May 21 - UVAS - SouthBay Triathlon - Nope, didn't do it

The UVAS triathlon is a logical choice if I want to get back into the sport - it's my favorite race, after all. But I did sooo little training this year and the little time I did have I focused on art. Really, my training this year consisted mostly of doing bikram yoga twice a week. This is good exercise but, well, maybe not quite enough by itself. I had barely ever been in the pool and went on just a handful of relatively easy bike rides before the race. I think I was ready to finish it, but the night before the race I just really really didn't feel like it. So I went there, picked up the shirt and bottle but left the chip there and decided to blow it off. "Shame on you" you might cry. And you might be right. But you also have to listen to your body. I didn't get enough training, enough sleep and and and. Not a good start.

It turned out that the weather was super crappy that day so I really didn't miss much and I definitely needed a few extra hours of sleep. So there goes that race.

June 25 - SJIT - San Jose International Triathlon - 1.25k swim, 40k bike, 10k run

After UVAS or should I say - non-UVAS - I was starting to wonder if my triathlon days were over, which really would be a shame. But I just didn't feel like it. No energy, no motivation and waaay too much to do. I just never managed to get workouts in. And when I did it was really hard to push myself to just do them. Not a good situation. But the semi-regular rides with a group of people from work helped. And my friend Rocco kicked my ass several times and got me to go open water swimming with him which I enjoyed very much. So eventually I got a bit more into race shape. BUT: without regular track workouts, almost no running at all, very little swimming... I knew I wouldn't be "racing" but just doing a long workout. But I felt strong enough to finish the thing. So, luckily I did motivate myself to show up at SJIT.

And - very much to much surprise - I had a really good race. And I wasn't even as slow as I had feared! Yes, it was slooow compared to my PR on that course, but as it was a perfect day, not to hot, barely windy, the water just right. My goal was to swim without stressing it, then push a bit on the bike. Well, if I blow up, no problem, I can just stop after the ride. After all I hadn't done any workouts longer than 2 hours all year so that wouldn't be a surprise. And no speed work at all. I also took a lot of time in the transitions - I didn't care about my time after all. But overall the result wasn't so bad, considering all of that. And I had fun, which is the main point :) What really surprised me was the bike time, but then, we did have ideal conditions...

July 18 - Alcatraz Challenge Aquathlon - 1.5mile swim, 7 mile run

I did this race once before, in 2003, but this time I really didn't even try to "race". Instead I was there just to have fun. After SJIT I had very little time to train and I more or less considered the race season over. But then I got the itch again and signed up for this one (with a friend with the sole purpose of mutual guilt-tripping ;) ). But I really just wanted to do the thing and have fun.

Swimming from Alcatraz is something special and if the weather is semi-decent you have the most gorgeous view of Alcatraz, the city and the Golden Gate Bridge from the water. The last time the view was horrible (fog) and this time wasn't great either but it was OK. As I said, I wasn't going to race, I was going to have fun. So I got a little waterproof camera, tucked it into my wet suit and started snapping photos of people and the sights during the swim. Of course that's not the way how you win races, so my time was slow. I don't even bother to put up a real listing of my splits (my swim time was like 57 minutes and I probably can do that thing in 45 minutes if I really try, and under 50 minutes if I just swim normally). But it definitely was one of the most fun races I ever did. I highly recommend to do this only with a camera in your wet suit :)

So, where are the photos? Glad that you ask. They are here: Alcatraz Challenge 2006 photos

The race site also has some photos. But of course those were taken from land (boooring ;) )

September 10 - Pacific Grove (Sprint) - 0.25mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, 2 mile run

After the Alcatraz challenge I managed something even I didn't think was possible: I trained even less. It's really sad. On the other hand, this year is the year dedicated to art so often when I could go for a run or ride or swim I paint or go to a gallery instead. This doesn't have the best of all impacts on my overall shape, as you can imagine. I kept saying I want to do X or Y and I really want to swim / run more but it just never happened. Luckily, a friend of mind got inspired by my *talking* about triathlon and signed up for her first one. Now that I got her into that mess I had to at least support her at her first race, right? Well, the race was the Pacific Grove Sprint distance. It's a gorgeous area there and I decided to drive there and cheer her on. Well... as I'm driving all that way early in the morning already... and as it's just such a short race... why don't I just do the race too, right?

Well, that's what I thought too. The only problem... I had that idea less than 7 days before the race. I hadn't been in the pool, in my running shoes or on a bike in like 2 months at that point. Not good. (translation: stupid!)

Anyway, I am still in semi acceptable shape and with a bit of swimming, 2 short runs and 2 short bike rides I should be able to at least finish that thing. And indeed I was able to do that, even without hurting myself and I even had some good fun. I definitely have been faster in the past. What shocked me most was how slow my transitions were. My swim, bike and run times were actually not soo bad, considering the lack of training.

Anyway, my friend finished too and now can happily call herself a triathlete too. Congratulations :)