SW Valley YMCA T Day Reverse Tri Recap

Pre Race

El Mirage Mulch Fire

Ok. This year is unique because there is a mulch fire that has been burning for several days and there is so much smoke in the air. Driving down to the venue I drove through the thickest part. I thought there is no way I can run in this. Fortunately it is not as bad just a few miles down the road. I'm a bit concerned about my asthma kicking in, but I've got my inhaler.. and a backup…and my insurance card... with the ridiculously high deductible. Nothing is going to stop me competing in this race!! It's one of my favorites.  

I have been doing Tri's with my sister, but she decided to do a Turkey Trot instead. I started out by doing these by myself so it's not really an issue, but I do miss the company. I always get to my events super early as you can see by my transition area.

So I got here about 5:30am. Transition closes at 6:30am and the kids race starts at 7am. We can not start until after the kids, and women start after the men. So I will not start until around 8am. That's a lot of sitting around. It's cold too. High 40s. I've got my big hoody keeping me warm, but my Tri suit does nothing to warm up my butt on the aluminum bleacher I'm sitting on. So I'm writing for my blog and taking snap shots.

50 M Pool

I'm wearing my Orca Tri suit for the first time and I really like it. Now an overweight person may have an issue wearing a suit with the name of a whale commonly found at Sea Worlds, but not me! Wearing it with pride.. I'm a Triathlete!! Ok that's corny, but I'm freakin chilling on this bench!! I do like this suit. For an XL, it fits perfectly! My other suit is a XXL.... with no big mammal reference. The quality of the Orca is top notch too! I don't feel like it will rip as I  put it on. These things are important!!




Damn I'm cold.. I need to walk around to warm up!!


Sunrise.. good it will warm up now!



Transition area.. kids in front, adults in the back

Post Race

Well, I had a great race despite the fact that the wind shifted and all the smoke came into the area when I was on mile 8 of the 12 mile bike course.  I felt really strong on the run and did the 2 miles in a little over 25 mins.   I also felt great on the bike.  I know the spin classes have been helping.  I finished 3 min faster this year. Then there was the swim.. usually my favorite.  Well, the minute I started swimming, I could feel the affects of the smoke.  It felt as though I had smoked an entire pack of cigarettes. Sadly I know how this feels (former life).  I managed to get through the 400m without stopping, but I was very sluggish.  The time had not posted for the swim by the time I left, so I do not know if it was an improvement over last year.  My husband and my youngest daughter were at the finish line to cheer me on.  All in all, it was a fantastic race!!!