Triathlon relays are so much fun!
Ryan, Megan, and I made a great team. The relay really played up our strengths and we finished our Olympic Triathlon in 2 hours, 37 minutes! AND I finished a 5.6 mile run in 49:49 minutes. THAT’S RIGHT – 8:48 MINUTE MILES FOR 5.6 MILES!!! This is the first time I’ve run more than 4.0 miles in THREE MONTHS! Woo hoo!
Race morning started off like any other race day — alarm went off and an ungodly hour and I stumbled to the kitchen for coffee and oatmeal.
I had banana oatmeal with coconut and blueberries. Mmm! I was out the door before the sun came up and arrived at Moss Park as Megan was setting up her bike.
Megan, Ryan, and I walked to the beach so Ryan could listen to the swim rules. The sun was just beginning to rise and it looked so beautiful out.
Ryan looked pretty calm for a woman who was about to swim 1.5K in a muddy lake! She swam in college so I guess she felt prepared.
Since the men start before the woman, we chatted while we waited for her wave to start:
And… then the gun went off and Ryan swam off like a mad woman!
Megan and I pretended to swim with Ryan. I much prefer swimming on dry land!
And then…. suddenly Ryan was BACK! She was SO fast. She swam 1.5K in about 25 minutes, 43 seconds – I was floored at her speed! I cheered so loudly for her as she came out of the water and ran towards transition. The run into transition took her 2 minutes, 10 seconds.
I pretty much pavarazzi-ed her all the way to the transition zone. She probably felt like a famous celebrity triathlete!
In the transition area, I took the chip off Ryan’s ankle as Megan put her helmet on. Then, I velcro-ed the chip to Megan and she raced off!
That’s the ONLY non-blurry one I got of Megan on her bike – she was moving pretty fast!
Megan had to ride 40K (or 24.8 miles), so we had some downtime during the bike ride.
That’s when I spotted another relay team. I tried to psych them out by giving them the evil eye. I don’t think it worked.
And Ryan changed out of her swimsuit, which had some VERY interesting mud spots!
Since it had been 2 hours since breakfast, I drank 1/2 a MyoPlex shake because I could feel myself getting hungry and I didn’t want to be underfueled for the run.
I also taped my knees.
They feel OK, I am icing them as I type.
After a 1 hour and 18 minutes ride, Megan came screeching around the corner! She was super fast, too! I grabbed the chip off her ankle, tied it to mine, and off I went!
I was a little disappointed because they announced at the beginning of the race that the run distance had been extended from 5.15 miles to 5.6 miles. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but I haven’t run more than 4.0 miles in a long, long time and I already felt like 5.15 was going to be stretch.
I focused on pacing myself and keeping any negative thoughts at bay. It’s so easy to let yourself slip into thinking “This is hard, I am tired, it’s hot, I’m thristy… blah, blah, blah.” Every time I felt myself sinking into that hole, I forced myself to think “This is GREAT! I’m running, I feel strong, this is fun!”
I also repeated Meghann’s favorite mantra: “I am a machine, I am a machine!”
By the time I came around the corner and could see the finish line, I was looking rough AND feeling pretty rough.
But I finished strong! My offical chip time was 49:49 minutes — under 9:00 minute miles!! I am very proud that I can still run that fast (that’s fast for me!) after 3 months of taking it easy!
Our total time was 2 hours, 37 minutes, and 28 seconds, which was good enough to win our division!
Alright, we were the only ladies IN our division, but a trophy is a trophy!
After the award ceremony, I ate a banana:
And a slice of pizza:
And then said goodbye to everyone, including our awesome spectators (Megan‘s friend Debbie and her boyfriend Mike, and Megan‘s boyfriend Jason):
Jason was a great photographer for the race (don’t the pictures look professional?):
All in all, the Moss Park Triathlon Relay was a FUN experience, and it was a great way to re-introduce myself to racing. It looks like Race Season 2009 – 2010 is going to be very exciting!
Have a WONDERFUL Sunday!







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{ 78 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay! So glad it was a success! You look so strong and fit!
Congrats!
awesome job !! you guys did great and it looks like you had a lot of fun ! :0)
congratz! You ladies did a GREAT job…looks like you had great weather for it too! Kudos to the swimmer!
Awesome job! Doing it as a team seems like so much more fun than doing it on your own. I had no idea that competitions allow you to do stuff like that.
Congrats! Caitlin, you look so great and in shape; you're such a tiny little thing!
we rock!!
Congrats! It looks like it was a ton of fun!
Awesome job!! You all are amazing!
CONGRATS, Caitlin! You look great out there. I know I've said it before, but I am so inspired that you took a break from running when it was necessary, and now have strongly yet patiently buily back up your stamina. You ROCK!
Congrats, Caitlin! You guys were such a great team! what a fun way to kick off the race season.
And yes, the pictures were wonderful!
WOW beautiful photos!! And what a great recap, I felt like I was there. Congratulations to the 3 of you.
Congrats!
Way to go Team SBRB! OK, Caitlin – are we all doing the century?
What a GREAT relay race!! You all did amazing, I love the photos!!! What fab action shots; you all should be PROUD!!
You all did awesome and show off your trophy with pride! Oh, and the T's were super cute!!
CONGRATS!! you guys kicked major bootay!
No no no you didn't look ROUGH at all…you look beautiful, happy and STRONG! You guys rocked it…congrats!!!
Great job on your run! You should be so proud of yourself for finishing as strong (and with such a great time!) Enjoy the rest of your day!
