2 weekends, 2 races...from Florida to California

The 2011 season has started. For me, with the very first 5150 race in Miami followed by the SuperSEAL Triathlon in San Diego... Miami was a great experience. I was about to race with some of the fastest women in the US, mostly women that are also racing on the ITU circuit. The race was downtown Miami...swimming in the bay, biking between skyscrapers and running along the shoreline. The weather was perfect and the water was...well, for me (aka mediocer swimmer/wetsuit lover) ...a little to warm at 72 degrees. NO WETSUITS ALLOWED ...in shark town... Once you were in the water there was no coming back out until the gun went off which ment a 5 min warm up was enough for me. The current and the difficulty to sight in the water left us athletes all over the place. I was in a group of 3 but after the first turn the other 2 went off course, so I was by myself for the entire swim...

Venue of the 5150 Miami

I hopped on my bike and started passing about 3-4 females. The course was very much like a criterium, which is great for me, unfortunately the turn-signs were too small to see, so I was not able to go into the corners full power. There were 270 cops out there keeping us safe...which was great!!! Somehow a guy with his coffee cup still managed to walk out in front of me, but luckily I was able to avoid him :-) The bike felt great!!! After an interesting T2 (I was led the wrong way and had to jump the barrier to get back to the bike racks) I started my run and felt great. I passed one girl within the first mile and then I was in no mans land. I ran into a cleaning crew which appeared out of nowhere:-) No worries...I tried to run my own race at a good speed. With about 2 miles to go I saw an athlete about 400 m in front of me but since we were going about the same speed I thought there is no way of catching her...I turned around the last corner and we had .2 to go and she was RIGHT THERE...I started sprinting but missed her by 2 seconds...GRRR...I ended up 7th place with a time of 2:02 and was very happy!!! My splits were: 21:XX swim, 1:01 ride (new PR) and a 36:XX run (new PR) - I could not have asked for more for my first race of the season. Here are some pics from Miami:

STARFRUIT PICKING!!!

My vist to the groshery store...HUGE avocados...

Finger Bananas :-)

Giant Papayas!!!

Miami was great, what a beautiful city. Luckily I was there during the NON HUMID season:-)

A few days later I started my trip to the other side of the country...San Diego. Race # 2 for the season...SuperSEAL. This race is absolutely great. The venue is great, the race is very well organized, the spectators are amazing and everywhere (!!! HUGE MOTIVATION), the course is safe and the entry fee goes to a good cause!!!

Here we go...see you later Phoenix...

...hello Coronado...

We arrived in the evening, went for a run, checked into the hotel and visited the hot tub :-) We decided to get everything done early the next morning so that we could relax in the afternoon: packet pick up, ride, run and some ocean fun...I mean...icing of the legs:

It was unclear until race morning of the race would turn into a duathlon due to all the rain they got...mhhh duathlon...no swimming = happy Angi...but at the same time I wanted it to be a Triathlon because you can only get better by trying and trying and trying.

Pre race icing in the bathtub :-) A MUST the night before the race!!!

The race start was at 8 am. I was (for some strange reason) up at 4:45, which ment for once I would actually eat my breakfast 2.5 hrs before the race (which left me hungry during the race). We rode the 6 miles in the dark to the race site, racked our bikes...sat around and watched the Sprint Triathlon start...and then it was finally time to race. The start was a run in start with the guys so there was lots of fighting going on :-) I have no splits yet, but my swim felt a little slow and I was 6th female out of the water. On the run to transition my calf was hurting to the point where I thought there is no way I will run (calf needs a massage). I jumped on my bike thinking: Just bike hard and then see what happens. I biked into first place by km 20. T2 was fun, with me and 2 other girls all being together. Everyones feet where frozen (next year I will NOT forget my toe warmers). I started running and felt pretty good, so I decided to go a little faster at each mile. I ended up winning the race in 2:03:XX which is 2 min faster then last year. SUCCESS!!!

Not only was it a great race for me but also for Pam and Lizzy!!! Everyone is happy :-)

Thanks to Iron Gear Sports I was able to race on these good looking race wheels :-) AND I am happy to add a third paddle to my wall of paddles. This trophy is the most beautiful trophy!!! I hope I can add a few more - I have lots of wall space to fill :-)

I will treat my body VERY well for the next few days before I return to racing at a local race in Mesa on Sunday :-)