I Love the Tavern Triathlon

On Sunday I raced in my third triathlon of the year, which was also my 10th race I've participated in pregnant!

We were up at 3:30 am and out the door before 4:30 am so we could drive up to Richmond and be there in plenty of time to set up our transition area and be ready for a 7 am start time.

I'm still able to squeeze myself into these same tri shorts, probably because they sit below my belly. I had Sean write on my stomach "Baby's 3rd Tri 24 Weeks".

We were lucky that at this race the transition area was in alphabetical order so we were next to each other and our friend Brian was also on our rack.

Got to show off the belly one more time.

I had a few people comment to me before the race started asking how many tris the baby was going to do before being born and encouraging me to have a good race. It helped psych me up to start the race.

Swim:
Distance: 500 meters
Time: 13:41
Pace: 2:44/100 meters (or 2:17/100 meters if it was 600 meters)
(Sean's Time: 12:57)

The swim was a 500 meter river swim in the James River, although rumor has it the swim was a little long, maybe closer to 600 meters, I think this is more accurate when looking at my per 100/meter rate. With water temperatures 86 or 87 degrees it was like swimming in a bath tub. Sean started in the second wave and I started in the fourth wave, 10 minutes behind him.

I decided to start at the back of my wave. I didn't want to get trampled since I know I'm not a strong swimmer and I figured I would just take it easy. The swim felt nice and easy and I stayed close to the buoys. It was amazing to see that I didn't stray far away and I was always about one person away from the buoy.

This was only our second open water swim triathlon and I definitely prefer this over the pool swim. I ended up passing a ton of people in the water, even at my slow pace. It made me feel awesome even though I wasn't out to race and I was just taking it easy.

Sean hasn't always been the stronger swimmer between the two of us, but once he got the hang of his breathing he always seems to be much faster than me.

Getting out of the water wasn't too bad, but we had to go up a steep staircase. I made sure to walk up it and take it easy. I had to remember, I wasn't out to race, just to complete and have fun.

T1:
Time: 3:21
(Sean's time: 1:04)

I took my time in the transition area. I drank water, opened up my Gel Chomps so I could enjoy them on the bike ride, put my HR monitor on, race belt (so I wouldn't have to worry about putting this on for the run), shirt, helmet, sunglasses, socks and sneakers. This was the first tri that I've done where I had to actually tie my shoes. Previously I've either had my bike shoes or my racing flats with my Yankz. I meant to bring a 5-gallon bucket to sit on to change my shoes, but ended up doing just fine without the bucket.

My transition was VERY slow. But I felt great and that was what I was trying to achieve.

Bike:
Distance: 18.8 miles (Garmin had 18.86)
Time: 1:27:17
Avg Speed: 13 mph
Avg HR: 142 bpm
Max HR: 173 bpm
(Sean's time: 53:34, yes he beat me by 34 minutes!)

I left the transition area and got on my bike. The bike was an 18.8 mile ride. I was told the first half was a bit hilly, with a fairly large hill at the turnaround but than the second half was mostly downhill. I used this to get through the ride. I felt good, but slow until about mile 8 and than I started to get round ligament pain in my lower right ab area. I tried talking to the baby and telling the baby to move. Sometimes I wonder if it's just the baby "hanging out" in this area of my body that makes the pain.

I got to the big hill and a ton of people were walking up it. I rode half way up the hill and than decided to walk it as well, no reason to try and pedal slower than 4 mph. Walking was probably the best thing I could do because once I got back on the bike my RLP was gone.

The first part of the ride back was down the big hill, I didn't want to ride too fast but looking at my Garmin I got up to 33.1 mph. I ended up braking most of the way down, I didn't want to lose control and risk falling.

The rest of the ride went well and I even ended up passing a few people on the ride back. There was some shade during the ride and even at my average 13 mph speed there was a little breeze so I never got too hot.

I also had my special "racing" shirt on so I had a ton of people complementing me on exercising, telling me they liked my shirt, and saying "Go Mama!" It really helped me through the ride.

