Onion Man Triathlon #2

Well as many of you may know I have committed to doing the Coeur d'Alene Ironman again this year. As of today only 19 days to go!

As a result I do a couple smaller distance triathlons in preparation for the big dance. Now I won't bore you with the details but in short the OM tri is fun local triathlon held in Walla Walla, and is about a 2-3 hour drive from my house.

It is a 1.5 km swim

(Who says wetsuits aren't HOT?)

40 km bike

and 10 km run.

This year instead of going down by myself I was fortunate enough to have two friends tag a long. Laura (who also did this race) and Rachel (whom I signed up for her first sprint tri this summer with out her knowing - she's gotta love me right?). Rachel wanted to come and keep me company and see what this whole triathlon business was all about. Unfortunately I did not put on a good show for her.

Here is Rachel doing her Crossword puzzles...she looks happy huh?

Laura (after a little run)

Now I am not a particularly fast triathlete, in fact I have been told that I will never be podium bound (unless the entire field of my age group ends up getting sick and can not finish). I am the turtle in a race with a bunch of hares. I may be slow, somewhat steady and eventually I will finish. I have come to grips with this fact. My family has REALLY come to grips with this as they are usually standing around waiting for my rear end to finally finish....but I digress...

This year I experienced my very first panic attack in the water. This has NEVER happened to me and quite frankly I don't think that I can stand to have it happen again. The swim was a two loop (1/2 mile each) loop. The first loop was done only by means of breast stroke and back stroke. Yes folks picture a mob of swimmers thrashing about and then me...alone in the back doing the backstroke.

Here is the mob:

Very ego shattering. I love to swim and this just sent me crashing down. But I managed to actually swim the second loop, make it to the bike, run and finish a whole 13+ minutes SLOWER than last year.

For some one who uses these races as test to how my training has been going and where I am at physically this is not a good sign. But as people keep telling get the bad race out of the way leaving room to kick butt in Ironman. I will remember to bring my shell!

One good thing that came from this race, was that I got to see someone that I met at the Ironman training camp I went to last year and have become pen pals with Robyn Poulson. Robyn is an fantastic triathlete and FAST. I think that she had finished lunch and showered before I was out of the water! Robin loved seeing you!