Byron did it!

The San Francisco International Triathlon at Treasure Island was a success. They did eliminate the swim portion but kept everything else including the swim to bike transition. Byron did really well and placed in the middle of the crowd. Pretty respectable for a newbie. He ran his 10K in under 1 hour cutting several minutes off his last 10K time. Al of that after a 24 mile technical bike ride! Everytime we saw him he was smiling. I was thrilled to be at the finish line and be the first to hug him.

We stayed to watch the pros race which was amazing. Their biking was a work of art. The glided by us with a buzz. It was awesome. Byron was startstruck by Hunter Kemper who raced past us and made eye contact with Byron. He won the race overall.

The triathlon goes on

Despite the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, the Treasure Island triathlon will still take place. They may eliminate the swim portion though. We are getting ready for Byron's tri. He is packed with his clif bars and gels taped all over his bike and number belt. I am excited to be off work for 7 nights and see him race. His best friend Phoenix will be coming down with us too.

This week I started working out a again. Last weekend i did a practice tri and had a lot of trouble by he run portion. I took it a s a lesson that I need to get back to regular training in all 3 sports. So I have been swimming more which I am loving again. I am learning to breathe on both sides. I only breathed on my right before. The bilateral breathing has improved my stroke, speed and ability to float significantly. I can even keep up with Byron and James. It is tiring though readjusting my breath. But that is just a matter of practice. I did some sprinting/walking/running for 3 miles on the trail Wednesday. I felt a nice soreness in my legs for a day afterwards. I have scheduled clinic so that I have some time to work out after work which is really nice. I am enjoying it.

Where did my training go?

I miss the training. Friends and coworkers ask how the training is going. It's almost nonexistant and I am feeling pretty down about it. My life has become so overscheduled with school, work and sleep that the bike and swim are gone. I am missing it and my body feels the difference. I worked so hard this summer and made so many positive changes to my health that I don't want to lose that. I have a better week with regard to school but work my 8 nights. I am planning to try to replicate our previous schedule of working out in the morning and going to bed after lunch (at least until Monday). Then I start clinic agian and will only be able to slip a run in.

I do run still because it is quick and easy. And I worked way to hard and shed too many tears there to lose my stamina! I am motivated to at least keep that up. There is a nice challenging trail within walking distance of home. I always run a 5 K and my time has slowly but steadily gotten better. But I have only been running an average of 2-3 times a week. We had plans of doing a triathlon in late November in Southern CA. I am feeling like I am not in shape to do so. I haven't been in open water since the Ukiah tri. I have not bought a wetsuit. I miss biking terribly but haven't been able to carve out 2 hours for the bike ride I'd like. And it was cold and I am still adapting to being cold which I really do not like. I am dreaming of a century ride (100 miles) in Solvang (central) CA in March. It is rated as difficult so I will have to train fairly hard for it. It takes place where the movie Sideways was filmed.

So for now I am living vicariously through my son and partner. James has been beating his run time everyday and is now to a 7 min mile. Byron just did that today. I think Byron is only about 20 sec behind James now in his mile time. Very impressive. Byron has the Treasure Island tri next weekend in San Francisco. I am excited for him. He saved up and bought a REALLY nice triathlon bike with clip shoes. He and James biked 30+ miles a few days ago (while I worked...or studied or took a test or did something other than biking *sigh*). Byron was far ahead of James and beat his own bike time significantly. Byron is dreaming big now of participating in the famous Escape From Alcatraz tri in June. He has to place at another selected tri first to be allowed to compete. The last one for the season is in Florida. And yes he is begging to go to Florida.