Because I love looking at the stats on my Garmin I figured I'd share my stats below, on bike mode I have the Garmin set to Lap every 2 miles.

Lap 1
Avg Speed: 12.8 mph
Avg HR: 148 bpm

Lap 2
Avg Speed: 11.5 mph
Avg HR: 143 bpm

Lap 3
Avg Speed: 13.0 mph
Avg HR: 135 bpm

Lap 4
Avg Speed: 12.3 mph
Avg HR: 136 bpm

Lap 5
Avg Speed: 9.1 mph (this included the portion where I walked up the hill, but ironically also included the downhill, with the max of 33.1 and it's still super slow)
Avg HR: 139 bpm

Lap 6
Avg Speed: 17.1 mph
Avg HR: 139 bpm

Lap 7
Avg Speed: 14.8 mph
Avg HR: 143 bpm

Lap 8
Avg Speed: 14.8 mph
Avg HR: 141 bpm

Lap 9
Avg Speed: 13.5 mph
Avg HR: 151 bpm

Lap 10
Avg Speed: 19.0 mph (this was the last .8 miles of the ride so I think I was glad to be done)
Avg HR: 148 bpm

T2:
Time: 1:01
(Sean's Time: 1:09)

Yeah I actually beat Sean at one part of the tri, wahoo!!! The only reason I beat him was because I already had my race belt on, I put it on during T1, and I didn't have to change my shoes since I was wearing the same shoes on the run that I biked with, but I still had 7 seconds on him.

Sean finished the entire race before I had even finished the bike. This meant he got to be my personal photographer. He captures me here entering T2.

Grabbing my Garmin off the bike so I can put it on my wrist.

Staying hydrated! This was very important since the high for the day was 106. Not sure what the temp was at this time. It was still before 9 am so probably 90 degrees.

I gave Sean a kiss and left T2 with one thing left I had to do, run a 5K!!

Run:
Time: 36:24

Distance: 5K
Pace: 11:45 min/mile
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm
(Sean's Time: 32:40, he would have been faster but he tripped on a branch and fell in the woods.)

The run was my absolute favorite. The majority of the run was nestled on the trails shaded in the woods. I felt good and they had 4 spots to get water so I stay hydrated. By the time I hit the trail there were a ton of people walking so I passed at least 10+ people. This was motivating especially since A. I'm pregnant, and B. I was jogging at a 12 min/mile pace.

I never realized you could actually jog this slow. I'm sure this is ignorant on my part, and even though I'm not an elite athlete I used to find it hard to believe that someone could run THIS slow. Now I have a lot more respect for those that get out and run regardless of their pace.

As I ran I felt better and better. I encouraged other runners as I ran and was able to jog the entire way. At each water stop I did walk to make sure I drank the entire cup of water and at least twice poured an additional cup on my head. It was hot and I wanted to make sure I didn't overheat.

I did have to pee, but not really really bad, which is interesting since I had been on the go for over 2 hours, and normally I pee every 20 minutes.

I didn't have any pain and my body felt strong. I kept an eye on my HR and it was higher than I like it to be. My exertion level is the more important thing to monitor, therefore I was making sure to talk to others to make sure that I wasn't short on breath and that I could maintain a conversation. I was able to do both and therefore I was fine where my HR was.

The run seemed to go by really quickly and soon enough I peaked out of the woods and had my own cheering squad at the finish cheering my name. I guess that's the good thing about finishing last. Everyone is there to cheer for you!

I passed Sean, held my hands up, smiled and than ran through to the finish.

I was excited to see that I had negative splits on the run. According to my Garmin my splits were:

Mile 1:
Pace: 12:17 min/mile
Avg HR: 157 bpm

Mile 2:
Pace: 11:52 min/mile
Avg HR: 159 bpm

Mile 3:
Pace: 11:19 min/mile
Avg HR: 167 bpm

Last 0.10:
Pace: 9:31 min/mile
Avg HR: 177 (I know this is high, but it was only for 0.10 mile and I was excited to see everyone).

