Helena Sprint Triathlon

Last weekend, amidst our CPA exam boot camps, myself and few people went to Helena to relax and/or race. The weekend by far overshadowed the race, we all had an amazing time. We stayed at my house, the weather was ridiculously nice, the food was incredibly delicious, and we all enjoyed our little weekend of triathlon, treats, and laughter...owe my side split.

**A true champion's performance: cutting the pizza with the precision of a surgeon.

**The Tri Factory!

I built this trip up for long time, I had unfinished business with the event itself, I never went more than a few days without reliving the nightmare of running off course. I was very motivated to race hard and do well, okay maybe even a little hostile towards wanting to make this race a suffer-fest. To say I wanted to pour on pain would be an understatement...

**Making nice with my ride at the bike wash.

We rolled into Helena a few hours early, picked up our packets, got our bikes ready, scoped the line of felt road bikes (no triathlon bikes on display...hello, this is a triathlon?) There was plenty of time to greet family and friends and watch other racers. Speaking of which, last year's quasi winner was again in an early heat. Why isn't he racing in the elite heat, so annoying!

Contrast that with two people who did (wo) man up. The first was Kevin, he went for it, willingly accepted the nod to race in the last heat and held nothing back. He went for broke, racing full power and making no excuses. I can respect a man like that.

The second, my little sister, Mackenzie. She also raced in the elite heat and had a wicked bike and T2. She was the only badass-mutha to ride a disc wheel, and the only badass-mutha to be gluten adverse. "Hey, you just got chicked by a 19 year old riding a disc wheel." 50 cent says, give it a few years, you'll be aaaaiiiigggghht."

Okay, my race. First let me say I rolled into the event site totally "ridin' dirty" with my new P3 Carbon and new car...oh and a hot blond riding shotgun. (Kidding)

The swim was very hot ~86 degrees, so I was very cautious not to overheat be swimming too hard. In typical fashion I started slow. Most people are ahead of me for a few laps, this was no different. I swim smooth and I swim consistent, by lap 10 I was, from what I could see, in first. I was very lackluster at a 13:56, I wasn't tired or expended at all, I knew it would all be made up later in the race.

I had a smooth transition, I always feel like a robot in transition, I do many things at once but never seem to think about any of them. Kinda weird, like sleep walking, I was quickly through and aboard my P3 with flying mount. The bike course was uncomfortably rough and hindering tight. There were many stop signs, lights and tight corners. This was not a consistent effort type course because every mile I was scuffing off speed to take a sweeping corner and then punching the gas to get back up to speed. None the less, I rode as hard as I could for 30 minutes or so.

I hit T2 with the fastest 20k bike split 31:58, pretty happy with the new Cervelo whip and my transition 2 trick riding.

Upon leaving T2 I realized I had something in my shoe...dang it. I ripped my shoe off, dumped out the ball of tape and crammed my foot back in the shoe. Unfortunately, I knew immediately that I would not have a stellar 5k. I have very few miles in my legs, today pain would be my friend. I ran as hard as I could manage, channeling the anger and frustration of last year, and my knee injury this winter.

No matter how much it hurts I'm thankful to be racing, telling myself "I am lucky to even be running without knee pain, move your ass." I hit the turn around on the run feeling tired and hot, really hot. I continued to pound the dirt seeing my friends Carrie Stryke, Marrissa, Kevin, and my sis on their way out to the turn around. I knew a lot of fast bikes (most likely ridden by fast triathletes) awaited me at the finish line.

I didn't want someone from an earlier heat to sneak a win if I were to slow down. The last mile was nothing but pain. I ran on frustration from last year. I hit the finish line, and for once my finish shot accurately depicts the hurt I was feeling. Some think it's a bad picture, I like it. It was that moment when all the bad feelings of last year was expunged, the suffer fest is over, I have been redeemed...and it hurts.

The win was nice, I earned it for sure. Classic example of hitting proverbial (athletic) rock bottom with the knee injury, and rising back up with the power of one. Wonder why my bike says "believe" on the fork and "power of one" on the seat tube? Well, this is the personification of what they mean.

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This post really does not do justice to all the amazing non-triathlon activities. I am totally cheating everyone of the amazing people that stayed at the tri-pad for a few nights. Except for that cold hearted man who had the audacity to eat all the green M & Ms...I still like you, sucker.

**The guilty parties of the weekend: (L to R) Jess, Trisha, Chris, me, Corrie, Kevin, (Carrie taking the photo). Ps Chris is still cheering, what a guy.

**The Eubank sisters, both running the Missoula Half Marathon, I'm so envious.

**Chris and Carrie awaiting the swim, which Carrie rocked. While she was swimming a guy said to me, "wow, that girl has good technique (pointing and referencing Carrie)." I simply smiled and said, yeah she's from our entourage, she's good."

**Trisha and my injury support counselor Jess. Can't even tell you how much you have meant to me this year.

The trip was amazing, none of us will ever forget out blockbuster trip. Thanks everyone who came, you are welcome anytime.