LA Triathlon Relay

Several weeks ago my cousin Giselle emailed me asking if I wanted to do the LA Triathlon Relay. My initial thought was no ... my race calendar is so full this year, relays are usually overpriced, and a short distance run leg wasn't really on my horizon of running goals for the year. BUT .. (aside from the fact that I did think it would be fun to race with her) .. my cousin said that as a Kaiser employee (her) we'd get 50% off registration fees. WHAT? Okay, I'm so in! I hate thinking about the amount of money I spend on race fees and passing up a 50% discount was hard. So we signed up!

Race Weekend

Well as luck would have it I was scheduled to run 20 miles on race weekend in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon which I'm running with David on October 30th. When I noticed the big "2-0" on my schedule earlier in the week I groaned and though ughh ... its so far! And I don't get a rest day after! Wahh! 

I'm currently suffering from training burnout and have had a hard time motivating for my long runs and have been falling way short of my training goals. I hadn't run over 13 miles since the SF Marathon and had lost my mojo for longer distances. Luckily I was able to coerce my friend Tara (currently training for the Chicago Marathon) into attempting 20 miles with me, so the plan was 20 miles along the San Diego Harbor on Saturday morning. And guess what? We did it! Whoo hoo!!

After running 20 miles do you know what I want to do? I want to lie down in bed and have a burrito spoon fed to me! While this past Saturday did involve a burrito, it also involved cleaning house, running errands, and then driving the 2hours up to LA to stay at Giselle's for the race. 

Sophia - Ready to Swim

Kaiser Perks

Kaiser has a lot of fitness perks in addition the race registration discount. (Totally made me miss working for a huge company.) When I got to Giselle's she proudly showed me our goodie bags and the Kaiser branded tri gear that was free for Kaiser employees. WOW. Tri gear is soo expensive! She got bike shorts for herself and somehow sweet-talked the guy into giving her a tri top for me too. 

Tiniest Tri Top - And I thought the Sony One was Small! (Behind)

Um.. one problem, the tri top was sized for a child! Tri gear runs extremely small and if you have any body image issues .. um expect them to increase exponentially once you put on some tri gear. I put on the Kaiser top and thought okay, I can't wear this!! :( After several instances of "Are you sure it doesn't fit??" and "It really looks okay ...." I figured okay, I think someone wants me to wear this ... I will. SUCK IT IN! haha

Kaiser Crop Top

In It To Win It

When Giselle first asked me to do the tri relay the first thing I thought wast hmm ... if we do this race could we win?? (You know, because I'm obsessed with achievement!) My cousin's husband is an AMAZING swimmer and  knew he'd be one of the fastest in the swim. My cousin just won a local bike race which meant she was good on the bike. And hey, while I'm not busting out 5 minute miles at any point in time ...  I'm a fairly decent runner. I figured between the three of us we had this race! 

Due to time constraints Giselle never had time to get a road bike ... so she'd be riding her pink cement block - I mean pink mountain bike (from Target!!) in the race. Oh man! I rode my Target mountain bike in the first tri clinic I ever did and let me tell you it is so demoralizing! I was the slowest person out there! What a bummer. And its not like I wasn't working hard! Ugh. Anyways, knowing Giselle had to suffer with her mountain bike I figured we wouldn't win, but still figured we had a good shot.We could still be in it to win it!!

Me & Giselle Ready to Race

Race Morning

This race course was pretty different from other tris I've done. The swim was in Venice, the bike was from Venice to LA, and the run was an out and back in LA. The big challenge was that T1 was nowhere near T2. I was able to drop Giselle off at T1 and I quickly drove to T2 to park where she'd finish and I'd start running. I had no idea how parking and traffic would be so I dropped her off before her husband even started swimming and headed straight downtown. 

Giselle & Her Pink Mountain Bike

Giselle & Marc Pre-Swim (No wetsuit?!?)

Well .. I found parking right away  (score!) but that meant I stood around for almost two hours waiting to run. This was an interesting experience because i got to see the first elite triathletes come in and got to watch a ton of participants on the course for the next hour. I *might* have gotten a little misty watching all of the people go by! I'm such a sap!! I love distance racing. :o)

I Love Kids with Signs!

My Turn Yet?

After watching the racers go by for about an hour I thought okay, I need to figure out when I will be running! I texted David who was able to figure out from the race app when Marc finished swimming and when Giselle started running. I predicted a 10am transition from Giselle to me. Around 9:45am I decided to make a quick bathroom stop and then head over to the transition area. As soon as I got out of the bathroom I saw a missed call from Giselle and thought oh no! she's done! I quickly turned on my watch and stood by our transition area.

Hanging Out in T2

Moments later,  instead of seeing Giselle running her bike towards me I saw Giselle sprinting toward me with a smile ... her bike helmet on and no bike in sight. "OMG where is your bike?!?!' I asked her. "Oh, I ditched it over there" she said. WHAT?!?! OMG You can't do that! By then she had the timing chip on my ankle and was like Go! Go! So I shoved my jacket and cell phone in her hands and was off!

Relay Run Time

As I took off I looked down at my Garmin and noticed the satellites hadn't connected. I figured whatever, they'll connect soon. Um, they never did. UGH!! I have a bad habit of running like a maniac in the first mile of a 5K at a 6:00-6:30 pace .. which I totally cant sustain. I know a  ~7:00 pace is a good goal for me and try to keep myself there. Without a watch I had no clue how fast i was running! I was passing people right and left but was afraid of a burnout. 

The course was an out and back and as I looked out on the course I saw a big hill beyond an inflatable CLIFF bar mountain arch. ARGH! Just like at the OC Marthon! Ugh! I hate hills!  I have been training on them and can deal with them ... but why in flat downtown LA would they pick a run course where you had to run up a big hill to turn around and run back down? So annoying. 

Running Down the Streets of LA

I charged up the hill with everything I had ... caught my breath on the flat, and flew down. Man, I love running downhill! A 5K is a surprisingly short course when you're used to a marathon. Before I knew it I was turning the corner to the finish line. I was still passing people all long the way and in between pulling my tiny tri top down every 20 seconds I pushed with what I had to the finish. 

And ... I ended up with a PR! I'm totally amazed considering my last two PRs were on flat courses and this had a big (but short) hill. Official finish time was 22:38 or a 7:18 pace. (Prior PR was 22:55)

LA Triathlon Finisher's Medal

Post Race

Immediately after the race I thought oh crap, I didn't create a meet-up plan with Giselle after the race! Should I stay here? Go to T2? Luckily as I was milling around thinking about this I bumped into her. Many pictures ensued and then we headed to the VIP party a block away from the finish line. (Another Kaiser perk for employees!!) We hung out and had some fruit, Giselle talked to some coworkers, several Kaiser photos were taken, and then it was time to head home. 

Kaiser Group Photo

 

Kaiser LA

Race Results

I had to rush back to SD for some plans I had made prior to the race so I didn't have time to look up our race results. I assumed we had done well but hadn't won, and actually forgot about it until later that night. When I finally looked up the results I was amazed. We did really well!

Smiling Finishers

Swim - Marc

500 meters - 14:17

Division: 3/44

Overall: 6/68

Bike - Giselle

14 Miles - 1:01:20

Division: 29/44

Overall: 50/68

Run - ME!

5K - 22:38

Division: 2/44

Overall:4/68

Finish Time - 1:41:55

Division: 11/44

Overall: 20/68

Seeing these results made me want to do the race again next year. I've planted the seed with Marc and Giselle and hope they are in for next year. 

 Team Gemischte Pot for the win!!!!

Me & My Twin