I finished feeling strong, and not even slightly short of breath. My official time was 2:21:42. Sean Finished with an official time of 1:41:22. I'm so proud of him!

Besides finishing feeling strong my other goal was to not finish last. I didn't think this would be a problem since there are seriously every level of athletes that participate in these type of races, there was even a 77 year old man that did this race, unfortunately for me he beat me by almost 30 minutes. I ended up beating one person in my age group (ok officially two, but one person didn't finish the race so I don't actually count them) and a total of 24 people in the race. Not too bad for being 24 weeks pregnant!

Good friends!

The best part of the triathlon, besides racing, is the friends you share the experience with. I'm so glad to have such a great group of friends that enjoy the sport that I love so much.

Amie visits!!!

For the first time ever Amie came to visit me in Williamsburg. We've lived here almost 4 years, so she was LONG overdue to come and visit me.

She arrived Friday evening and after picking her up from the airport we went straight to dinner. I brought her to GreenLeafe which is a local bar and grille type restaurant.

We both wanted to get our cameras out. She beat me to it while I was still looking for mine.

Mozzarella Sticks for an appetizer were delicious. Amie liked to just eat the sauce, nasty.

We decided to share this pasta dinner. It was delicious. Shrimp, sausage, chicken, zucchini, mushrooms, etc. Amie made sure that no shrimp were touching her plate. Apparently the texture reminds her of cartilage. She doesn't know what she's missing.

After dinner we stopped at the grocery store to get dessert.

We decided on a brownie mix that has a cookie topping. It was so good. We had Ben & Jerry's ice cream on the side, (Brownie Cheesecake & Cinnamon Bun).

Saturday morning we woke up fairly early had our Lucky Charms, (Crosby Tradition) and got ready to go to the beach. Since Amie lives in Phoenix one of her requests was a beach day. We went to Yorktown since it's still a nice beach and not as far or as busy as Virginia Beach.

We packed a cooler with water and snacks (apples, pears, oranges and goldfish) and walked down to the water. The parking garage I usually park in wouldn't allow beach visitors to park in it so we had to park a little further, which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but this cooler kept tipping back and forth and was super annoying to pull.

We got our spot on the beach and we were so glad we were near the water since it was really hot out.

We loved watching the people, catching up and watching the boats on the water.

I love my sister!

We lasted less than three hours, since it was so hot, and we were starting to get hungry so we decided to call it a day and head back home. Amie had cooler duty on the way back to the car.

On the way home Amie wanted to stop at Barnes & Noble so we went and she wanted us to pick out a book for Baby Murphy! It was so sweet of her. She didn't know what books we already had, and neither did I (so many saved from when we were kids) but we were able to find something good. We decided on There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly, and than a plane board book since Aunt Amie and Uncle Jay both love airplanes. This was an unexpected yet fun surprise, thanks Amers!

We than stopped and picked up sandwiches for us and Sean to bring back to the house. It felt so good being inside with the A/C.

Amie than surprised us once again with a homemade quilt for Baby Murphy.

I couldn't believe the detail, this quilt was amazing. I love it so much, and I know Baby Murphy will too.

Sean and I show off our new quilt. I love the frogs!

Now showing off the back of the quilt.

After present time we had nap time! I'm glad Amie likes naps as much as Sean and I. After nap time we got dressed and ready to go out to dinner.

Amie's only request for dinner was not a chain and she really wanted to branch out and try some seafood. We decided on going to The Kingsmill Marina.

We definitely enjoyed the nice weather, while it lasted.

Dinner came and I was excited about my shrimp and corn!

and than the storm came

They boxed up our food and shut down.

Boo!

Amie was however very excited for a mini thunderstorm. A thunderstorm was yet another request of hers. It blew flew pretty quick, but we had already packed up our food and the restaurant had already closed down so we went home.

We decided it would be fun to play some wii so we stopped at our friend's house on the way home to borrow a wii controller.

