After a two month hiatus, yesterday I competed in theBridgeland Triathlon. I picked this race because my "A-race" is a mere 3 weeks away, its a local production put on by one of the best racing companies, OnUrMark, and a sprint is the best way to tune up any final touches! Sprints are HARD. They are fast, and they dont exactly give you time to get the ball rolling like an olympic and half distance have to offer. After Captex, I became a little self-defeated, burnt out and well...Just plain old tired. Sometimes you really can race too much, to the point that your just not excited anymore, and thats kind-of what happened to me. I took about 3 weeks off, and then got back to a solid 2 months of training. 2 months later, I have made the big move to Houston (twice- Thanks to all who helped me move and house me in between!), Re-gathered my emotion for triathlon, and actually started kicking-A** again! I could tell just in training sessions, my speed was coming back, my dead-legs were leaving. My biking power was increasing, my swimming volume was catching up to me. I am thankful for my coach, Michelle LeBlanc, who listened to my first half of the season comments and adjusted my training accordingly. She knows what works for me, and I think we can now say we know just how much recovery I need, what volume is too much, and what kind of workouts are the most effective. Its a great feeling to have someone understand you. Now, of course there is still plenty more room for improvements, and I hope that I can continue to get stronger each and every day. The Bridgeland Triathlon consisted of a 550m swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I can say that I felt well rested and ready to rock and roll race morning. With the big move to Houston, I now only live 20 minutes away, so that made Race morning super easy. We arrived bright and early at 5am when transition opened, and just took our time getting everything together and warming up. My goals of the race was 1)to get back into the swing of things 2) go hard and dont be a baby and 3) get third place, because $$ is on the line!( and also a cool plant, which I thought I needed for my new apartment). Congrats toSarah Gray for taking home 3 of them for her new place. haha ;D There was about 45-50 of us in the invitation wave and luckily we got to go first. We actually finished the race before the last wave was even in the water. Crazy! The swim took off fast! Only 500 meters to go, so you better just GO. I came out of the water and noticed who was in front of me. I thought to myself, Dang! I had a good swim. I swam a 1:25m pace, or 1:17 yard pace which was just about what I expected based on my swim training lately. I hopped on my bike and just hammered away. Usually, I push too hard of gears, so I really focused on keeping a higher cadence, and just going with the flow...taking a drink occasionally. Half way through the bike two things happened. 1) A race-offical was near me (AHH, did I just get a drafting penalty???) and 2) I thought to myself- Can I keep this up for an olympic distance?? Well, the answer to both was 1) no..Thank god. I literally road the bike course all alone with exception to one time when I was near some people and the race official just so happened to be near me. and 2) YES,,,YES I could keep this up for another 12 miles. My training is really paying off. I dismounted and headed into transition with an average on the bike at24mph!! Yes, Finally....This is what I have been working towards. Of course my coach and fellow teammate averaged slightly faster (26mph!!) BUT, I have come a long way and can be nothing but excited, and hope that I can soon be as fast as them!! My Run was so-so. I ran 19:26 for 3 miles, which is not too bad, but also nothing too exciting. Something is up with my running lately. My legs felt great but for some reason I just couldnt really go. Its also sometimes hard to really push when you have no one around you..soO I blame it on that. BUT its nice to see some improvements. I didnt have any nutrition problems, and I also know that I could have kept that pace for a 10k as well, which is re-assuring. I was ecstatic to finish the race in 3rd place and share the podium with both my Coach and fellow teammate/friend/local-pro Sarah Gray. Not only did they share the podium with me, but my fellow OutRival teammates also took home all 3 female primes, and also secured 6 of the top 7 invitational females. Hometown races are always the most fun, because you get to race top notch competitors, but also see all your friends at the same time. It was a great weekend!