See Kathleen Tri

Ok, so the event is really called “See Jane Tri” but this is my blog and I can title posts whatever I want. So for the purposes of this post my next triathlon is called:

See Kathleen Tri…

1. To do a second triathlon.
2. Complete a race without her friend and coach Allison.
3. Attempt an event without the reassurance of her husband Bert partaking.

I feel like I’m joining the big girls club…these amazing women who do multiple events each season. Like Sarah who started her tri-season this year in MARCH! And did something like one every month with some other races (cycling centuries, etc) sprinkled in just to keep things interesting. By the way, she placed in her age group at the Santa Barbara Triathlon…yep, the one where I came in nearly last. This lady rocks.

Then there’s folks like my personal hero Jenny mom of three, super blogger, pretty, funny…oh shucks, I better stop or she’s gonna be embarrassed. Anyway, Jenny did her first Olympic distance triathlon this summer. She knocked it down like no-one’s business. THEN she did a sprint distance race just weeks later.

Between Jenny and Sarah I got over my fear of not being ready for another race. So on September 27th I’ll be at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Park in Pleasanton suiting up for my second triathlon See Jane Run.

This event is so short I feel extremely confident in my ability to finish. It’s a 400 yard swim in a lake, a 11 mile bike ride (mostly flat – one GENTLE incline) and a 3 mile run. For those of you paying super close attention to the ins and outs of my oh so exciting life that’s about one-third the distance of the Santa Barbara Triathlon long course I did last month.

The swim is only a quarter of mile…that should take me about 10 minutes. In a lake. Without a wet suit. Compare that with the 42 minute slog in the Pacific Ocean with whitecapped waves slapping my face each time I tried to breathe.

The bike ride in Santa Barbara was 34 miles with a couple of serious hill climbs. It took me 2 hours and 38 minutes. This 11 mile ride on the relative flat should take me about 45 minutes…maybe less if adrenaline is pumping.

My running pace is a glacial 12 minutes/mile so whereas it took me 2 hours and 6 minutes to run 10 miles in Santa Barbara I’m hoping to do this 3 mile course in about 36 minutes.

My T1 was 12 minutes in SB and my T2 was 13 minutes. I’m going to try shorten those…shall we set a goal of half the time? Let’s say 5 minutes for each transition.

So the math…SB took me 5 hours and 52 minutes. I’m hoping to complete the See Jane Tri event in 1 hour and 41 minutes. See what I mean about a more doable distance?

My master plan of doing an insanely long triathlon the first time out has definitely helped my mind set. 🙂

happily still in training,
Kathleen