We started out playing Smarty Pants. I was doing the Double Points Dance.

The last game Amie finally won, and was so proud of herself. I've never won, I'm awful at trivia.
We played a little Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart and than called it a night.

Sunday morning we woke up and had our Lucky Charms again and than decided to head down to Colonial Williamsburg.

The best part of CW is The Peanut Shop, unfortunately with Amie's allergies it would have been a REALLY bad idea to venture inside, unless we wanted to spend another weekend at the ER.

Amie expresses her love for The Peanut Shop

My favorite part of CW, besides the Peanut Shop is walking around looking at the animals.

This pretty horse was out in the awful heat.

He really wanted a sip of Amie's ice coffee.

We took a break from walking around and sweated in the heat.

Posing in front of the Governor's Palace with my Amie Leigh

Come on, I dare you to throw tomatoes at us

We continued walking around and enjoyed every bit of shade that we could find.


After walking around we decided to share some ice cream, Grape & Apple Sherbet with popping candy. It's delicious.

Just part of my nasty sweat from the day.

After getting back to the house we took more photos of the quilt.

And than it was nap time. Amie and I crashed and took a nice long nap, and we woke up feel rejuvenated.

The next item on our list was teaching me to sew. I know I won't ever be able to make stuff as cool as Amie, but I did want to learn as much as I could.



I think I did pretty well and I'm excited to practice and make something I can show off. Hopefully there will be a blog entry in the near future with an awesome sewing project.

After sewing we decided to go out yet again. We don't normally go out for every meal, but it was just easier so we didn't have to cook.

We decided on going to our favorite restaurant, Bonefish. We made Amie try our favorite appetizer Bang Bang Shrimp. I wish I had taken a photo of her face. She was so scared to try it, and she psyched herself out so she didn't like it. Maybe she would have liked it if she had given it a try, or maybe it just tastes like "cartilage."

Right before leaving we had the waitress snap our photo since we hadn't taken a photo of the three of us.

We went home stuffed and finished off the ice cream and rented a movie on Demand, Leap Year. All three of us snuggled on the couch and eventually we had to go to bed which meant the weekend was over.

Amie's flight left at 7 this morning, so her and Sean left the house around 5 am. I woke up to say goodbye, and I was thankful that Sean was able to drop her off. I went back to bed for another hour and a half and when I woke up my sister was gone.

Although the weekend was short, Amie and I had so much fun. It was great seeing her and spending quality time together since we don't get to see each other very often at all.

I love her and I can't wait to see her again. I hope you had fun Amie Leigh!

First Colony 5K - 21 Weeks

Tomorrow I will be 21 weeks pregnant and today I ran my 8th race and 4th 5K since I became pregnant. I'm proud that I have been able to keep up with my running and looking back at what I've done so far makes me feel good.

My pregnancy racing log includes:
5 weeks - Virginia is for Lovers 14K
10 weeks - Shamrock Half Marathon
11 weeks - Smithfield Sprint Triathlon
14 weeks - Run the Dog 5K
15 weeks - Ask 5K
18 weeks - Military Red White and Blue 5K
19 weeks - PowerSprint Triathlon
21 weeks - First Colony 5K

These last few days I've been suffering from Round Ligament Pain and was thinking that I was going to be walking this race. I didn't want to be done running, but if that's what I had to do than I was willing to stop and take it easy.

It was a hot morning in the 80's and the sun was out in full force. I started running telling myself to give it a try and if my body said no I would stop and walk. I was able to run the entire race and even though it was really hot, with no water stops, I felt great during the entire run.

I ran really slow this time and my overall time was about 4 minutes slower than my last 5K. It was also over a minute slower than the 5K I ran at the end of my last triathlon. Even though I focus on my times and stats, I was just happy to finish and be able to run the entire race.

For my race outfit I sported my racing shirt that Sonny made me for the triathlon, so everyone knew I was pregnant. I had a couple people come up to me and tell me how great they thought it was that I was still running, so of course that made me happy.