One of my friends who also does triathlons has the best quote (for any race):
"I'm not a competitor, I'm a completer". Every time I remember that it brings a smile to my face! Great job guys!
I had such a great time with you girls today! Yay for us
contrats on your race
Great job – you SMOKED it
P.S.- I love your shirts!!
amazing job! I am happy for all 3 of you
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you girlies are awesome!! a million congrats, babe! xo
Great Job! looks like a lot of fun. Love the shirts!
Congrats Caitlin! You girls did awesome! =D
Congrats!! All three of you did a wonderful job! Ha, I was thinking how great the pictures looked even before you mentioned it.
Congrats!! You guys did a great job!!! WTG! I love the shirts!
Congrats on the race! That is an awesome time!
Great job!!! That looks like so much fun! I am so happy that you enjoyed it.
Congrats! I love the shirts!
Congratulations!! You guys did awesome
GREAT JOB!!! You rocked it
great job and recap – you guys did awesome!!!
Those pictures ARE fantastic! Congrats to all of you on such an awesome race.
Wonderful job and a great recap.
Great job! Especially after they extended the running distance, all of you look so great doing what you do!
Wow, awesome job! I love your shirts!
CONGRATS! You three are amazing (not to mention adorable in those shirts!). Glad you had such a great race
You guys did AWESOME! I'm so glad it went well for you. Congrats on the trophy too
aww I love that little running skirt of yours! It's so cute! I went to lululemon (did I totally spell that wrong? probably haha) yesterday and fell in LOVE with some of their running skirts, but at $52 a skirt, it was just too hard to justify
Congrats on an amazing race! It looks like you had a ton of fun!
kathy – my skirt was $19 from target!!!
great job to you and your team!!!! so wonderful! i wish i could have been there to cheer you on!
Hi Caitlin! Congratulations on winning in your division
It truly is awesome though. Running a marathon in the upcoming year is definitely a goal of mine. Your blog is sooo inspiring and you have such a beautiful heart.
It looks like you girls had so much fun! And I love the t-shirts! Congrats on finishing strong and fast!
Congratulations! I want to do a tri now more than ever! I need to find a short one first though
Wow! What a great race! You all did so well. I'm very happy for you that you plowed through those 5.6 miles, time off and all. Way to go, Caitlin!
Congrats on your race!!! Great job:) I swam a 1.5k race yesterday too, how funny!
Great work guys! Next time you'll all be doing the whole thing
Congratulations!
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Congrats on a great race!!
You look fantastic – like everyone had a GREAT time!
Way to absolutely rock it!! Congratulations! That's seriously awesome.I feel all kinds of inspired since I have a 10K next weekend (my first ever) and I had to back off and take it easy for knee pain. I've been building back up slowly and I feel strong but nervous still.
I'll be using the "I'm a machine" chant for sure!!
I am sooooo proud of you! I love the "I am a machine" mantra! So proud, Caitlin. Good job!
Congrats guys! You rocked the relay race! I can't wait to do a tri! I'm glad you guys had fun! Love the shirts!
Awesome!! You guys kicked ass!! Happy for you that you have your speed too. You rock!!
Congrats to you guys! What an awesome finish time! You all rocked it! And the pictures were great! Love the pic of the sun coming up behind the water!
CONGRATS!!! You kicked that run's booties. All three of you did awesome
It really makes me want to do another Tri now
Congrats girl- that looked like so much fun! Great team work!
you girls did AWESOME!!! Great recap and it looked like a fun race
Congratulations. It must really feel fulfilling to complete that group effort. Keep up the good work, Caitlyn!
PS, did you choose the blue dress? :0)
Congratulations! Everyone did such a great job! I love those tshirts too.
awesome job!!you guys look like you made an amaaazing team!
congrats! happy to hear ur knees r doing ok!
Amazing job on the race!!!! You rocked it super fast
Strong work ladies!!
woah–you guys kicked it!! GREAT JOB
i think that might be the only way i do an olympic!
That sounds like a total blast!!!! (and an under 9/min mile is amazing fast to me!)
WooHoo Congrats!!
Wahoooo! Great recap! I'm doing a relay tri (bike section, sprint distance) next month and I'm getting really excited for it so it's great to get a little preview of what I'm in for!
Just be sure to stay away from the Evil Eye!
Congratulations Caitlin and all you girls! You ran so fast! I probably would have freaked out hearing about the mileage going up right when I was about to start.
You look like you are in awesome shape!
Congratulations! That sounds like you all had a great time! (and you had great times too!)
I loved this race recap! It looks like you had a great time! Also, I have the same green flowered bag that you have in your pictures. I love it!
I just wanted to tell you that I ran my first trail run on Sunday! It was the 5K Spillway Classic and it was incredibly fun! You were right, I totally had the endurance for it, and about 2 miles in I actually said out loud "Wow! I thought this was going to be way more difficult!" Since my normal runs are on flat ground, I trained for it by upping some of my normal runs from 5K to 4 miles, which seemed to do the trick. It was also great because the weather cooperated and it was really cool (for New Orleans) which made the run even better!
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the encouragement and congratulations on your awesome race!!
congrats caitlin! you guys all did great. that's a superfast swim time from ryan. and going on a relay team is a great way to get into triathlon. now when is your sprint coming up? you're going to love it.
OMG You did GREAT you guys are Rockstar and I love the shirts!
That seems like so much fun! I'd love to try it!
Nice teamwork!! Way to go!! Those are some pretty impressive splits by you 3!!
And my wife had similar “mud marks” after swimming in a muddy lake – yum!…