Tri again (and again, and again).

I have a wetsuit! 

As my regular readers know, I completed my first triathlon (IronGirl Columbia) last August. It was tough, but I had a great time and I finished thinking "I need to do more of these!" I wasn't able to fit any tri's into my fall racing schedule last year, but I had every intention of doing at least two or three this summer.

Then, life happened. I changed jobs, got into a relationship, and started planning a wedding. This left little time to think about racing. What little time I spent planning my summer/fall 2012 race schedule consisted of just signing up for all the races that I do every year. I signed up for IronGirl again, but I didn't find any other tri's to suit my schedule. I knew about a few other local races, but they all felt too soon and/or too long.

One of the races that fell into the "too soon" category was TriRock Annapolis, which takes place this Saturday. The distance is short: 500M swim, 12mi bike, 3.1mi run. Compared to IronGirl- 998M swim, 17.5mi bike, 3.3mi run- that's nothing. Still, when registration opened early this year, I didn't feel ready. I'd done some spinning, but I hadn't ridden my bike outside since IronGirl in August. I joined a pool in February, but I didn't actually start swimming again until mid-March. Plus, the weather would be still be cool enough to require a wetsuit for the swim. I didn't have one and, even if I got one, I didn't know if I would get a chance to practice in it before the race.

Then, a few things happened to change my feelings about TriRock. First, I started swimming again and it did not go badly. In fact, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I actually feel stronger in the pool compared to last year. Second, the weather warmed up early in the year. Last year's TriRock happened on a rainy day with temps in the 50's. That seems unlikely this year. Finally, I joined the Wonder Women tri-traning group again for both their late winter and early spring training sessions. The combination of these things started to make TriRock feel possible. Then, on the day before I left for my London vacation, I got a coupon in my email for $10 off TriRock registration. The combo of pre-vacation excitement and a discount pushed me over the edge. I signed up for the race and ordered a wetsuit from Amazon.

Now, a little under a month later, I am facing my first tri of the season! I would love to say that I have trained intensely over the last several weeks, but the only thing I have done intensely this past month is wedding plan. Fortunately, our lovely Wonder Women coaches came through for me big-time this past weekend. Realizing that I and several of the other WW were feeling less-than-prepared for TriRock, they set up a practice tri for us this past Sunday. We did a 10-minute open-water swim, which gave all of us the opportunity to test our new wetsuits. Then, we followed that with a 20-minute bike ride and 10-minute run. In between, we simulated race transitions as best we could.

The practice tri was rough, but I survived it. Swimming in the wetsuit was actually easier than I anticipated (though swimming in cold water was harder!). The bike ride reminded me that spinning is nothing like riding a bike outdoors, but it also reminded me that I can tough it out on the bike when I have to. The run reminded me that running after a tough bike ride is miserable, but I can tough that out too. I still rock at transitions. All in all, I don't expect to put in a stellar performance on Saturday, but I also don't expect to pass out or die. At this point, I'll take it!

In the midst of all this, I also added another tri to my 2012 schedule. After IronGirl Columbia sold out in a frenzied 3 hours this year, the organizers decided to add another MD race. This one- IronGirl Rocky Gap- will happen in Western Maryland this coming September. I thought that taking a weekend in the mountains a few months before my wedding sounded like a great idea, so I signed up the day it opened. Then, just last week, I got an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The IronGirl race directors emailed myself and the rest of the ladies who were in the first 500 registrants for RockyGap and told us that we will get an opportunity to register in advance for IronGirl Columbia in 2013.

So, now I have 3 tri's on the agenda for 2012 and at least one for 2013!