Good morning!
Yesterday evening, I got all packed up for the try-a-tri. There is so much to remember for a triathlon!
Underneath my wetsuit, I decided to wear a yellow sports bra underneath my training swimsuit.
When I get out of the water and remove the wetsuit, I will be putting on my bike shorts and tank overtop the swimsuit/sports bra. Initially, I was going to wear my bike shorts directly under my wet suit, but I found that my shorts were too wet when I came out of the water and I was concerned about slipping on my bike seat.
Pearl Izumi saw that I was doing a triathlon and they messaged me on Twitter and offered to send me some biking apparel to try out. In today’s race, I will be rocking this lovely red P.R.O. Leader Tank. It is super comfortable, high quality, and comes complete with 3 pockets on the back of the tank. A great place for stashing a Glo Bar.
They gave us a number to stick to our helmet. This helps them match the race photos to each person a bit faster.
I debated buying a race belt, but I decided to wait and see if I will be signing up for a future triathlon before purchasing. For now, I will be pinning the bib onto the front of my tank.
I was very excited when I saw that the swim cap was baby blue– it’s my power colour! :smile:
The run is a trail run and with the rain it might get SLOPPY! These sneakers might go from white –> MUD!
After packing, we had a delicious and fueling dinner + dessert.
Amy’s Texas veggie burger, along with salsa, hummus, and tomato slices…
I think I am all wrapped out at the moment. I have been on a huge Food 4 Life Ezekiel tortilla kick and I think the spree has come to an end. Does anyone else ever go through phases on foods for weeks or months on end and then switch to something else? I do it all the time!
I also had a bowl of leftover spinach, mushrooms, and quinoa from Friday night’s dinner:
an energizing, BEET-tastic juice composed of beets, lemon, and carrots.
For dessert, I told Eric he could pick anything he wanted and I would make it as a special treat.
He picked PANCAKES! :lol:
At 10pm, I threw together some vegan pancakes, poured some maple syrup on them, and we had a carbo-rific dessert.
We also prepped ourselves on the rules of the race, watched a movie, and hit the hay for a super-charging 5 hours of sleep! The sleep of CHAMPIONS I tell you!
The Morning Of The Race:
We were up and at ‘em at 5:00am this morning. I woke up and stumbled into the bathroom and all I could hear was wind and rain. High winds. Bad, bad winds. Rain smashing on the windows. It is also really dark, which somehow makes the open-water that much more scary. Gulp. I tried to stay calm, but I was freaking out in my head. My second thought was, ‘Eric is never going to do another tri again after racing in this weather!’
But, Mother Nature, is Mother Nature. Steph, who is participating in the Tri Sprint today, reassured me by saying that we are going to be so hardcore. That was all my ego needed for a quick pick-me-up. :lol: Hardcore it is.
Breakfast was my Vegan Overnight Oats with a mashed banana marinating in the mix overnight. I topped it with some pure maple syrup, coconut, and glo-nola.
Perfection!
After this bowl, I prepared a banana with cashew butter spread all around it. I wasn’t even really hungry, but the only way I can explain it is that my body was going into survival mode.
The Race:
Yesterday when we picked up our race kit, Eric and I discovered that we are both in WAVE #1 together! Which means that our group is the first group to swim and we will get to head into the water together. Since we are starting at the same time, Eric joked that we should RACE EACH OTHER- a friendly husband-wife competition if you will. All day long he was talkin’ SMACK and saying that he was going to kick my bootay.
Oh, no he didn’t.
Of course, I said: IT’S ON like Donkey Kong.
However, given the extreme weather this morning, we have both decided to focus on getting out alive and that will be that! :ninja:
We came up with the fun idea that we can pretend we are on a covert operation…on a secret mission of epic proportions. I’m not sure how covert hundreds of people on bikes down the road will be, but I’m going to run with it.
Good luck to you and Eric! :)
How exciting! Good luck, both of you! :)
Good luck Angela (and Eric!! ) You are all prepared and ready to go. You will do great! Have fun and don’t get too wet :)
Wow! You can do it ;) (beat Eric, that is.. hehe) ! Have fun ;)
btw, this is my first comment.. I’m delurking myself! you’re an inspiration for me to take care of myself more & eat better consistently :]
Good Luck to both of you! I like the idea of pretending you’re on a covert operation…I think it makes it a little more fun, and gives you a little extra spark to help you overtake your competition! hehehe ;)
Haha, I love the covert operations. You guys are awesome!
Kick this Tri in the butt!
I live in Toronto and when I saw the weather this morning, the first thing I thought of was you (Cute or creepy? lol). At least you won’t be sweltering, right? And you are hardcore. You can do anything!
GOOD LUCK! The wind and rain is scary but you will be fab, you sound so prepared. It’s good that you are in Wave one as you will be the first ones in the water. I so hope it goes well and that you both enjoy it. I look forward to hearing about it.
Good luck! You’re so much tougher than the weather – go rock it out! That’s such a funny idea for motivation. It would be so motivating to pretend I was James (Jane? haha) Bond…
Good luck!!! Gosh, this is so exciting. It’s like we’re getting a behind-the-scenes view of this whole thing! :D
Wei-Wei
My weather here is southwestern Ontario is nasty right now too, very windy and rainy. You will definitely be hardcore after this, and your next tri will be such a breeze for you!! Seriously, I’m wishing you all the best with it today, and am excited to read all about it, just as soon as you have the energy to post! I’m sure you will totally rock it, and the entire “covert operation” will be a success. That’s so awesome! :)
Best of luck today!
I always lay out all of my gear the night before a race. I had a bad experience a few years ago where I left my race number at home. It was awful and it too a lot of time and effort to convince the race director to let me just right my number on a piece of paper. Once he finally agreed, I still had problems on the course because people thought I wasn’t supposed to be running and kept trying to pull me out of the race. It sucked!
Good Luck today! The weather is awful!
I can’t believe you’re blogging (complete with beautiful pics) the morning of your first triathlon. I think I spent most of the morning of my first tri in the bathroom due to nerves. You go girl!
I can’t believe you are doing the tri in this weather! You guys are so intense!
Eeeeeee…. you are so brave for doing your first tri in weather like this! I live in Toronto and am currently looking out the window to pouring rain! GOOD LUCK to you and Eric both!!!!! You will rock it :)
I would just like to point out that you already ARE hardcore!! This tri is just gonna elevate you to EXTREMELY hardcore!!
I got up this morning and went for a bike ride in honor of your tri. I can’t believe you’re doing it in a storm!! You are aaahhhhmaaaazinggg.
Good luck :)
Your posts always make me smile!
You and Eric have a great experience out there today and lots of fun!! Looking forward to the recap!
Hey girl!! Good luck today! I think it is EPIC that you and Eric are doing this together! That’s all that matters!! Have fun and try not to let the weather get to ya!