Power Sprint Triathlon 19 Weeks

I am a week behind on posting my race recap, but wanted to still post about it.

They were predicting rain for the race, but we ended up with good weather, a little humid but no rain, so I was happy.

We had to get up at 4 am to get to the race on time. I never seem to have a problem waking up early for a race. I was especially excited to wear my new racing shirt that my friend Sonny had made for me.

We got to the race site and set up our transition area. I posed with my new shirt.


The transition area closed around 6:50 since the first swimmers went off at 7. I wasn't getting in the pool until a little after 8 so I got to hang out in my swimming outfit, which was just a sports bra and tri shorts. Because of this I decided I needed to write something on my belly. I was feeling a little self conscientious thinking people would just think I looked fat and not pregnant.

Audrey helped me out and everyone definitely knew that I was expecting.

Swim
Distance: 300 meters
Time: 6:30 minutes
Pace: 2:10/100 meters

My swim went pretty well. I was excited to start and knew that I couldn't/shouldn't push it too hard, especially after how I felt after Smithfield. I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated and fueled up.

I'm not a fast swimmer so although I would have loved to be under 6 minutes, I haven't ever swam that "fast" even without being pregnant. I felt good the entire swim and never felt like I needed to stop. I think all of my 1,000 meter practice swims have helped me out. I did get passed by one girl but I wasn't too concerned, at least I felt good.

T1 - Running from the swim portion to get my bike

T1
Time: 3:24

My first transition was super slow. I made sure to take it easy, fuel up and not push it too fast. Even though I'm super competitive I didn't push it and made sure I was feeling good as I got my bike.

Bike
Distance: 20k (12.4 miles)
Time: 43:57 minutes
Avg Speed: 16.2/mph
Avg HR: 151/bpm
Max HR: 164/bpm

My Garmin only clocked 11.81 miles at 43:49, so I think the course was short. The time above was my official time, and the speed and HR are from my Garmin. The ride itself felt good, it wasn't fast but I did pass quite a few people including that girl that passed me on the swim, so that made me happy. I got passed by a ton of other people, but I'm just glad that I was able to pass people as well. I had Sean take my clipping pedals off of my bike once I started getting a little bigger so I wouldn't fall and hurt myself while pregnant. Because of this I didn't have the advantage of pulling while I was cycling, but I still held my own.

Riding towards the finish

T2
Time: 1:05 minutes

When I got off my bike I was a little tired and therefore walked my bike back to the rack instead of jogging, which I normally would do. I grabbed some water, some GU Chomps, Blueberry Pomegranate flavor, and was ready to go. I remember to grab my Garmin off of my bike, and my race belt but forgot my watch which I clip my Garmin to, so I had to hold the Garmin watch face in my hand during the run. Since I decided to wear my racing flats on the bike I didn't have to change shoes which helped my time even though I walked and didn't push it too much.

Run
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Time: 31:11 minutes
Pace: 10:04/mph
Avg HR: 158/bpm

Max HR: 176/bpm

The run itself felt great. It started to get hot so I made sure to drink water at the water stop. I did get a little competitive and pushed it towards the end but I was able to talk, I cheered on others that were going the other way (out and back course) and felt confident that I wasn't over exerting myself.

Just starting the run

"Sprinting" to the finish (I didn't want this guy to beat me)

Final Time: 1:26:04
Overall Place: 327/493
Age Group Place: 22/36

Considering I was 19 weeks pregnant when I was racing I am happy with my results and I was glad that I wasn't tired and I felt very strong at the end. Overall a successful race.

Sonny, me, Sean and Audrey (plus the sign Audrey's sister made for us)

Sean and I posing with our sign

It was a great day and I think the fact that we had great friends not only racing with us, but cheering us on made the day even more fun. Thanks to Suzy and Ali for all of the race photos!

My next Tri isn't until June 27th, which actually isn't too far away. It'll be here before I know it. I have two other running only races in between which I am excited to run, especially now that I have an "official" pregnancy racing shirt. Let's hope I can continue doing what I love.