to free-style ocean swimming is just invigorating! And I Can't wait to do it again!  70.3 (one day)!!!

Since I was on vacation the week prior, it had been awhile since I had ran, been on a bike, and in my new wet suit swimming. So Saturday morning, Connie and I woke up at 5am, met up at 630am, went down to Corona Del Mar to run 3 miles, Swim 1/2 mile, and bike 18 miles. It was definitely good to get a feel for all 3 activities again before the big day. I was pretty exhausted all Saturday, but I kept busy, packing, and triple checking I had everything. I forced myself to NOT  nap because I wanted to crash and sleep right away, (which worked out well). I didn't really carb or protein it up the night before. I just had a bowl of rice noodle soup with some veggies. I just wanted to eat something safe, and easy to go down, and not too much sodium.

So the big day.. Sunday

I woke up at 4am, ate my breakfast of 1 egg white, protein & soy shake, peanut butter and banana sandwich, got dressed and met Connie at 5, where we headed off to Long Beach.

We arrived at the transition around area around 6 ish, unpacked all our gear, and organized everything, and Wet-Suited up. taking photos getting our numbers drawn on, using the restroom, it was time to line up at the water..

The swim was better than I thought. I didn't get kicked in the face, which was what I was worried about. But people did run into my legs.. so I hope it was them, and not me..

Being so excited I did take 2 mini breaks in the water to gather myself and move forward. I took Kate's advice and just counted my strokes, and then we were out of the water and onto our bikes! I didn't wear my tri/cycle top in the water because it was cold that day, so I just put it on when I got to the transition area. It wouldn't have saved me much more time, if i had it on.

Biking was really fun. It was great going as fast as I could. The 2 loops wasn't that bad, it was really wide (most of the way) but it did have lots of narrow turns, which forced you to slow down a lot.

then the Run.. which I 150% underestimated.
I figured being a runner, this last part would be the easiest.. boy it was NOT. After the bike, my legs felt like bricks running. My legs were so heavy and not aware of what the *BLEEP* was going on. My muscles trembled and spasmed due to the sudden shift in muscles being used. I had to stop after a mile in to stretch just to warm up my legs.

That was the hardest 5k I've done.. thank goodness it was flat and short!!

It was great seeing my family there, and they were really proud. Usually I don't care if people come out to my races, because they're pretty boring to me, I don't want to put others thru that, but i was excited for them to come experience my first tri with me. They really enjoyed themselves as well.

just a fabulous experience and I cant wait to do it again!!

Soon enough I'll work up to a half iron man.. but for now.. we'll look forward to an Olympic..